l'm Zack Snyder, the director.
l'm Eric Newman, one of
the one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight producers it took
to bring this film to the screen.
And here comes the Strike logo,
which l love.
l'm actually very proud of it.
Originally we had this idea to go
from the Universal globe...
- To the sun.
- Zack was really proud of it
and then l said we had to have
the Strike logo after the Universal logo.
- That was great.
- lt worked well.
Really great.
There's Sarah Polley, our first choice.
l don't know who that guy is but he's great.
He sells this kind of doctor vibe that l love.
This was the first day of shooting, wasn't it?
The first day we shot
the first scene, very rare.
l'd never directed a movie before and said,
''lt's the beginning of the movie
''so we should shoot the first scene, right?''
They said, ''Normally you shoot
the last death scene first.''
There were so many things we didn't know.
- lt worked out, though.
- lt did.
Sarah liked it cos that's the indie method,
you can shoot it in sequence
and it's more naturalistic.
The actors can experience
the movie as it goes.
And she's into gentle indoor lighting.
- She didn't know she'd be running so much.
- l know.
That Dr Dandewar is a reference to
Tarsin Dandewar, a friend of mine.
- People don't know his last name, do they?
- No. But now they do.
Sorry about that, brother.
Originally in the script we started
the movie later, we started it...
- ln her house.
- Shit goes crazy.
We added this stuff,
particularly this scene, just to sort of milk it.
l like that people think that that guy
on the gurney was the first case.
People say, ''That was the first case!''
l'll be like, ''Clearly that's not.''
Unless they could report it
on the radio five minutes later.
- lt started in Everett, Wisconsin.
- Great.
- Mythical, by the way.
- There is no Everett, Wisconsin.
My father said, ''Everett, Washington,''
and l was like, ''No, Wisconsin.''
He goes, ''ls there an Everett, Wisconsin?''
and l am like, ''lt's near Milwaukee, clearly.''
Notice those houses, you can't get
into them there. There's no driveways.
- The helicopter couldn't get low enough.
- We couldn't get that third giant size
cos we thought we would do
a closer size being lower,
so the huge giant shot we had to redo,
so there's no driveways
to the bottom row of houses.
- Not really a fuck-up, but it's fun.
- lt worked.
- lt is a fuck-up but l love it.
- A good fuck-up.
Hannah Lochner, destined to be
a giant star in Japan.
Much of the Japanese marketing is
around her, which is cool.
They love the idea of that little blonde girl
who will rip your throat out.
Yeah. And people think she's their daughter,
which l love.
- l like that too.
- And she skated away.
She lives in the guest house.
That's Old Milwaukee but it's not.
lt's fake beer.
l don't think a single company,
with the exception of Panasonic and Roots -
my assistant Meg Davies somehow got
them to agree to appear in the movie -
but we got no help from any sponsors.
People were like, ''Do we wanna have blood
sprayed all over our thing?''
- They ran away. Everyone passed.
- That was fun.
Even companies that were going
out of business passed.
Here's a shower scene.
They gave me the hardest time -
''Nobody kisses in the shower.''
- A Zack Snyder commercial.
- l directed that for Subaru.
That was a WR.
And then they miss the bulletin.
And now it's tomorrow.
This is all fun here.
Yeah, this is great.
We shot this all pretty early.
Yeah, this is like day three or four.
Right? Something like that.
There's probably some second unit stuff
mixed in from later
but pretty much up until a point
well into the movie,
- we shot everything chronologically.
- Yeah.
lt was cool to do that.
Here comes Vivian. She's mad.
And people think that's their kid.
- There's good old Justin waking up.
- Yeah, he was cool.
We shot this all in the back of the mall.
There was an abandoned department store
and we built this set inside the mall.
So we were actually inside
a department store where we built this set.
That's David Anderson make-up work.
Watch this stretchy bit.
l love this stretchy bit.
Right there, that's all good.
l also like the arterial pump,
that was just great.
This is a bad morning for her, clearly.
That was the eyes
that were done by Mr. later.
And everybody loves that jump up,
she was on a wire,
where she jumped up there.
- People do like that.
- lt's subtle.
She's banging to get in.
Now here comes a good...
Basically what she's doing is
reaching for the artery.
Damon Caro, who was
the zombie movement coordinator,
was saying, ''With that injury you'd reach in
and try and pinch the artery off.''
But she couldn't, that's why she's upset.
And then clearly here he squirts the last...
That's too bad.
And Sarah sold it so well.
We met with her up in Toronto.
We didn't think we'd get her
and she was the first person we wanted,
the person we wanted most, top of our list.
For some reason, some lapse
in judgement on her part, she was...
This is one of my favourite bits,
crashing into the tub.
- Yeah. People love this.
- Ow!
- ''How'd you do that?''
- A stuntwoman did it in one take.
Crashed into the tub.
And she goes, ''What do you think?''
And l go, ''What do l think?
You're a rock star.
''What do l think''? Who cares that much?
lt's great. l really like that.
This is where Sarah discovered
how physical this job would be.
Yeah, here. She actually...
When she ran to the car,
l made her run three times.
And she said, ''l've never run in a movie,
an entire film,
''as much as l just ran
in those last three takes.''
l said, ''Get used to that,
cos this is the easy day.''
That's it. Yeah.
- That's a little Mr. .
- There's a little... ''Here's Johnny.''
Didn't want to rip it off too much.
Another stuntwoman. Different one.
lf you know Sarah, you'd know
she shouldn't land on her back like that.
No.
Here's the friendly neighbour.
When did this get into the script?
We had talked about
all these different ways of revealing...
bad stuff.
That was a match cut.
You can go through that slowly and see...
lt's at the point of impact
where the dummy takes over.
lt's nice. He's still moving to the last second.
We had all these ideas -
a helicopter machine-gunning a family
and car crashes, a bunch of great stuff.
lt was really important to sell some chaos.
Something as absurd as an ambulance
running a guy over is awesome.
That told the story in one moment.
l love it when he peels off.
That's gold. Everybody says,
''l love when he peels off for the neighbour.''
That tells you what kind of a movie you're in.
You know now what you're in for.
- Yeah, what you're in for.
- You're like, ''OK.''
There's a guy crawling
in the background, l love that.
You saw it in the other angle,
he was crawling on the ground.
- That was almost an accident.
- The cop car got loose and almost hit us.
We were following...
l was laying down in the back seat.
- Tell them how you did the rig.
- lt's a thing called the R1 ...
- Oh, here comes the helicopter.
- Yeah, the WGON...
This is the helicopter
from the original movie,
but it's computer rendered.
l was driving this van. And it was just...
We actually had to wrap at that point.
That was a Friday and...
- l was fine.
- ..we'd get what we needed on Monday.
But the R1 is mounted to
the back of the car and it's like an arm...
The car is actually driving. lt's here again.
And it allows us to follow her
wherever we go.
Now here's the naked woman
and thanks to Debbie Johnson,
that shot is in this cut cos she loved it.
We came up with this on a location scout.
- We had a huge traffic jam.
- Giant. Expensive.
But they told me, ''No. No traffic jam.
One bus, how's that?''
l was like, ''OK.'' Some of
the restrictions of filmmaking. Ouch.
We had to plant that tree.
That tree wasn't there.
So we put it in the ground.
l was just thinking,
the movie comes out tomorrow
and it's odd doing this now.
Either you got this DVD cos you bought it
or it was given away.
lt depends on what happens this weekend.
- We're talking about our movie and...
- ''Listen to them. Like it's great.''
This guy is awesome.
He was the first zombie we shot,
the guy on the gurney.
And he sort of set the bar a little bit.
- He was great.
- He's still one of the best zombies.
This sequence here, which Kyle Cooper
did an outstanding job on,
and l have to give Zack so much credit
for the musical choices,
cos this is one of a number of songs
that very early on he said,
''We gotta use this.''
There's the Jim Carroll song at the end,
the Richard Cheese version
of Down With The Sickness,
this Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around,
were all Zack choices.
lt wasn't like we had a giant list
we chose from,
it was, ''We should just use this here.''
lt was almost like temp music
that all ended up in the movie.
This sequence was so important
because it really sells
the collapse of our society.
And all the information
that our characters were going to get
about the state of the world was gonna
come through this and the TV stuff later.
lt was important to me to not know
exactly where the zombie plague started.
Yeah.
Here's my cameo - l'm there to the left
with a machine gun.
That's my friend Kurt on the other side.
And there's blood, which clearly is a theme.
- There's a fair amount of blood.
- A little bit.
James Gunn, rock star.
George Romero, another rock star.
And this was the embedded reporter,
which we loved.
That's lstanbul. Not the Turkish capital.
No, which we referred to in our ignorance.
Not in this version - we cut that out.
''l'm in the Turkish capital,''
and it says lstanbul.
We're like, ''That was a mistake.''
Good geography.
A couple of people don't appear in
the credits that we're very grateful to.
One of them is Dylan Clark from Universal.
And Scott Stuber from Universal.
Scott Frank and Michael Tolkin,
who worked on the script,
- did a great job.
- Really great.
There were a lot of people,
and we'll mention more of them,
we were very lucky
with pretty much every level.
- Yeah, and Stacey.
- Stacey Snider, of course.
The folks at Universal instantly got
what this movie was
and l don't imagine
that there was another studio
that would let us make this movie
the way that it was made.
- Very incompetently.
- Yeah.
Most people would have paid attention and
sent somebody up to Canada to fire me,
and do a shot list for Zack every day -
''Here's what you get.''
l love that shot.
lt helps you to see,
that's sad to see that playground.
That's kind of scary.
- Or funny.
- Yeah. lt could be hilarious.
This was one of the first days with Ving.
lt's morning, we were shooting in this tunnel,
which is actually quite close to the mall.
Not as close as it appears in the movie,
but just down the street.
There's a fake mall coming up.
- There's Mekhi...
- Fake as in CG.
..Jake and lnna -
we were really lucky with our cast.
- Yeah, great.
- Really lucky.
Look at 'em. They believe it.
Ving's pissed there. ''Why are you
shooting at me? What are you doing?''
Ving is cool.
And Ving - it never happens -
Ving came after us and was like,
''l wanna be in that movie.''
And l don't think we thought
we could get him.
Then suddenly he was like, ''l wanna be
in this movie cos the black guy lives.''
- Which is awesome.
- Awesome.
l'm into that.
- Jake Weber.
- Look at Jake, he believes it.
- ''l'm going to the mall.''
- He believes it.
Guess where he's going?
- Good.
- That's awesome.
- He's seen some atrocities.
- That sequence going to the mall,
we weren't gonna have that in.
l thought that could be
a trailer moment or something,
then we put it in.
l thought it was
too on the nose on the day,
''We're going to the mall,''
it sounds cheeseball.
lt actually gets a laugh,
like, the right kind of laugh.
Exactly correct. lt's awesome.
There's your mall.
ln some of the earlier versions
- Eric said, ''Shrek's gonna come out.''
- The Shrek mall.
- lt was awesome.
- We got a lot of Shrek stuff.
- This sequence is not in the movie.
- ln the theatrical version.
And this guy actually was
missing that arm in real life.
And he's getting shot there
and doesn't really care.
- There's the MTV guy behind him, lan...
- He comes at the last second.
- He's right behind him.
- ln the leather vest.
- Here's this guy...
- He's the last guy you see.
- Gnash your teeth!
- Boom. There he is, oh.
- The teeth gnash is gone.
- No, we cut that out.
He gnashed his teeth in this crazy way.
lt was too much.
At some point we just had them,
here they were.
Remember we picked them up here,
and then for the theatrical
we kept whittling it away.
- Till they just smash a toilet.
- Which is great.
Scott Stuber asked me,
''What is your obsession with toilets?
''You've got these toilet shots -
a close-up of the toilet,
- ''it falls in slow motion...''
- Slo-mo toilet.
l don't know. l never realised
how obsessed l was with toilets until...
l think your next movie should be
basically a toilet story, a drama about...
lt'd be cool. But you don't want to be
POV the toilet.
- Toilet POV? No.
- That's something you don't want.
- A small minority does but...
- Guys get arrested for that.
They'll put a camera in the toilet.
Freak show.
- There's the toilet.
- There it is.
There it comes again. Close-up.
- That may have been the toilet's double.
- l love it.
There's our mall.
Andrew Neskoromny built this mall.
We took over -
only Hollywood people would do this -
we took over a mall
and built a mall inside of it.
That's true, we took a mall
and we redid the mall. Great.
There's a Wooley's Diner.
Yeah, Wooley from
the Pittsburgh Police Department.
- Gets chomped by a zombie.
- And deserves it.
There's our Hallowed Grounds.
That was our coffee shop.
- You named it.
- Yeah, l thought it was funny.
Cos we couldn't get any of the chain...
No. ln the script it's all Starbucks and,
you know, The Gap. ''Yeah, we'll get 'em.''
Exactly. lmagine how often Starbucks
would have been in the movie.
Awesome, cos the whole movie
takes place at Hallowed Grounds.
Our sporting goods store.
Bookmark - great name for a book store.
lt was an exercise
in discovering fake names.
lt was quite a long exercise.
Gaylen Ross, the department store,
we'd tried to track down
who we felt were the five most significant
players in the original movie,
obviously Gaylen being
one of them and she...
This is a great moment -
''ls a zombie gonna jump out?''
- We got the loudest shotgun...
- Here it comes, bam! lmpossible.
We called Gaylen Ross
and she wasn't available
but we named
the department store after her.
And David, Flyboy, we couldn't find.
A lot of fans have noticed the Gaylen Ross.
- l've seen that on the internet.
- ''Gaylen Ross!''
Someone in a screening told me when the
department store came up people cheered
and he had no idea
what they were clapping for.
This is Jake kind of doing something crazy.
- ''l'll just go check...''
- ''That's bad.'' lf you're him...
''Why are you going in there?''
l love that, he goes in anyway.
There's a great moment coming up,
he makes a real genius weapons choice.
Whatever's in the script,
it's like, ''Let's trade this in for that.''
''Let me get rid of this gun
and pick up this...''
- Tennis racket.
- Yeah.
- There's a fly swatter and a mortar.
- ''l'll take the fly swatter every time.
- ''Cos l'm that kind of guy.''
- That's good.
- Hallowed Grounds back there.
- Yeah. They got a lot of exposure.
They did. Unfortunately they don't exist.
lt's funny, we shot
all the security scenes inside there.
- lnside there is the set.
- lt is the security office.
Yeah, which is kinda cool.
Mekhi's awesome. He's just awesome.
He was filming in Montreal as well,
and he was going back and forth.
Look at him. And he'd just come in
and rock star these scenes.
- We reshot this.
- lt's in the deleted scenes.
And didn't use it.
We reshot it and then...
We were scared this wasn't scary enough.
Now l'm going, ''Were we nuts?
This guy's face is falling off.''
You could see his cheekbone.
Development said, ''How do they not get in?''
So we had him say, ''Shatterproof, asshole.''
Shatterproof. And maybe people
don't even know what it means.
He could've said, ''Zombie-proof, asshole,''
and it would've been more on the nose.
Here he goes. ''l've got this crowbar,
now what am l gonna do?''
''l'm gonna trade this metal
for some balsawood.''
And the reason he does it is because...
- lt saves his life.
- A mallet can break
and then it can be used as a jabbing tool,
where a crowbar cannot.
That's what he was thinking.
You'd want to put more distance
between you and a zombie.
He's showing that by that little swing.
- He's feeling its heft.
- Exactly.
Now he's seen movement.
Would you go toward that? l'm not sure.
l think l'd probably lock the door.
- Go out and say, ''l saw something.''
- ''Andre, go check it out.''
This guy was great.
Also, the guy who's on the ground
helped us with the casting.
- This gentleman right there.
- Getting eaten.
Jake had a great time wrestling this guy.
Jake liked it to be physical.
And those two were going at it. lt was great.
He's trying to get to his broken mallet.
You can't see it.
This was POV Ben Cozine.
- Ben Cozine...
- Here's Ben.
Gentle Ben.
That shot we did later.
The first reveal of him biting,
he had a wig on,
we'd shaved him and
used him as another zombie.
So with that shot
he didn't have his natural hair,
he had this crazy wig, he looks like
Ringo Starr if you look closely.
- He was good.
- And a sharp... That'll help.
My daughter, who was three at the time,
we'd built a puppet of that guy...
- She didn't see that shot?
- No.
Kids could only come to the set when
we weren't doing something traumatic.
- Sarah with the shotgun.
- Good image.
She saw the puppet
David Anderson had built
and she's still terrified of it.
She asks me, ''Where's that puppet?''
l'm like, ''lt's under your bed.''
That's awesome.
She's like, ''ls that puppet coming?''
''Where's that puppet?''
- The elevator, which was fake.
- Goes nowhere.
You stand in it and that's it.
l remember you asked me,
in this sequence coming up, which l loved...
We were in the middle of working
on this sequence
and you'll see the doors open and
reveal our security guards in a second,
and the buzzers buzz,
and we had this discussion about
how we were gonna do these doors.
Three rock stars. And l love that you said,
''Why didn't we get that on the day,
the buzzers?''
And l was like, ''lt's guys closing the door.''
You're like, ''Oh, yeah.'' lt was great.
- That's awesome. That's real.
- That's real.
Mekhi loved that.
Zack and l would often say, ''That's real!''
lt was a joke that came
from another movie.
And Mekhi picked it up
and after something good or absurd,
he was like, ''That's real!''
lt's in my vernacular now.
l picked up so many...
l'm pointing now,
this point l got from Zack.
l like it when you point with ''OK'' or...
- You go... Like Sinatra.
- lt's not controversial. Confrontational.
- lt is controversial.
- lt's a very innocuous gesture.
You're not going, ''You! Hey!''
Michael Kelly,
who we love and who plays CJ,
- awesome.
- Rock star.
He would shoot with second unit all night
and then come in the next day
and be like, ''What do l do now?''
- Kevin Zegers, who we called The Kid.
- Handsome.
He's got the life that we all wish we had.
And Michael Barry, who was awesome.
- Michael Barry couldn't be better.
- Bart's a star.
- Bart gets capped, though.
- lt's unfortunate.
Here's our TV footage,
all of which was stock stuff.
lt's not in here
but we had a great loop group guy
announcing what he sees,
and he's like, ''They're dragging the man
from the church!'' l loved that.
- Why didn't we use that?
- l don't know. lt's all a mess but it's great.
Look at lnna. She's been bit.
She's pregnant
and she's been bit by a zombie.
ln my world, that's not good.
How about the fact
that we had a pharmacy?
ln the script Sarah goes to a pharmacy
and it would have cost a lot.
So it became a pharmacy,
then it became a convenience store
and then, ''Let's just make it one cabinet.''
There's Tom Savini. Rock star!
- Look at him.
- We added him on a location scout...
No, that's the parking lot of the mall.
- Yeah, but the idea to put him in...
- Oh, yeah.
- Cos we wanted the sheriff.
- From Night Of The Living Dead.
One of my favourite moments ever
is that guy.
''They're dead, they're all messed up.''
He's great too because if you look at him
he's got his earrings,
- his watch is in one of those cool...
- Biker stuff.
Like there's any cop in the world
who's got that shit on.
- Maybe at the end of the world.
- You go with it.
There's a great line when he's looking
at the zombies - ''l slept with her!''
- He was saying stuff like that.
- He was going nuts.
This is bad news.
Cos they don't know...
Here's our pharmacy.
There it is. There's your pharmacy.
l like how Sarah touches
all the things in the cabinet.
l came to the conclusion on this movie
that there's never enough money
and there's never enough time.
No matter how much you have...
And we had neither money nor time.
A great combination.
- lt was a great example.
- There's Scott Reiniger.
Awesome. We shot this in the parking lot.
We made Fort Pastor right outside.
That hill is the same hill that the zombies
come down in the shot on the roof.
We just put a chain-link fence up there
and drove some Humvees around
and said, ''Look, we're at Fort Pastor.''
- l like this girl's bite on her eye.
- Yeah.
This is Sarah breaking down.
Yeah. Just lost her husband.
lt's understandable.
- Realised what kind of movie she was in.
- Maybe that was it.
''What have l done? l had real credibility!''
''Get me out of here!''
''Michael Barry's yelling at me!
What am l doing?''
- l always liked this shot.
- Yeah.
Matt and l talked about it for a long time.
He was like, ''That's cool.''
This was awesome
because the woman who was doing...
- We brought her in to sew.
- She's a nurse.
The special effects people
had put some plastic under Ving's arm
so that she could sew the fake skin together.
The plastic was to shield his actual skin.
She did one in the foreground
and l said, ''OK. Go deeper,''
and l wanted her to go
physically down the wound
but she thought l meant
dig down deeper into the actual skin
so on the second one,
which you don't see here,
she stabbed the needle
into Ving's actual skin
and then sewed it.
And we didn't know that,
but blood started coming out of the wound
and l said, ''Awesome,
they did a great job with that prosthetic.''
And Ving goes,
''OK, l believe that's my last one.''
l was like, ''What do you mean?
lt was great but...''
He goes, ''She sewed
my actual skin on that last take.
''She sewed the plastic to my...
She stabbed me.''
l was like, ''OK, cool. That's great
you didn't scream out or anything.''
lt was pretty cool he just took it on the chin.
- The fabulous Ben Cozine.
- Yeah. He's just twitching out.
- Twitcher is just something we made up.
- lt's a made-up thing.
- lt's a little something for zombie lure.
- Yeah...
- ''Lore'' l believe that is.
- Or lure! You could lure a zombie.
With a twitcher. lt'll come to you.
This is the non-theatrical kill of Ben Cozine.
The MPAA had a real problem with it.
This is how you do it, by the way.
l liked it cos you get a glimpse of Ben
at the last second.
- There's his humanity. No.
- Oh, no.
- lt ended.
- lt's good.
l like that cos you get that
from lnna, too, later on.
- You get a little look at her...
- When she gets capped.
- Look at that.
- The Kid doesn't have the stomach for it.
- The Kid can't handle it.
- He didn't like that.
But he has the stomach for it.
lt's unfortunate that
they had to clean up the mall
and when you clean up the mall, you kill.
You gotta kill.
- This was the actual roof...
- This is awesome.
When they were throwing this body off,
right behind us was a church.
And they were having a funeral
and Michael Barry was yelling...
That's where Fort Pastor was.
Michael Barry was yelling off the roof, like...
- He saw a zombie he recognised.
- lt's in the deleted scenes
where he's going, ''Look at you now!''
and swearing
and people are coming out of the church
and we're throwing a body off the roof.
A funeral! And going, ''My God,
what are you guys doing over there?''
And he's bumming out
that he's gotta keep yelling.
We made him do it over and over.
lt was pretty great.
There's Andy for the first time.
Bruce Bohne plays Andy
and is a much-loved character.
- People love him.
- He's close to our heart.
- Bruce is a solid dude.
- He's a good guy.
Until very recently,
that was a Shrek helicopter.
- l like what they've done with it now.
- lt's good.
That helicopter wasn't there.
We'd written a sequence where
the helicopter landed, took them away.
We just couldn't do on the budget.
At one point we added a bit character
that we'd put on the helicopter
- cos it was full.
- He'd been bitten.
And he was going to Fort Pastor
just to really finish that off.
- Here they are.
- Locked in Metropolis.
We shot all this in the mall.
lt was our giant mall set that
we physically rolled around on shooting.
This is not in the theatrical version,
where we discover what
Jake's character does for a living.
ln some of the reviews l read,
they knew he was a salesman.
- Did we say it anywhere else?
- l don't know!
lt's kinda cool. lt's cos he's got
that crazy, short-sleeved shirt
the kind l wear with a clip-on tie.
Exactly. Like you'd wear under a blazer
or you'd wear on the floor
if you were selling a washing machine.
- l wear it.
- l know. lt's a good look for you.
This is kind of like, ''Shit's bad...''
l always liked this scene.
l did too. l like it when Ving goes
after his chewing gum antenna.
- Yeah. l like that, too.
- We weren't sure. lt's awesome, though.
- He clearly knew something we didn't.
- Yeah. But we took it out.
Sarah.
His brother at Fort Pastor.
''They seem to need to feed
on human flesh.'' l love that.
One of the first things we shot
for the movie was all this video stuff.
- We were on stage with the cameras...
- At the CTV.
On top of the CTV in Toronto,
shooting all this news stuff.
A lot of it's in the title sequence
and some of it's here and...
- This guy was good.
- Yeah.
- All the news guys were good.
- They were.
l love that shot of Michael combing his hair.
This thing came out of...
- ''We need something funny here.''
- We did.
We were like, ''We need something funny,''
and we came up with this.
And they sell it well, the guys do.
lt's nice also to talk about cos we brush over
the world at that moment there.
The Kid was selling that.
- l love Barry - ''That sucks too.''
- That's great.
Ken Foree.
He's a televangelist in a law office.
Not sure about that but l love it.
- l dig that crucifix.
- Yeah.
- lt's Don King style.
- We extended this also.
This has got that ''same-sex marriage''
and ''man-on-man relations'' in
which l always loved.
The lights go out.
l'm glad you got this thing in
when they're just bumming out in the mall.
- Yeah, that was good.
- Scott Hecker did a great sound job.
- Yeah, it's creepy here.
- lt's a bummer.
And also Tyler Bates.
- Tyler Bates. Awesome.
- Fucking awesome, awesome job.
- Throughout, everywhere you turn.
- He did a great job.
- There's Tyler coming at ya.
- And the Muzak is fantastic,
the choices that G Mark and his guys,
the stuff they provided.
We had temped it with Titanic,
which we were never gonna get.
We temped it with stuff
from The Stratosphere.
We had The Beatles,
which we weren't gonna get.
We were driving and l said to Wes,
Dead Man's Party came on,
l'm like, ''Why don't we have this?
What's the matter with us?''
Wes goes, ''l'm sure Danny Elfman
would love to...''
Like, that'd be cheap,
to get a song from him!
There's a good line from Barry here.
- ''Faggot.''
- That was the trainer...
l love this moment.
lt's just like, ''What? Look at you.''
- ''What are you doing?''
- We shot all this stuff
in the Panasonic store later on
because they were still building it
and it was supposed to be
the second storey of the mall.
- We shot it on the first floor...
- So you couldn't see down the aisle.
Then we had to redress and make
the Panasonic store on the second floor.
- We spent a lot of time with that store.
- We did.
- We were in there a lot.
- lt was a lot of time.
lt went quick, though, cos the guys
were in their zone by the time we got there.
There's lnna in the background putting
her clothes on. You can barely see her.
l love this big revolution shot of the keys.
- There are a lot of keys.
- Yeah, it takes keys to do stuff in a mall.
A little bathroom drama.
- That's good.
- This is a good scene.
These guys were great in it.
We'd been talking about
the origin of the zombie plague
and, you know, our sort of initial...
decision not to reveal where it came from
because l felt it was obvious
that in this fallen society
you wouldn't know where
the whole plague started
but it's been a bit of a bone of contention.
Melissa, our assistant editor,
has been fighting that front
in the chatrooms.
And she's done a great job
convincing the masses that you don't need
to know where the plague came from.
And you wouldn't.
l think people would be more pissed
with some scene where Jeff Goldblum
says, ''Here's what happened!''
- Exactly.
- You don't want that.
You're in a mall and the TV's gone,
that's real!
That's real.
This is where Mekhi's struggling with his...
This is the existential...
- debate.
- He's good.
He is good.
''Five Hail Marys and wipe your ass.''
Remember we went to your house that day,
the two of them and us?
- We just talked out the scene.
- lt was cool.
lt was fun.
- He's a little voyeuristic.
- You think it's going in that direction.
l would want it to but then, OK, fine,
let's deal with this.
That was awesome.
lf you look back at that scene
there's a big guy at the back
who's kind of lumbering, it's pretty fun!
l only had a couple of zombies that day
when we did the overhead,
there's like ten of them there.
You're supposed to imply
there's more in the background.
Some days we didn't have enough zombies,
it was like, ''What are we gonna do?''
Exactly. Clay would come to me and go,
''l've got five zombies
''and l've got on my list
'crowd of zombies rocks arks'.''
- Yeah, exactly.
- ''What am l supposed to do?''
l'm like, ''l don't know what to do.''
But Clay did an awesome job,
he really did a great job.
He puts up with ''no'' for an answer
and got it done.
Love him.
- Here's a little confrontation on the roof.
- Yeah.
Terry sells out.
- And the irony is that he's kinda right.
- CJ's right.
We shot this on top of the mall.
Look in the background at that skylight,
you can see our movie lights
hanging inside the atrium.
So it's kinda cool that
you can see the movie itself.
We also got lucky with Mr. ,
the Toronto-based effects house.
They were awesome.
Dennis and Aaron and Eric and Patrick.
Great.
Coming up, the running
and the backing over the guys.
That was the first thing that we saw
that really, for me anyway,
- l felt, ''That's the movie right there.''
- l feel that.
Everyone we showed it to said,
''What kind of movie are you guys making?''
This bit right here.
We had the stuntmen run backwards
to the position of the dummies,
that's how we could have them
running right into the...
Those are real actors running
to the last frame. Then they get hit.
- That made us very happy.
- Yeah. That's all good.
That was Clay's angle, the low angle.
l'm glad he did that.
- This got pretty severely truncated.
- But it's good, it's tighter.
lt is tighter, yeah. lt was always...
The movie went off on this buddy-movie
kind of thing...
Not so much here but in the sequence
afterwards, opening the door.
There's a shotgun blast
from the inside there.
ln the theatrical version you have
no idea why there's holes in the door.
And then, ''Shoot 'em in the head!''
This was fun cos Jayne doesn't like heights
so she was a little bit...
She didn't go too close to the edge.
- That was the kabuki!
- That's Patrick. ls that Patrick?
He was one of our zombie MVPs.
- Yeah, he was awesome.
- He was great.
- We used the same guys over and over.
- They got mad at each other.
- And here's Ermes.
- Ermes!
Ermes had been Chris Farley's
stand-in and stunt double
when l did Tommy Boy
in Toronto in 1995 or whenever it was
and we cast him as the old woman
and got a lot of laughs.
When you see it in the theatre,
people look at that...
And they're like...
After we shot the sequence
Ermes came up to me,
l'd never seen him outside of his make-up
and he was like, ''Zack, how are you?''
And l was like, ''Who the hell are you?''
''l've only been staring at you
and talking to you intimately for a week.''
And l just didn't recognise him.
We had teamsters beat him
before we figured out...
Who he was, it was too bad.
Ty Burrell!
Ty Burrell and Michael Kelly and Jake
we met on the same day in New York,
the first day of casting.
Joseph Middleton, who's fantastic,
hooked us up with them
and we knew they were the guys right away
and Ty is awesome.
And he's a great guy.
Halfway through people were trying to laugh,
he's not saying something funny.
People were...
l'm like, ''No, that's not funny.
''Why are you laughing at that?
Don't give him everything.''
He's our Paul Reiser.
This Davy Crockett line
was a reference to the Alamo.
l wanted to reference it whenever l could.
- And you did.
- l did.
- ln the chess set is the Alamo.
- Jayne Eastwood is great.
This is like the Alamo
and out there are the Mexican army.
There's Jayne.
She's not gonna use the truck.
- Dead-ish.
- That was a Zack Snyder.
That came out...
We were in the conference room and that...
''What about dead-ish?''
lt's in every radio spot.
Have you heard them?
They end with, ''ls everyone there dead?''
''Dead-ish.''
That's great.
Remember where Ving did that outtake,
''Kiss my smooth-shaven black ass''?
That was great.
He just threw that at us out of nowhere.
We were like, ''OK, that's awesome.''
''Let's do one where you...
You're ruining my movie.''
That's great.
Ving goes out on the roof,
he's just found out his brother is dead.
Dead-ish.
- You could laugh at this point if you want.
- lf you were strange.
There's Bruce Bohne again,
who you just can't get enough of.
Andy's gun store.
He just wants some info, man.
Give it to him.
- Binoculars.
- Has he put his pistol away?
Cos we originally had him shooting...
l like it better with him just standing there!
lt was totally cool.
James Gunn from draft one
had this Kenneth-Andy relationship in it.
lt's really great.
And Zack rendered it in a great way
and it's just very effective.
That gets a laugh.
l wasn't sure if it would but it does.
Look at Lindy Booth.
Here's Lindy Booth and Matt
and Lindy Booth will look at Kevin's ass
when he walks away
and l'm not sure how l feel about it,
it makes me uncomfortable.
See, she's looking at it and then smirking.
What does that mean?
- l don't know.
- l don't either but l like it.
Clearly the loss of
her mother and her brothers...
lt hasn't hurt her that bad!
She's bounced back from it.
That oestrogen is still going.
- Ermes is having a hard time.
- Yeah. A lot of make-up.
Remember that one death scene
that he did when he died?
l said, ''OK, when you die,
kinda convulse a little and then die.''
And no lie, he convulsed
for close to 0 seconds.
lt was crazy, it was awesome,
the best thing l've ever seen.
Right here, it was like, he just went.
He was flopping around
and Sarah was laughing.
They couldn't control her.
Cos his boob flew out of the bra.
lt was all over the place.
- Didn't we roto out his tongue?
- Yeah. But his rolled-back eyes...
He held his eyes rolled back in his head,
like this... That's real.
He really did that. lt's awesome.
l can't even do it. lt's awesome.
See, look at this. Doing that.
Died without a name, apparently.
- That got a laugh, too, which was odd.
- Yeah.
Which was odd!
And then this. Everyone's scared.
This was funny, we shot this three times.
Then we did that close-up of the eye,
picked that out.
- That linked everything together.
- lt did. l liked it.
And Mr. has a little...
The eye dilates when it's revealed. Ow.
That was a fun poker shot.
This is when Sarah realised she'd made
a good decision, shoving the poker.
You think so? l think she was like,
''l don't know what this movie's about
''so l'll just do this until you're happy
because l just don't know what this is.''
Mekhi gesturing with the gun
was one of our favourite things.
''How do you know?''
When l'm mad at someone
l will point a gun at them while taking.
There you go. That's great.
But we can forgive it
cos he just got some bad news,
that his pregnant girlfriend is gonna die.
- Or become a zombie.
- Yeah.
You can see him thinking about it.
There's a good shot of the mall.
lt was almost like a practical bookstore
in the sense that it was full of books.
We'd drug in a whole book store.
Crazy books, too. Books you could buy
for five cents a copy.
There were hundreds
of Wisconsin currency...
a coffee-table book about
Wisconsin currency from the 19th century.
- The strangest thing.
- lt was great.
l was gonna grab a bunch
and l didn't and l regret it.
And the gun's just there on the counter.
- Frenchie, the armourer, did a great job.
- He did.
He had to deal with my gun requests,
which were a little unorthodox.
He kept showing up with movie guns -
''He should have two Desert Eagles!''
and l'd be like, ''No, that's a movie gun.
''These people are trying to fight zombies.
''What would they have rather than, like...
''She's got two MP5s and, like...
''A Desert Eagle.''
lt's awesome, a lot of people with criticism
when we were developing it
were like, ''They have so many guns.''
But guns don't really help them that much.
l always argued that
the guns allow you to go 20 feet
and then your guns are no good
so all the gun does is let you get
from a door to another door.
But you can't go outside with a gun,
that doesn't help.
lt is Armageddon, after all.
Matt Frewer probably worked four days.
- Four or five days.
- He did good stuff.
He was fantastic, did a great job.
He's also potentially a great zombie.
But when l say that you'll see...
- Shoot Tucker too? That's what l say.
- That's great.
Good, Lindy.
Those guys had that death scene to do.
There's a scene that's a little longer
in this version of the movie
than in the theatrical version
where Lindy and Matt have a scene
where he's gonna tell her to go away.
We shot it all day
and they were exhausted at the end.
lt was good, though.
You shot it well and they played it well.
Here's Mekhi, like...
Watching this l thought
people would think, ''He's gonna kill her.''
- Yeah, he's got his gun out.
- No, it's OK.
We lit this scene really brightly on purpose
because we wanted
the contrast to what happens to it later.
You'll see, it gets a little hard-core.
- lt gets a little freakier.
- When we scouted this
we tore all the walls out but it was like
a crazy discount furniture...
By the way, every place in the mall
was like some weird discount...
- lt was...
- Stuff that fell off a truck.
lt was kind of a scary mall on its last legs.
- Yeah.
- Which was kind of fun.
- lt's the Thornhill mall in Ontario.
- What's there now?
- Has it gone?
- They were developing it.
The big reason we went to Toronto
was they had this mall there
that they were going to tear down
and redevelop in some way
and they said,
''Come on in and do what you will.''
- That made sense.
- Yeah.
- We also talked about one in New Zealand.
- That would've been awesome.
Go to New Zealand
to shoot a mall in Wisconsin,
that's just fun, that's Hollywood style.
Look at Matt, he is a great potential zombie.
He doesn't look good right there.
- He looks very near zombiism.
- He's sick.
And l like this bit with Ving
where he's almost like the executioner,
waiting to come in and ruin the party a bit.
Boy, Ving loved that shotgun.
- He did, he learned to love it.
- He did really learn to love it.
- He had it with him a lot.
- At dinner.
- He did!
- You're gonna see it.
- He had it at dinner.
- He has it at dinner.
- And he loved that do-rag too.
- Yeah.
- lt's good, though.
- lt's very good.
Look at that, that's a good potential zombie.
That's the start of zombie make-up there.
- They're in their cage.
- They lived there for a while.
That's also the set
where Sarah got the first-aid stuff.
And the production offices
were behind that wall,
all the offices were back there.
- The offices at the mall.
- Crafters, as it was called.
That's right. lt used to be a craft shop.
They had up on the wall
all these crazy crafty antidotes.
A lot of ''Shoplifters will be prosecuted''.
lt was a weird mall and also SARS
was going on while we were there
and you didn't see people with masks
but you got a weird vibe
that people were sort of worried about it.
We didn't worry about it.
l don't think anyone on the show knew
anyone who knew anyone who had SARS.
- Everyone made a much bigger deal of it.
- lt was totally inflated.
lt was like a zombie plague.
You could inflate that in the same way.
l don't know anybody who was a zombie
- or l don't know anybody who knows...
- But they're out there.
Certainly CNN seems to think they are.
And this was
our first look
at the bookstore here, inside of it.
And Alias Telecom in the background,
that's where Ving's shooting him,
if you want some geography.
- Down With The Sickness.
- A little Down With The Sickness.
l will admit this,
there wasn't a single person besides Zack
who thought this was a good idea
and now everyone is like, ''When we
decided to put that song in the movie...''
l tell people, ''l just heard it
and instantly knew it was right.''
Zack was like, ''This should be over it.''
We were like, ''You're crazy!''
Now l couldn't imagine
the sequence without it.
There was a time
when we were nervous about not getting it
and we were like,
''Let's not release the movie!''
Exactly. ''What do you mean,
we can't have it?''
There's the Alamo chess pieces.
- l believe they're thanked in the credits.
- The Franklin Mint?
We thank the Franklin Mint.
We'll look at it later
for the Legends Of The Alamo
chess pieces.
- This is a big Mr. shot.
- Yeah, lot of zombies.
Because they could see Ving,
they get agitated when they see meat.
- That's why they're all...
- Which is true.
Most of the stuff, the biological,
physiological stuff, is accurate.
lt's accurate.
You'll try stuff out when you're in a mall.
- You'll look through a telescope with a girl.
- You'll play basketball.
- You'll watch Animal House.
- A great movie.
Or get some action.
- Lift four 45-pound plates per side.
- Yeah.
- Play some cards.
- Gamble for cigarettes.
- And this is great, this is gold.
- Yeah, it's great.
l didn't want to poke fun at the zombies
but when you do you've got to go strong.
Now, here comes gold.
We're particularly proud of this sequence.
Zack and l were figuring out levity
but also what else would you be doing
and this is exactly
what we'd be doing in this situation.
We'd be playing that celebrity lookalike,
shoot-them-in-the-head game.
That's just fun, that's all that is.
People give me a hard time -
''How can you do that?''
You're doing the zombies a favour.
lf you go to a carnival,
how can you ride the rides?
lt's the equivalent of egging a car.
That's the kind of answer
that they want to hear too.
- l'm doing it for kicks.
- l love his eyebrow right here.
Ty Burrell's awesome.
Rosie. And we looped some lines,
we didn't put them in.
He's like, ''Where's Clooney?''
- We got some Clooney.
- We had that ''Where's my redhead?'' thing.
- Yeah, we took that out.
- He had some girl down there he liked.
l'm a badminton player so l made them
put a net up in the background.
This is the scene that Scott Frank wrote
that we loved and didn't get into the movie
- but it's hilarious.
- lt's great, isn't it? l really like it.
- He's talking about a man we know.
- Who does know who he is.
But l'll tell you one thing,
he's not actually a gay man.
- Who's that?
- The actor there.
- R.D.?
- R.D.'s not.
- l thought he threw down a lot of respect.
- He did.
Look at Sarah.
This was something we added later after...
Yeah, we wanted to get Kim a little...
Kim was throwing some love here.
- Kim Poirier was great.
- She was. She's really funny.
She's flirting with him, he's all upset
and she's like, ''Try the vanilla stuff.''
She was great. And her part,
she didn't have that much to do
but she made it so much better
and work, she was really good.
- Her fate...
- lt's sort of thankless.
Her end is kind of rough
but it's nice that you think
once she's on the truck,
''OK, these are the cats that make it.''
This is the sequel cast.
- We shot a lot of this sequence.
- The dinner party?
l felt like l was in the plantation scene
in Apocalypse Now.
They're talking about their lives forever.
Again, we shot this
right in the middle of the mall
and we had all the lights on rheostats
so we could lower or raise them
depending on the time of day
and tent the skylights
so we could make it night.
So we shot this all day, tented everything
and turned the lights down real low
and turned the candles on
and made this night,
kind of lived-in mall vibe,
which was important to the vibe
that these guys had been there for a while.
Lights out. Jake's job thing came out of...
On a location scout with Marc Abraham
he was talking about all the jobs he had.
- Yeah, we were like...
- He was like, ''l had, like, 0 jobs.''
Zack and l were like, ''l've been doing this
since l got out of school.''
- l like that. 0 jobs.
- 0 jobs.
- We said, ''That should be in the movie.''
- He named eight of them.
That's good.
This whole sequence is great.
lnna's fantastic.
lnna is so good. She's probably
the best zombie in the movie.
As far as staying power.
She's not a zombie yet.
But she's on her way.
Mekhi's clearly having
a little trouble with his mind,
that he's tied his pregnant wife down.
- But l'm into that.
- He's gone a little nuts.
There was a big blackout
the summer we were shooting.
ln this sequence we had a blackout
while we were shooting it.
We had generators for the mall
but this scene was shot during a blackout
and Jake couldn't get ahold of his girlfriend
and he was a little bit upset.
- lt worked, though.
- He's tense but he really was.
l had a hard time getting
ahold of Debbie too.
She was in New York
and they had a blackout too.
My wife, daughter
and mother-in-law were all in Toronto.
- During the blackout?
- Yeah.
There is no group of people
l would rather be with less
than my wife and mother-in-law
in a blackout.
- That's great.
- They weren't prepared.
- They didn't have their survival kits?
- No.
- Not that you could have one in Canada.
- No survival instincts either.
They ordered room service in the hotel
and ate under the emergency lights.
- That's awesome.
- That's cool.
This was fun.
''You ready to roll?'' l love that.
''Now it is.'' Now it's dark.
Like Dennis Hopper.
Yep. lt's good.
- PT Cruiser.
- The power's out yet some lights are on.
Those emergency lights
are battery powered. lt's a movie.
- No, l know.
- For God's sake.
Why you wanna bust my chops now?
- We gotta go back in.
- Matt said to me as we shot it,
''You need this. You can always take it down
but you can't bring it up.''
He was right.
The way the movie's coloured -
did you read that review? lt's awesome.
That was all some Zack Snyder action.
- Colour timing, EFlLM.
- Mike over there did a great job.
There's a hand moving,
l think that was the AD.
lt was Sara over there
with her hand behind the thing.
- She did the hand?
- l think. l gotta ask Clay.
All the ADs and PAs were awesome.
- They were great.
- All of them.
This parking garage sequence
came out pretty early on.
The power went out and we walked
four levels down into the parking garage
in the dark and it was freaky -
''We gotta put this in.''
You guys were telling me that
the other night and l was like, ''Really?''
- l was like, ''Wow.''
- Although l don't remember much...
When's the first time we met?
- lt was... l don't know.
- lt must have been 2001 .
- lt was right before 9/1 1 l think.
- Yeah, it was before 9/1 1 . For sure.
Zack was the first director we met with.
Oh, too bad. Here goes Barry, going down.
Sad to lose him.
A Bela Lugosi vibe from that one there,
- did you see that?
- Yeah.
Not sure l'm into that.
- He had a widow's peak going on?
- This is fun.
- This whole sequence was fun.
- lt was.
We shot this scene early too.
This was one of the sequences
we shot out of order.
- The first out-of-order sequence.
- l was not really...
- Couldn't have enough head shots.
- No, impossible.
He's out and here comes my boy.
Boom, boom.
That's what you don't want to have happen.
That was rigged with pulleys to fall.
And that was not real gas,
we shot this later, it was water.
And then l shot this shot.
- That's beautiful.
- l picked up that shot
on a Budweiser commercial l did
up in Telluride, Colorado.
We shot it in a parking garage - the
close-up of the lighter hitting the gasoline
- and that was real gas.
- We needed it.
l was like, ''We're shooting this commercial
but l need this shot,''
so shot it at night in the basement.
- lt's a great shot.
- lt is.
- Meanwhile.
- Back at the ranch.
Things are going south for Andre and Luda.
Look at lnna's eyes, she's great.
You shot this in two and a half, three days?
- Two and a half days.
- Great. l was just like...
So much great stuff and Niven Howie,
who's a fantastic editor...
l love Niven.
..he and Zack played with this
until it was perfect.
Here's the little foot. That's a foot.
Pushing - if you look there's toes.
l haven't looked at the watch carefully,
l'm sure it's wrong.
- His watch?
- You can see it there.
l never even looked at it.
Mekhi just believing it, he's so good.
We had this belly and it was controlled
by little poles and stuff.
- lt had air pressure...
- lt was like a pneumatic...
lf you could hear it, it sounded like...
lt did not sound scary at all.
But Scott put those little...things in there.
That sells it. lt's just horrible.
And here's a great thing you'll notice -
when you become a zombie
your mouth starts bleeding.
l don't know why but it happens.
Your teeth get bloody.
- Maybe you bite your cheek.
- Could be.
You start biting your own tongue and stuff.
l could never figure that out.
l love that, right there. lt's cool.
lnna was so good.
- lt's exhausting to be in those...
- Restraints?
Tied down like that, thrashing around,
but she did an awesome job.
- This stuff was gold.
- He hits the mobile, which was fun.
That was scripted -
he hit the mobile and it started...
This Old Man.
Which is not what we did
but it read great, This Old Man.
Look at her.
And then... The power's out,
they've gotta collect things
and put them in a single freezer.
- Yeah.
- Getting your supplies together.
And then Jane's gonna head off.
- This scene is one of those... Oh.
- Oh, no.
That's what you want.
- That is what you want.
- ln a movie like this you need that.
l did one version
where the blood comes out...
- lt sprays his face.
- ..like a huge gush.
We did that one but also where l had...
l think l had four gallons of brown fluid
with chunks in it.
We did one version
where it went to the end of the bed
and went over like a waterfall
and everyone thought
that was too much except for me.
- Yeah, it was pretty hard-core.
- l was like, ''Why? Why is that?''
- Here comes some Wild West action.
- And then...
We got this sequence cut together
pretty early and we were excited about it.
You'll see that the director's cut
is a little rougher than the theatrical version.
But we couldn't restore it fully
because we had cut the neg
- before l went back to the...
- You couldn't get that version.
l couldn't get it all the way back.
- But that's just the way it is.
- l got it on DVD somewhere.
Be fun to enjoy that.
But it's close, it's kind of rough.
You still get a good sense
of what l was looking for from this.
l always think it's a great moment
when a young man and an older woman
can shoot it out at point-blank range.
lt doesn't happen very often.
lt should happen more.
l find it really pleasing when l can see it.
And that they don't die in the first exchange,
they can really go to blows,
- which l love.
- And they die in pain.
Here's lnna's Ben Cozine moment
where she looks at you.
- That's what you're not into.
- That's what you don't want.
l heard that.
- You embrace the violence.
- That's what you want.
That's why you came, that's why you're here
- and that's why you're applauding.
- Or laughing.
And rewinding and watching again.
And again and again and looping that.
And that's what l'm hoping for.
Here comes Sarah, she's concerned.
Here was an issue.
We wanted to make sure you knew
if you became a zombie...
You'd only become a zombie if you
had been infected, so you could just die.
There was a version of the script where,
eventually, whether you fell off a ladder
or got eaten by zombies
you'd become a zombie.
- There was no... Why fight it?
- Eventually you'd be one.
They're better off, let's become zombies.
The other interesting thing
was the recently dead arising.
That was from the original movie.
The recently dead are coming back to life.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Zombies are just the recently dead.
And l was like, ''Where's the cutoff there?''
Yeah, is Abraham Lincoln
going to dig himself out?
We talked about that too.
- That's a different movie. lt could be cool.
- lt could be great.
But do skeletons have sinews,
how do they move their muscles or limbs?
Skeletons, that's weird.
This is real. This is a documentary.
This is real.
Here comes the zombie baby
and this is my version of it.
There's that. Awesome.
- And then this is how you do it, right there.
- Oh, no.
That's what you want to see
and then - oh, no.
- Where was the mother during that?
- l don't know, she was there,
saying, ''l love show business
and l want my baby to be a part of this.''
That's the daytime mall with the blacks
over the skylights.
This is the funeral.
''l don't know how anyone
could believe in God.''
This is the director's cut,
we put this little sequence back in.
l liked having this moment from Ving.
You want him to come up
and tell you how it is.
- You want some speechifying.
- l want some quotable thing.
So l can walk out of the movie and go,
''ln the back of my mind l was
always thinking, 'Better them than me.'''
''There are some things worse than dying.''
- ''One of them...''
- ''Sitting here waiting to die.''
- You want to be able to do that.
- ''That's not how l feel.''
Sarah doesn't want to die.
This was great too because
Jake has to have this plan.
He only glanced at those trucks down there
- and it was bubbling in his mind.
- Yeah.
At the premiere when he says,
''l have an idea,''
everyone started laughing.
- That's not funny.
- You know it's gonna be...
There he goes. He's good.
And again, this is Hallowed Grounds,
we love that.
lf this had been Starbucks, just think.
The sales would go...
lt would've helped them so much.
Cos they need more money.
lt's a dying business, coffee.
- Clearly it's in trouble.
- Yeah. lt might have saved them.
- lt might have.
- From bankruptcy.
This is great, too.
We shot this a hundred different ways
because we wanted to get...
There was too much swearing in one take.
He'd be like, ''This fucking fucker.
''Fuck this boat. Fucking trucks
with fucking aluminum siding on them.''
l was like, ''Let's get one
with less fuckings in it.''
He had a lot. Every day
he overshot his fuck quota.
Oh, yeah. So far over.
Scott said, ''lf he says 'fuck' one more time,
l'll pull the plug.''
- Stuber wasn't into all the fucks.
- No. l don't blame him.
- No, he was right.
- lt was a little crazy.
He still got away with a few.
- Yeah, he did.
- That's 6 inches, by the way.
Just good to know for later.
That's rubber barbwire.
This is a great song.
The Hangman's Song...
- Yeah, it is a great song.
- ..which we love.
- G Mark give us that, did he?
- No. Well...
- Actually, Zig found it and then...
- Zig was cool.
Zig was great. He played it for me
and l was like, ''Love it.''
Pretty cool.
Marc Abraham got mad at this.
He's like, ''They don't need four guys
to carry that little metal thing.
''They look like jackasses.''
lt's heavy, that thing.
l told him it's awkward.
You can't hold it by yourself.
Like putting up a picture frame.
lt might take two guys to straighten it.
''Pussy nine-mils'' always gets a laugh
from, like, from my people.
From the gun crowd.
From Max Cady, from...
Kyle McCulloch laughed
at pussy nine-mils.
''That's hilarious!''
l love that he has his boat key with him.
You never know when he needs
to remind them how important he is.
And he had it with him
when he left his house.
- Maybe he was gonna go there.
- Possibly.
And then that guy told him
to go to St. Verbena.
Lindy's a little upset here.
There was a great moment
when we wanted Kim to say...
- She was mimicking her.
- Mocking her. ''Don't kill my father.''
- ''Don't kill my dad.'' Making her cry.
- lt was good.
- How's Andy?
- He's not doing so good.
- ls he from Hungary?
- This is the silent movie look.
l love that. That's awesome.
We painted his ribs to make 'em look
a little more pronounced.
This was a scene that we talked about
taking out of the movie
and ended up keeping it in.
- The movie's better for it.
- lt is.
lt gets a good laugh and it also strengthens
their relationship a little bit.
lt's difficult, you've got a woman
whose husband dies
in the first three minutes of the movie.
So to really have her have
this sexual relationship with this guy
would have been distasteful.
But fun.
There is a little kiss here in this version.
ln the unrated version
you get a little kissing and a little chainsaw,
which is kinda the whole reason for the kiss,
so you can get this.
And it makes a nice cut point.
Ving with shotgun at meeting.
- And ideas.
- And ideas.
- He's gonna get some here.
- Boyd's got his shotgun, too.
lf you roll it to the audio track,
there's a funny line
but there's a sound right here.
lt sounds like... l don't know what it is.
Either a seal or a dolphin.
To this day, l don't know what that is.
lt's like a...
l don't know what it is. Could be the toy.
- l don't know.
- But l like it.
Every time l see the movie,
l go, ''What is that?''
And nobody can answer,
so l'm like, ''l'll leave it in.''
James wrote this.
Originally, we had tons of dogs
and they were sending a wagon train over
and then they got attacked by zombie dogs.
We just couldn't do it.
And it worked out well like this.
But it involved animals and CG animals,
which would have been a nightmare
and wouldn't have looked right.
There was a giant
dog-training sequence in the mall.
A huge part of the movie
was gonna be training these dogs
and getting them to believably
pull wagon trains over there.
And the problem with that,
not just the practical concerns,
was it never put
any of our characters at risk.
lt was the dogs.
We wanted to find a way
to get a person over to the mall.
One of my big wants was
l wanted Ving to be able to be the one
who puts the round in Andy's head.
- Cos what are friends for?
- That's right.
lf a friend can't kill you
when you're a zombie, who will?
l mean, l'd do that for you, for sure.
l appreciate that. l do.
This is the walkie sequence.
This is also a clear example
of a low-budget movie.
When they make you shoot a close-up
of a walkie-talkie,
instead of actual zombie war.
lt's great fun, though.
l love it. lt's a great device.
Nicole's gone and done something crazy.
When l was talking to Christina Aguilera
at the premiere,
she said, ''l would have
gone after that dog, too.
''When l saw Nicole going
after the dog, that's real.''
- l said, ''Awesome.''
- She's representative of...
- She's the one. l felt vindicated.
- ''lf she would do it, then who wouldn't?''
Then she punched my nephew Tucker,
kinda like, ''Oh, gosh.''
And he walked away from her
and he turned to my sister Audrey
and said he was star-struck
and he's like, ''l feel weak.''
- Literally. He was star-struck.
- He was like, ''l feel weak.''
l was like, ''That's so awesome.''
He actually got a little dizzy,
which was cool.
Now Andy's a zombie.
He's also a good zombie.
We tried to get this to be later.
ln the colouring of the movie,
l made it feel a bit later in the day.
Because this transition to night is...
coming right now, basically.
We had a chronological...
There's a time jump.
They gotta make a plan.
But the things that bothered us,
or we felt would be problems,
none of them were problems.
The stuff that we went
to great lengths to address,
we didn't really need to address.
The stuff we thought was obvious,
people'd be like, ''What the hell
were you doing? ldiots.''
We couldn't be clearer that, with Vivian,
Sarah says,
''Say hi to your mom for me.''
Then l was reading on the preview cards,
''ls that their kid?''
- ''Who is that?''
- ''Who's that little blonde girl?''
Now they go into this tunnel sequence.
That door, we had a scene
where he looks down that door.
lt's in the trailer -
''Eventually, they're gonna get in here.''
They're looking through that door.
But we took it out.
This tunnel sequence, we were gonna shoot
in real tunnels in Toronto,
under the Metro rail station.
And we ended up going,
''That's nuts. Let's do it on stage.''
- ''Let's build it.''
- lt was a hundred times better.
But they still made me shoot it in a day.
Yeah, you really kicked ass on this day.
This was during the blackout.
The second day.
We went up and then down.
- And Tucker got dragged in one day.
- lt was hot, too.
lt was good.
- There's your manhole, where you see...
- That's right.
The date the movie was released.
- You see it...
- When Tucker closes it.
This was fun. l liked doing this sequence.
This was fun.
A lot of, like, running head shots
which, as you know if you're a shooter,
is next to impossible
but our amateur gun guys
seem to be able to do it quite well.
This whole sequence was really
by the seat of our pants.
This whole thing was Zack's idea,
to do the tunnel and get over there
and shoot their way in.
l don't think we knew what we were
gonna do until a couple of weeks out.
lt just got scheduled
into this freak show of, like...
And l had all these head shots.
That's complicated stuff to do.
lt takes forever, this stuff.
But we did it quick and then,
at the end of that night,
there was a huge electrical storm,
and the CN Tower was struck by lightning.
That was wild. That was cool.
Boom. That's what l'm talking about.
Good shot.
This guy, right here...
- This is gold.
- This is what you want.
Ving hits the ground. That was harsh.
But he does escape.
Some people asked me if he got bit
and l'm like, ''He clearly didn't.''
- This was a real gun store in Canada.
- That's right.
- Which sounds crazy cos...
- The only gun store in Canada.
- The one gun store but that's all...
- lt was pretty freaky.
lt was crazy.
lt reminded me of a head shop. lt was like...
- Like a porno.
- Yeah, it was weird.
ln America, gun stores are like a Wal-Mart.
lt's very clean and normal.
This one had a crazy...
lt was great that they let us shoot there.
lt was cool. And you couldn't
go into the gun store
unless you had a firearms license.
You had to show your badge
through the glass.
Here's Andy down there,
trying to get at Nicole.
This was a fun shot to do, too.
This is a combination of two shots -
a shot we did on the day,
a maquette head that we blew up
with primer cord,
so we just put the fake head on top of Andy
and then you get this.
Which is what you want.
We were so tightly...
This stuff was all so tightly scheduled.
And that's the dumbest trick in the world.
You promise to deliver the movie
in a certain amount of days
even though you know you can't.
This is one of those times when Zack
had to crank to get through all this stuff.
We had a pretty unrealistic schedule
by design.
Yeah, totally by design.
And kids, don't do this at home
and l'm serious when l say this.
There's no reason you'd be out
shooting a propane tank with a flare on it.
So just don't.
Dave Lauck invented that spotting system
for the interior of the scope.
Dave Lauck is a gunsmith
who is an amazing gentleman.
This is not in the theatrical
and l know it bothers Zack.
We love it like this. This is what you want.
But in the theatrical version,
no one seemed to care
that they just ran out of the movie.
lt starts right here.
And this gentleman is a film critic
for the Toronto paper,
right there with the tie on.
There were a lot of journalists.
A lot of people wanted to be zombies.
Some didn't come because of SARS
but those who did,
a lot of MTV guys got to be...
All this, shot all this...
in one day.
Just this stuff down the tunnel.
That was me. l was hand-held
for most of this and l got...
Michael Kelly was shooting
a little close to me.
But he's good so l trust the Force.
That's awesome. That gets a huge reaction.
We had a huge problem with that shot.
We had to knock his hat off ten times
and it was difficult to hand him the guns
- and naturally knock the hat off.
- At the same time.
And then Clay got
all these zombie pickups for me.
The close-ups of the zombies coming down
which l needed - what he shot at.
And then there was a great moment
in a story meeting after a preview,
talking about this sequence,
and someone said,
''See how the zombies pause
at the bottom of the stairs?
''That doesn't seem consistent...''
- ''Would they do that?''
- And l said...
l was on the spot and l said,
''You know, in real life, no.''
There was a lot of that kind of shit.
''They wouldn't pause
''but in a film where you dramatise, it's OK.''
Like, ''Normally, most zombies don't run.
''That's true, you're right.
Most zombies don't run.''
- ''They wouldn't run.''
- ''ln this, they do.
''This particular strain
of zombies run and pause.''
This is the mall. lt's over.
''Let's go. They're inside. Let's go.''
And this was just improv'd, this little...
''l like this song.'' Which l thought was great.
Since, of course,
there was no music when we shot it.
- What did we shoot last?
- This was early.
There was a whole issue with Ving's do-rag,
it was either on or off.
So we had to have him put it on
and take it off.
lt was a huge deal
but we ended up not caring.
We didn't worry in continuity
but on the day we were
really concerned.
He's about to put it on.
That's what he's looking at.
We shot that shot of them running
really early.
Cos then we were married
to having to kill Tucker
in the tunnel sequence.
And we also had the issue with his do-rag.
But it ended up being great
that we killed Tucker.
l was glad. l loved him
but he died in a great way.
He died heroically.
And now we're out...
This was some Mr. magic coming up.
There you go, big zombie landscape.
And then...
This shot was like a feel-good shot.
l remember going, ''God, that's awesome.''
That's awesome.
And also, a thing you haven't seen
in zombie lore.
l'll say it correctly.
That was Lindy Booth's hood
getting caught there.
What are they doing?
Those guns won't help you.
You gotta bomb or a chainsaw...
- This is awesome.
- That's what you wanna see.
That's why you're here. This is good.
That was Dave.
Dave, who had had his legs amputated
a few months before.
Literally, within six months of this.
He came in and he was awesome.
He worked so hard.
We used him three or four times.
- He did a great job.
- He was great.
He was fantastic.
And then l wanted this big zombie
to hold it up.
Kinda like a Danzig zombie
or like another Danzig zombie...
You going Danzig zombie?
More like a Black Flag zombie.
- No Henry Rollins?
- Yeah, Henry Rollins zombie.
- That's cool.
- l like that.
- Shock wave.
- Yeah.
Zombies go down
if you hit 'em hard enough.
But they don't go down for long.
No, they'll come back.
So when you have an opportunity,
you gotta take it.
This is Clay Staub shot,
which is a great shot. l love this.
The fire.
lt's one of my favourite Clay shots.
Back by Andy's. Makes a little more sense,
with the propane.
When it's on fire. l love that.
There's Steve Markus getting ready
in case there's another zombie
still on the truck.
This was an overhead l had drawn early on.
l had a sketch of this.
l wanted to do that shot from way early.
- There's one hanging on.
- That's Patrick?
Yeah.
Look at him. He's mad.
- Skinny shutter.
- Skinny shutter and he's angry.
That makes you madder.
- And we love Kim but...
- She had to go. Oh, no.
That was too bad. That's a puppet.
That's awesome. lf you didn't already know
what kind of a movie you were in...
Now you do.
- When we talked about that...
- You were like, ''They should collide.''
''What if he loses balance
and chops her in half?''
There were no adults around
to tell us that we couldn't do it.
No one was paying attention.
lt was like, ''ls that all right?''
We were like, ''Yeah. lt makes sense.''
She's coming up and he doesn't...
And l love it that he doesn't know
what he's doing with the chainsaw.
He's unskilled.
Look at Ving. ''Help me, brother.''
''No. By the way, no.''
That's cool.
l like this look.
We built the building to the left.
The one to the right existed.
We tented this whole thing.
We put a big tent up to make this pre-dawn,
that just-at-dawn look.
And it allowed us to shoot all day.
lf it had been overcast,
we'd have been fine
but it was a sunny day
so it made it more difficult.
Steve Markus's last selfish act.
That was actually another zombie.
A tragic zombie there.
- That was another guy playing Patrick?
- Yeah, it's awesome.
That is cool.
Then Sarah has to look in there.
l love that in any other movie,
they wouldn't have looked in,
cos it would have been too awful.
We're like, ''You gotta look.''
lt's like looking at a car wreck,
you gotta see.
Oh, no. l got him.
Sarah Polley
puts the front sight on him and...
Sarah Polley got to kill in this movie,
which made her happy.
lt's a first. She's not really killing
because they're dead already.
And that's what makes it OK.
Yeah, she kills three people in the movie.
- Three zombies.
- She kills Ermes,
she kills Steve Markus
and she kills this guy coming up here.
Yeah.
- Turns Ben Cozine into a twitcher.
- That's right.
- This is a good shot.
- She's running.
She fell by mistake. That was a real fall.
And then a running gunshot. Boom.
Good shot, Sarah.
This is... Jake gots bit. Gots bit?
He gots bit here
and then he gots killed later.
That's a good zombie shot there. l like that.
''What were you doing?''
- There are a lot of keys in this movie.
- Same key, though.
- We belong to a...
- l like that little sun cracking...
- Yeah, we belong...
- We belong to a cult that worships keys.
We do. l'd like a key in every scene.
There were more in the script.
- There were so many.
- We took keys out.
There were the hardware store keys,
pharmacy keys.
- They're always getting keys.
- Her keys on the thing.
That was a reference to The Gatekeeper.
- Keymaster.
- Yeah.
And then you're at the marina.
We had a ton more driving.
We took a lot out.
They would have outdistanced the zombies.
You know how they say
keep your enemies close
and your zombies closer? That expression?
The brakes weren't... l think they...
All that armour plating...
l don't know. l thought Ving wanted
to get really close to the dock.
l'm not sure why they crash into the dock.
- l'm really glad they do.
- No, but l'm glad.
That's like reality.
lt's better when you can't explain it.
Not one person has said,
''Why do they crash into the dock?''
CJ decides to stay behind.
Which works.
- He's a hero.
- His redemption is awesome.
Mike was really into the fact that he was
gonna do this on purpose.
l was like, ''l'm gonna give you that close-up
so the world will never doubt
that you said, 'l'm gonna save the group
'''by blowing these zombies to bits.'''
- This is nice. This is good.
- Boom.
Good fighting here.
Cos you don't get enough straight-up
zombie war.
No, and this is straight-up zombie war.
That's a nice head shot,
if you go frame by frame through that.
That's a Mr. head shot. They did that...
- He drops...
- He does, like a ton of bricks.
- Private Ryan style.
- Yeah.
Really nicely done.
And this was a real flare
we shot with a blank gun
and it caught on fire. lt was great.
Thunk.
Oh, good explosion.
That's all composited.
There's your big shot to show you
where you are in the world.
lf you go back,
there's a great apple box on the deck.
The apple box matches
the colour of the boat.
Yeah and it's a quick shot
but if you look at it, you get a good look at it.
- That's nice.
- l wish we had more mistakes.
- l'm sure we do.
- There are very few.
We'll go on a website and find them all.
That's a good bite.
l like the job they did on it.
lt's such an important one.
The Kid's gotten sprayed
with chainsaw blood.
Yeah. He got some Monica
and she got some human action.
That's why he's not gonna be a zombie.
Cos someone might argue
that he got that blood in his eyes.
- And l've heard it.
- ''He should be a zombie.
''Sarah should be a zombie
cos she washed...''
''ln the fountain that Ben Cozine was in.''
They're like, ''She had her husband's blood
but he wasn't dead...''
The husband's blood.
Ving, because he got the cut
and the blood was in the fountain.
Yeah. You're right but he didn't.
l would say there's a chance
that could happen but we got lucky.
- He got lucky.
- Yeah, he got lucky.
- He didn't...
- Did you give him the Mann style?
Yeah, l got the Mann style.
This is how you end a movie.
Just for... lf you're writing a script
and you're wondering how to end it.
And you don't wanna sell out.
And you don't want anyone to go,
''You're a whore.''
''You sold out.'' Just go all out.
Just do it like this.
l sort of wish we'd done the effect.
lt would have been great.
lt would have been so great.
Even if it was really small,
it would have been good.
- See him go rag doll.
- Blowing his top off.
- Awesome.
- A few'd be like, ''Huh?''
That would have been great.
This is what you spent the extra money
for the DVD for.
l know you feel robbed that l didn't show it
but l will next time.
When l'm 60 and l go back...
- We'll do the ten-year.
- Exactly.
Here's a Zack Snyder song choice.
People Who Died.
Michael MacDonald,
Dennis Jones, good men.
- Peter Marshall, Eric Potechin.
- All awesome.
- Naked girl.
- Sara, awesome.
Savini and Reiniger and Foree
needed 'em.
- Awesome cast. Solid.
- All them freaks. So good.
All good.
- Tino Monte.
- David Campbell, he was great.
- Remember.
- Tino Monte, that's right.
He's the embedded reporter.
This is something we shot
about three weeks ago, it feels like.
We just wanted to add
this little bonus action here.
William Hoy came on and helped us
and did a great job.
Ding, ding. My buddy Steve
shot that buoy shot.
They're going by fast.
- Josh Bratman.
- Wes Coller, right there.
Josh Bratman is an executive
at Strike who's awesome.
He has to be mentioned.
Wes Coller, who without
there would be no movie.
Damon Caro, right there.
lt's Damon Caro's head.
He was our zombie movement coordinator
and also stuntman extraordinaire
and buddy extraordinaire.
There's a fire on the boat with no gas.
l don't know what's burning.
Ving, when he did this, poked my eye out
cos he pushed the camera in my face.
lt hurt like hell.
That's Zombie lsland.
Why would you go to Zombie lsland?
And is there an island that size
in any of the Great Lakes
with that kind of mountain?
lt looks like King Kong lives on that island.
- lt does.
- Crazy. l'm like, ''Wow.''
- Here's the Universal Studios Tour.
- My favourite shot.
This is on the Universal Studios Tour,
near the parting of the Red Sea,
if you look to the right,
that's where we shot this.
When you go to Universal Studios,
look to the right
and say, ''That's where they shot
the end of Dawn Of The Dead.''
We offered to leave it up but they were like,
''Nobody's gonna watch this movie.''
''Get out of here.''
l was like, ''All right.''
Here come the drums.
These are my LA zombies.
They were pretty crap.
You don't want that.
LA zombies are particularly mean.
And then you get a little zombie love
on the way out.
That's right.
- Miro, second unit DP.
- Awesome.
Everybody was really cool.
Everybody was solid.
- lt was the best...
- How about Dug?
- Dug Rotstein, awesome.
- Oh, Dug.
- We love Dug.
- Dug's the best.
- Without Dug, no movie.
- That's true.
There's Jeff, right there.
And Matt Leonetti did a great job, too.
Matt looked awesome.
- These are great, these little flashes.
- They are.
There's the Mr. guys.
There's zombie Pete,
who's Melissa's husband.
He was one of the... l think that was him.
There's the kissing girls.
That's something for the kids.
The guys who are still hanging around
the theatre.
Where's Noah Newman, my cousin?
He had a huge credit
at the beginning of the movie.
Like, it's over mine.
There you go, Battle Of The Alamo
chess set.
Awesome. My parents should be in there,
my mom and dad.
Those are who l should really be thanking,
instead of the Alamo.
You guys are never gonna get
this hour and 40 minutes back.
- Yeah. Sorry about that.
- But thanks for spending it with us.