Intervju med zombiefilmens gudfader

Filmomats zombievecka börjar lida mot sitt slut. Vi hoppas att ni haft trevlig läsning och att våra poster inspirerat till åtminstonde några val i videohyllan nästa gång det är hyrfilmdags.
  Som en zombiehyllning och avslutning på veckan kommer här väl valda bitar ur ett gäng intervjuer med zombiefilmens gudfader George A Romero. Romero, nu 65 år, är ju till stor del den som gjort genren till vad den är idag; mer än bara b-film och splatter. Intervjuerna med Romero är från i juni, i samband med att hans senaste film gick upp på de amerikanska biograferna. Trevlig läsning!

George A Romero om prestationskraven inför den nya filmen, efter ett sådant långt uppehåll från Dead-serien:

There wasn’t so much pressure; sort of few and far between. I had this concept that I do one in the 60’s, 70’s and then 80’s, and I missed the 90’s because my partner Peter and I wound up in development hell out here. There was about eight years where nothing happened and we couldn’t get a movie made. I wound up making more money during that period because I wound up working on all of these high profile projects but they never happened. So I fled and we raised five million bucks and I made a little move called Bruiser that nobody saw. [Dread Central]

Romero om inspirationen som fick honom att göra ännu en Dead-film:

I feel like I never left. I never sort of closed the door on it. I always wanted to do another one but circumstances beyond my control, too long a story to do in whatever short time we have here. When I finally got around to thinking seriously about this, I wrote a script and it wasn't exactly the same. It was about ignoring the problem; it was more about social ills: homelessness, AIDS, and like that. Finally finished it, sent it around literally a few days before 9/11 happened, and then 9/11 happened and everybody wanted to make lollipop movies. I just couldn't get a deal. So we put it back on the shelf and sometime after the invasion, took it back down and tried to put a little more emphasis on sort of new-normal post-9/11 era, new normal in the United States. [Monsters and Critics]

Romero om huruvida Land on the Dead kommer att bli den sista Dead-filmen:

I prefer to think of it as the fourth of 10! Who knows man. I mean I won't be on my feet that long, but no I don't think of it as the last and I never have. Everyone said "Oh when you did Day of the Dead, I thought it was the last one." I never said it was the last one. [Monsters and Critics]

Romero om zombiernas utveckling i filmen Land of the Dead:

If you look at my other films, it begins at the end of Dawn. The zombie drags a gun around for the whole movie and then at the very end grabs the hero’s gun and decides that’s better. He doesn’t even know it’s a gun. Then in Day of the Dead there’s a zombie named Bub who actually shots the villain in the end. He’s this very sympathetic guy. It’s sort of following the same track. Now in this film when Big Daddy does it, there’s other zombies that come around and imitate the behavior. So all of a sudden, ooops, there’s a bunch of them out there. [About.com]

Romero om de erfarenheter han fått sedan arbetet med den första Dead-filmen:

Mostly what I've learned has been about craft. I still feel like I'm learning. John Ford made a couple hundred flicks. You develop a lot of tricks that you can keep in your hip pocket. I think I know how to move the camera better, and I’m more sure of myself. I know if we're pressed for time that I can eliminate this shot or that shot so it still tells the story. It’s mostly that, but it’s also as you get older you get less intimidated. You feel more like you can do what you want to do and worry a little bit less about protocols. You feel more free to just be yourself, which is just something that comes with age. [Dread Central]

Romero om att vara fast i horror-facket och att kanske göra annan typ av film:

Well, of course, I'd love to. I'd love to do some other stuff, but when you have a reputation in a genre, that's mostly what you get asked to do. Of course, I'd love to do some other things, but I am very happy being right where I am. I grew up reading EC comic books, I grew up watching horror films. I'm happy to be able to be making them so no complaints as far as that goes. [Monsters and Critics]

Romero om att förlora rättigheterna till Night of the Living Dead:

Our title was Night of the Flesh Eaters. We were just a bunch of young guys who made the movie and stuck it in the trunk of our car and drove it to New York to see if anybody wanted to show it. And we put the copyright right on the title card, so when the distributor changed the title to 'Night of the Living Dead,' they just never thought about it. So when the copyright thing came off, it became a public film. [About.com]

Romero om vår faschination för zombier:

Boy, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s anything in particular. Zombies have become – not only because of movies but because of video games like Resident Evil and so forth - it’s become sort of the pop culture. It’s an easily identifiable monster. You say "vampire", you know what to expect. You say "zombie", you know what to expect. You dont' have to have a scientist in the story explaining, "Well, here’s what’s happening..." I think it’s just become idiomatic. [About.com]

Romero om sina drömprojekt:

There are two scripts that my partner and I have developed at different studios and that we really love. I'd like to do those and I do have a dream project which is about elephants, nobody will ever let me make that one probably. [Monsters and Critics]

För att kunna läsa intervjuerna i sin helhet hänvisar vi till respektive källa: Dread Central, Monsters and Critics och About.com.