ROTTEN TOMATOES: George A. Romero on Diary of the Dead: The RT Interview

George A. Romero on Diary of the Dead: The RT Interview

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Would you eventually revisit that timeline?

GR: I don't think so. I don't know where to go with it. I don't know what to do with the zombies. I don't want to do Beyond the Planet of the Apes. I don't want a zombie society. I don't want to go that far. I've had ideas in that direction but it's not really what I want to do. I'm now happy that I've started over and I have a whole other thing that I can probably milk until I die and I never have to get to that point. I never have to end it because I don't know exactly how to end it.

Could they maybe intersect at some point?

GR: Maybe, they could, and I've thought about that too but I doubt it. I think I just want to have this new line now and I'll stick with that and not worry about what happens at the end. It's so hard to end. What happens? Either the zombies take over or the humans win. I don't like either of those and I don't like some kind of d'etant. The end of Land is that sort of "let 'em be." So I came close enough I guess to that idea of live and let live.

Would you ever explain the cause of this phenomenon, or always leave it a mystery?

GR: I hope not. I don't care what the cause is. I've forever been trying to live down, in Night of the Living Dead, we shot actually three explanations. We wound up having to cut six minutes out of the film in order for the distributor to want to distribute it. We cut out a radio thing and a TV thing because we thought it's just boring, we're sitting in the house, same old thing. We left in the one that we shot in Washington, D.C. because we thought, "Production value, man. We actually went to D.C. and shot it with the capitol in the background." So we left that in. Next thing you know, even every TV Guide blurb said, "A returning Venus probe causes the dead to come back to life." Starting with the second film, I went with that sort of voodoo explanation, "When there's no more room in hell…" I don't care. I don't give a f**k why it happened. That's part of the whole thing to me is that there's this change. The world has changed. Somebody has changed some kind of a rule and it's different. The stories are about how people respond to it, don't respond, respond incorrectly, stupidly, whatever. That's really all that matters to me.

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

What zombie films from other filmmakers do you enjoy?

GR: I love Shaun. Love it. I like a movie called Fido. Great, Billy Connolly, great. I just thought it was gas.

Have you seen Flight of the Living Dead?

GR: I haven't, no. I haven't seen it.

Those are all still recent. Are there any classic zombie movies besides yours?

GR: Oh, classic? Different zombies, man. That's the Caribbean boys. Classic films, I don't know. Carnival of Souls. Is that a zombie movie? I don't know if it is.

How about the Italian ones?

GR: I love a couple of Fulci things. I just had a gas watching them. It's not what I would do but I loved watching them. They were fun. And the oldies, man, I Walk With a Zombie, White Zombie and that stuff. Different zombies. They're not the neighborhood zombies.

Which of your non-zombie films would you love for fans to rediscover?

GR: My two favorite films of mine are sort of semi-vampire; it's not a vampire, it's called Martin. And a film I made called Knightriders which is probably my most personal or autobiographical film in a way. So those two.

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead is out in limited release today.

Related Items

Movie:	Dawn of the Dead
	Fido
	George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
	Shaun of the Dead
	Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane
	Return of the Living Dead
	Night of the Living Dead
	Martin
	Knightriders
	Day of the Dead
Celeb:	George A. Romero
	Lucio Fulci

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(1-20 of 45 posts) | Reply

Young Turk writes:
on Feb 15 2008 05:45 PM

I really want to see this.

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Feb 15 2008 06:21 PM

Romero is king.

(Reply to this)

jdale writes:
on Feb 15 2008 08:42 PM

I really lost faith in this series after Land. But I'm interested.

(Reply to this)

Ruckas356 writes:
on Feb 15 2008 08:50 PM

Georg A is the F#CKIN MAN

(Reply to this)

Product_of_You writes:
on Feb 15 2008 09:01 PM

Thats weird; I thought Land was his best film. Maybe Dawn was just a bit better, but they're on equal footing more likely. I thought Day of the Dead was terrible, and Night wasn't very good.

(Reply to this)

reavus4983 writes:
on Feb 16 2008 07:22 AM

Night is my favorite, followed by Land. Dawn to me got too goofy with all the things making fun of consumerism. Night is so original and has so many creepy moments in it (especially the graveyard scene), and since Diary is his first independent since Night I really hope they compare again in their zombie-creepiness factor. Too bad it's a limited release.

(Reply to this)

jarek writes:
on Feb 16 2008 07:32 AM

Diary is a great flick.

(Reply to this)

ocmurer writes:
on Feb 16 2008 10:04 AM

Night of the Living Dead was goofy, because, duh, it's from the sixties. But it was still a very good movie. Dawn of the Dead was even better, but again, a little goofy. Day of the Dead was just incredibly stupid. And I forgot to see Land of the Dead. But I like the premise for Diary of the Dead (being a film student myself) and I want it to freaking open in a theater near me.

(Reply to this)

punktuate writes:
on Feb 16 2008 02:32 PM

If it says Romero on it....it will be seen by me all of his movies kick *** no matter if it's actually about consumerism or whatever they are badass visually and just done so intelligently; Romero kicks more *** than a 12 year old a.d.d. kid at the Grand Canyon

(Reply to this)

knowingtoast85 writes:
on Feb 16 2008 09:02 PM

Oh God I feel so bad saying this.

But Diary is the worst piece of **** I have seen in a long time, and that's coming from a huge fan of Night and Dawn. The movie could have been about 30% better without the incredibly pandering, didactic narration. As far as the nature of the narrative goes, I swear "Cloverfield" handled it far better, even with all its flaws. The camera movement in "Diary" won't make anyone sick though, just the script. I didn't want it to be this way any more than anyone else, but man what a ****burger.

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Feb 16 2008 09:42 PM

Diary of the Dead is great. Don't listen to the stupid people.

(Reply to this)

knowingtoast85 writes:
on Feb 16 2008 10:23 PM

I insist you make your own decision, sure. But I know I won't be alone in this once it opens wider.

(Reply to this)

BigEarn writes:
on Feb 17 2008 06:13 AM

In reply to this comment (#1577715)
Bruce Campbell F'in Rules! Romero should try doing a nice romantic comedy.

(Reply to this)

theunrulyone writes:
on Feb 17 2008 04:07 PM

In reply to this comment (#1580461)
I understand it had its issues, but I really think Diary is a better movie than Cloverfield. On all levels. One, the acting is better than in Clvoerfield, as were the characters. In Cloverfield I could have cared less about any of them, except maybe Marlena cause she seemed cool (and she was a hottie), but in Diary, I found myself interested in the fates of at least two of the characters. Romero has never been subtle in his commentary, but that's okay. Zombies are not exactly subtle things, after all. The only real issue I had with Diary was the repetition of scenes. I thought the attack at the beginning was cool, but I did not need to see it three or four more times.
Still, I really liked this flick and would rank it better than Day and Land.
Oh, and for those of you who are curious: YES there is a tone of blood and gore in this flick, but not quites as much as Day, but then, what movie can match Day for straight up goriness?

(Reply to this)

sliknik27 writes:
on Feb 17 2008 08:41 PM

I'm excited for Diary, but Romero did little to woo me with Land.

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darrinsgoodman writes:
on Feb 17 2008 09:26 PM

as a huge romero fan i have to be like everyone else here and rank them in the order that i like them so here goes: dawn, land, day, & night. i haven't seen "diary" yet but cannot wait till it expands. speaking of - how much is this movie expanding to anyone know? and how soon?

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walkingdead09 writes:
on Feb 18 2008 07:28 AM

I've never seen any of his movies, is it best to start with the first and work my way through it or what? I'm not a big horror guy, let me know.

JD

(Reply to this)

reavus4983 writes:
on Feb 18 2008 10:57 AM

In reply to this comment (#1580522)
If you're truly the Evil Dead Bruce Campbell, then I just bought one of your books today.

On the subject of this movie, I'm hopefully going into NYC to see it this week, regardless of the bad reviews. Zombie movies are zombie movies, and so they are always in some way good.

(Reply to this)

meatcake writes:
on Feb 18 2008 11:45 AM

Either way, good or bad I plan on seeing it. I am such a fan of George's work, even the non-zombie stuff like "Martin" that I am bound to at least like it. While "Land" was not up to snuff, it was better than "Day" and "Diary" is bound to be leaps and bounds better than the 07 remake of "Day of the Dead" with Nick Cannon which was an utter travesty!

(Reply to this)