BEHIND THE SCENES: Land of the Dead

Note: Huge thanks to Roy Frumkes for writing this exclusive behind-the-scenes article about the creation of George Romero’s LAND OF THE DEAD. You may remember that Roy is the director of the cult-classic DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD which documented the production of Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD. Now Frumkes is back on the set of Romero’s new movie making a new documentary. We at Cinema Eye were incredibly excited to learn the news. The following article should only further whet your appetite. We will be bringing you more DEAD coverage as we get closer to the films actual release date.

It was a call out of the blue. Mike Ruggiero at the Independent Film Channel was curious to know if I would be available to direct and host a TV special on the Toronto location of George Romero’s LAND OF THE DEAD.  Does a zombie know how to bite? I was already packing my suitcase, and the shoot was still two weeks off.

Canada has for some time been saving US film productions megabucks, both in tax incentives, and in the buying power of the US dollar. George shot his last film, BRUISER, in Canada, and other friends have done the same:  Jimmy Muro, who directed STREET TRASH, was Director of Photography on OPEN RANGE in Calgary, and Bryan Singer, who was once a lowly Production Assistant on STREET TRASH, directed
X MEN 2 north of the border. 

However, by the time we got there, the dollar’s buying power had drastically declined, and few American films were traveling North in hopes of such savings. The Canadian crew was enthusiastic because of the opportunity to work with Romero, who is much loved.  But otherwise they were a dour, sensitive lot. It looked like, at least for the time being, the honeymoon was over.

George was under a lot of pressure, compressing the script, doing whatever was necessary to meet the new economic crunch. I’d seen him under such conditions before, with TWO EVIL EYES, when the lab ruined five days of shooting. His kind nature remains, but you can feel the strain. We first ran into each other in a white, endless corridor inside an abandoned military base outside the city. It felt very DAWN OF THE DEAD to see him ambling in my direction. When he realized it was me, there was a warm hug. I hadn’t seen him for a few years.  It had been 26 years since I first documented his work, and 15 years since the last time. He was preoccupied, so I quickly let him continue on his way.

Then my crew and producer and I went exploring. The facility was vast: bigger than any two film studios combined. You could film two features within eyeshot of each other but the sound on one wouldn’t intrude on the other. At one point our cameraman pointed and said “I think that’s John LeGuizamo.” I looked.  The tiny figure was two football fields away, and looked like an ant. There was no way to distinguish any features on it, and yet…it was definitely LeGuizamo. Just…something about it. So I hopped out of ‘Dead Reckoning’, where we were setting up lights and gels for interviews, and trotted in the distant humanoid’s direction.  When I got within one football field I shouted, “John?” It stopped, paused, and headed in my direction. I kept talking, explaining who we were. He wasn’t on our schedule to shoot, but slowly I reeled him in, and when he got close enough to converse with me, he figured he might as well go all the way and do the interview, so we hauled him into the anti-zombie vehicle and stole a few minutes of his time.

That’s pretty much how it was, and how it’s always been, doing these documentaries. You’re on a live set, with people going about their business, and time is money. So we were like guerilla filmmakers, prowling about stealthily, capturing footage and interviews when we could. George responded to this, since his zombie films are also war films. We’ve always gotten along; rarely gotten in his way.

Tom Savini was back, too. In fact, our access to the shoot was timed by Universal Pictures to coincide with his appearance. 26 years ago one of his biker cronies smashed a pie in my face – blueberry, incidentally – and so it was really shaping up as old home week in Toronto. Savini, now 58, was the same wired, remarkably fit individual he was half our lifetimes ago. He was talking up a new TV type series called THE CHILL FACTOR, that he’s selling on the internet, the way David Lynch has been selling ERASERHEAD. 

We all moved out onto the location – three city streets converted into the ‘Zombie Ghetto’.  Wonderful art direction. 150 crew members. 125 actors and extras. Lots of energy. Very cold! I had to give those Canadian extras credit. I was wearing four layers, and one by one the cold penetrated them, seeking me out. George, in a parka, was marching around, conferring with the various department heads and actors. He was still looming above them, like he did in that shopping mall so long ago outside Pittsburgh. It’s a great advantage for a director to be six foot four – you don’t have to yell to get everyone’s attention. They just look for your disembodied head, floating above the crowd.

I know I’ve set the scene rather tantalizingly, and now you’re all waiting for the details, but I’d be remiss if I let any cats out of the bag. LAND OF THE DEAD is filled with surprises, with carefully thought out details and plot elements that fans will be euphoric about. But I don’t think I should reveal any of them just yet. However, like yourselves, I’m looking forward passionately to the end result. If all goes as planned, my latest coverage of George will be aired on both the Independent Film Channel and The Monster Channel a month before the film comes out next Fall.

Take care,
Roy Frumkes

(Also, please check out my webzine, http://www.filmsinreview.com. There’s plenty of juicy material there for genre lovers.)