WHOOHOO! Screw Diamond Dead and all of Romero's other rumored projects.
Here it is, the new dead film:
George Romero is returning to familiar territory with another zombie flick, this time a follow-up to his successful OF-THE-DEAD series, LAND OF THE DEAD. The film will follow the events in NIGHT, DAWN and DAY OF THE DEAD, when zombies have all but taken over the world and the remaining humans are holed up in a walled-in city (with the wealthy living in fortified skyscrapers). Meanwhile anarchy reigns in all surrounding areas with our living dead evolving and getting faster and smarter. Romero will direct the film from his own script. Oddly, Romero had been trying for some time to get the film DIAMOND DEAD off the ground and despite the help of producers Tony and Ridley Scott, this project has leapfrogged ahead. While producers described the film as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD meets THE ROAD WARRIORS, it does seem to have a little bit of 28 DAYS LATER mixed in there as well. The success of the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake earlier this year no doubt had a hand in getting another OF THE DEAD film greenlit. The project will have a budget between $10-20 million and will begin filming later this fall in Winnipeg and Pittsburgh.
Check out www.joblo.com for more info. Insanly cool news.
Hey, now this sounds good! He has my interest now.
Considering that Romero likes to go overboard with the gooey red stuff in his "Living Dead" films, will the MPAA grant him that R rating, or will they tell him to cut some of the graphic stuff out. Now that Jack Vallenti is stepping down, their maybe hope for Romero's film to be released unscathed by the MPAA.
And, after the success of the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, will Romero have creative control over his film? Considering the amount of failed deals that Romero had with other producers who wanted to limit his creative control, will Romero be given the chance.
But as a whole, I am excited and hope that Romero does his damnest to get the film going the way he wants it to go.
...that Romero's reputation has got to the point that the studios will realize that the people who will come to the movie will come even if it's rated NC-17. This is not impossible; this is exactly what's happening with John Waters' upcoming A Dirty Shame, which will be rated NC-17 for "massive pervasive sexual content." However, Waters' cult is probably more loyal and more self-contained; they'll probably have a better chance at getting a wider audience wil a zombie movie. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
man that is awesome! i know Romero has been trying to get one of his scripts produced now for the longest time. it's about time someone in hollywood gave a legenday cult filmmaker a chance!
I believe that Romero will be able to hold full reign over this film. As for NC-17, I don't think it's gonna fly. I think that the film will without a doubt be rated R being as this film is being made because the Dawn remake made so much cash. This is sadly just a way to make more money off of the name, not because Hollywood thinks Romero is that great (THEY ARE WRONG).
"Meanwhile anarchy reigns in all surrounding areas with our living dead evolving and getting faster and smarter."
Are you sure that info is right? Romero just criticized the new "Dawn of the Dead" flick because the zombies were fast. He said in a recent interview that he doesn't believe zombies should have "rocket packs."
When I first read about "Land of the Dead" (then called "Dead Reckoning") only a month ago I was surprised, and disappointed, to hear that the movie would have very, very SLOW zombies- slower than all the previous 'dead films'... as if they had decayed beyond the point of even being threatening, and were mainly just annoying.
heres the info I got.
http://www.chud.com/news/july04/july15dead.php3
Romero said that they'd let him film the movie as he wanted but he'd have to put out an R rating, however he did say that they'd let him deliver an unrated dvd so its all good :).
Hes also trying to get evertyign going so he can film in about october of 2004, f**king sweet.
Truthfully, the UNCUT version of Romero's THE LAND OF THE DEAD would be more "preferable" to show in theatres rather than a special R rated cut. But this is what concerns me: Romero may be able to make his full vision come true during the shooting and workprint editing, but chances of his vision being ruined by both studio pre-release cutting/MPAA will probably in the long run ruin it all in a theatre going experience. And let us not forget, PASSION OF THE CHRIST made it in theatres with a full R rating, with all the blood and gore left intact without a single cut made! If this can be done, than THE LAND OF THE DEAD can get an R rating with all the graphic blood and gore left intact. And since Jack Valenti is stepping down from the MPAA, it's possible that whoever the newcomer to the rating board may be, let's hope it will be someone who is more "closer to the times" and alot more sensable. But if an 'Unrated' version appears on DVD, I will be both glad and disappointed at the same time.
So while I do have high hopes for Romero and his long-awaited fourth "Living Dead" film, I also feel that down the line Romero will not have full total control of his film and the MPAA will never give him a fair chance. Not trying to be a downer here, but I'm just being a little more realistic. It's great Romero is getting back in the game, but the bigwigs will probably have a bigger say than Romero will.
Vermin Boy wrote:
> ...that Romero's reputation has got to the point that the
> studios will realize that the people who will come to the movie
> will come even if it's rated NC-17.
I really doubt this, Vermin Boy. I mean, how many NC-17 movies made in the year 2003-2004 have been released in legitamate theatres? Not many. And I doubt that if LAND OF THE DEAD recieved an NC-17 it will play nationwide.
But then, maybe their is a chance. Maybe.
Oh this one's gonna rock the zombie world. And we get to see exactly what Dr. Logan was talking about in Day of the Dead. "We can teach them Sarah, teach them to behave." Well maybe not behave, but they sure look like they're gonna be more intelligent. I'm so glad GAR is getting back to what he does best ....... ZOMBIES!!!
Yeah, you're probably right. I really hope A Dirty Shame does well at the box office; apart from rooting for Waters, having an NC-17 film be a success would set an invaluable precedent.
> I'm so glad GAR is getting back to what he does
> best ....... ZOMBIES!!!
That slimy little turd alien from Star Crystal makes zombie movies?
The only thing that slighly disappoints me about the news is the fact that the zombies are going to be uberzombies which has become somewhat of a cliche in the past few years. I would have thought that Romero would be the one to bring back the slow shambling zombies but oh well. These newer faster zombies have worked out in some cases, like the Dawn remake which was surprisingly good.
MPAA cuts slack to historical films, documentaries and biblical films. It's a damn fact! But another way to look at it; I did think The Passion of Christ was the best zombie movie made in some time, so I can't hate the ratings people. Just make Jesus the living dead and you get buckets of Kentucky Fried Gore. I hope on the DVD they have a making of featurette of the Passion of the Christ, which shows the bloddy mangled mechanical Jesus, it's f-r-e-a-k-y lookin!! Anywho, expect an uncut DVD of Land Of The Dead which will have all the goodies. Let 'em f**k up the theatrical release, I'll watch it on my 50 inch bruiser flat screen at home.
When I read the article I started running around in circles and throwing whatever I found in the air. This is the most important news for me in horror dor 2004 screw the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash idea this is better. Who said the horror genre started to die.
Don't you really think this is the normal progression that GAR had in mind with "Day of the Dead"? I mean Dr. Logan was on to something with the training of the zombies, ie Bub, but they were still flesh eaters. The walled city with the living in it is only a natural way to "save" humanity. And you just know that GAR is going to show the class differences between the haves and the have nots. It's one of the things he's best at. And speaking of intelligent zombies, has any one ever read the comic book "Dead World", it has the same ideas. Great stuff.
>Don't you really think this is the normal progression that GAR had in mind
>with "Day of the Dead"?
Unless I'm mistaken, Day of the Dead was supposed to be the conclusion of the story, but he didn't get to make the movie he wanted. His original idea was to have the scientists training the zombies to go out and kill other zombies, leading to a huge zombie war. When he couldn't get the budget that would have been needed for that, he had to scale the film way back.