George Romero Still Having Fun With the DEAD
George A. Romero talks about his latest movie, Diary of the Dead, which is now out in limited release. He's still having a good time working with the undead.
George Romero keeps resurrecting the dead time and time again and he's not ready to stop any time soon. In a recent interview with SCI FI Wire Romero share just how much fun he had with this new take on that first zombie night.
"Oh, man, I just had a ball doing this," Romero said in an interview. "However, everyone says, 'Hey, it must be so free and easy to just turn the camera on and shoot,' and that's not the case. It required, in a way, a lot more discipline than anything I have ever done."
Romero cited as an example one eight-page shot that involved all of the central characters. "They walk into the heroine's house," the director said. "They walk through the living room, through the dining room into the garage, around the car, back around the car, back into the kitchen. ... The choreography was unbelievable. The stunt guys had to duck under the lens. This guy with the light had to duck under the lens when the camera went past him."
Setting up such scenes involved a lot of planning, Romero said. "That shot, it was the only shot we did that day," he said. "We spent six hours setting it up, lighting it, figuring out how to be able to shoot it, and then the rest of the day was just pulling it off and shooting it.