“As far the gore and stuff, I think I went a little bit overboard because I wasn’t a big horror fan, video director-turned-first-time feature filmmaker Fleischer admitted in regards to the copious (and I do mean copious) amounts of carnage on display (courtesy of Alterian Inc.). “I just wanted to make sure that we satisfied the zombie audience. (So) there’s a lot of blood, puke, and spit!”
Framed by scantily-clad women carousing in the Pacific, Harrelson, whose dry wit pervaded the conference, commented on the stylized gun-play his character of Tallahassee performs in the film. “It was fun. I remember thinking about all of those cool shots in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and I wanted to go back and look to them (in informing my character), but naturally, being lazy – I didn’t.”
One of the stars of Zombieland was not on hand for the press conference. This was little surprise given Sony’s gag order of “not to reveal the casting,” which was being enforced on talent in attendance as well. Still, the question came up as to the cast’s on-set interaction with the cloaked actor, and Harrelson allowed, “During the ‘mysterious cameo’ it was really hard to keep it together. In fact I think we probably lost good jokes of his because we were in the frame with him and they couldn’t use it because we were laughing so hard – which was really unprofessional.
Of the comedic elements of Zombieland (the film is a perfect balance of horror and comedy built on a touching character-driven foundation according to this writer), director Fleischer said, “It’s been really rewarding getting to see the film with an audience to hear the laughs because when you are all alone in an editing room, you just go on instinct. It’s exciting to see the film with an audience and know that it works.”
Harrelson concluded with a smile, “What Ruben wanted to say is that Zombieland is the Citizen Kane of action-zombie-horror-comedies.”
Visit Zombieland’s official site here, and look for the film in theatres October 2nd.
– Sean D.