EXCLUSIVE: Romero on Diary, etc.
Dread Central Staff
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I just got off the phone with the master himself, George A. Romero, and the big guy was kind enough to grant yours truly the official word about his next project, something we’ve come to know as Diary of the Dead.
Diary will be going back to the time of the initial outbreak. That’s right, kids, we get to revisit the very first night!
“I wanted a new set of characters and have them deal with these events as they first come,” says Romero. “I also want to deal with things from a very different perspective.” that perspective being a subjective camera point of view a la Blair Witch as a means to reinvent the franchise a bit.
Diary will follow the exploits of a group of college students who are making a horror film. When the news breaks that the dead are returning to life, the group hops into their van with their camera in an attempt to try and get some footage.
“I want to do this from a subjective kind of view with no music. You know, something really raw,” Romero elaborates. “So it’s kind of a stylistic experiment, a low budget, under the radar kind of thing that’s just sort of from the heart.”
Right now Diary of the Dead looks like something Romero is more interested in releasing in a direct-to-video capacity instead of theatrically, although that might happen as well.
Why direct-to-video? George can do more of what he wants that way. Especially pertaining to how much violence can be showcased in the movie. Diary is a project he is making for his fans independent of all the usual Hollywood rules and regulations. Romero also assured me that there will be the right kind of gore in the film that we all know and love, and he is in talks with Greg Nicotero of KNB to do the effects.
Diary of the Dead will begin filming in Canada sometime toward the end of this year, even as early as October.
Another project we’ve been hearing about as of late is Solitary Isle. “Nothing is official as of yet,” Romero explains, “but it looks good, and I hope it will happen.”
Also, as a bonus for you mobile phone junkies, we are happy to report the first bit of news anywhere that George is working on a special episodic project for cell phones that will follow the exploits of a hungry zombie who’s after a hot babe. According to George, “It’s a comedy. It’s gonna be like the Road Runner and the Coyote cartoons. It’s one zombie and one victim. This zombie keeps trying to nail this woman, and everything backfires on him. He just keeps getting fucked over. And of course zombies don’t die so if he gets flattened by a boulder, he’ll remain flat!”
For more on Diary, the latest on Solitary Isle, and the scoop about Romero’s mobile zombie project, make sure you listen to the full audio interview right here on Dread Central!
More as it comes.
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