George A Romero's Land of the Dead Interview 2 Bernie Goldmann (Producer) Previous INTERVIEWER Do you feel there is a lot of pressure and high expectations for this film? BERNIE GOLDMANN I think the pressure is on George. I'm just trying to help George make the best movie that he can because I think the fans have an expectation of him. So we want to support George's vision and help him make the movie that he wants to make and deliver it for the fans of the movie because whenever you're making a series of movies, I think there is an expectation from the fans. I think the fans are going to be really happy. I'm a fan. I grew up in Pittsburgh and I was a fan of George's from the time I was a teenager.  So I have an expectation for what this movie is.   What's great about what George has done is he has evolved the zombies. Zombies are going places and doing things that we haven't seen them do before. It makes me happy so I have to think the fans are going to be. INTERVIEWER We've read about the Shaun of the Dead guys being zombies as well as some journalists. Is that part of the publicity campaign? BERNIE GOLDMANN We had a lot of people who wanted to come up and be zombies. I'd like to tell you that we were that smart, but the truth is that when people volunteer to be zombies and they have that much enthusiasm for it, if they're not total freak shows, then you want them to be in the movie because usually they're pretty good zombies. When somebody's spending 20 years thinking about being a zombie in a movie, you go, “Hey, man, knock yourself out. Show up at 4:00 PM, get some makeup on, be out there all night in the cold in Toronto, and work till 6:00 AM. If that's your idea of having a great night, welcome to the party.” INTERVIEWER But isn't it free from your point of view? BERNIE GOLDMANN Well, it's not free. We're paying them.  We have to pay them as extras. INTERVIEWER How did Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead become a zombie in the film? BERNIE GOLDMANN Greg Nicotero is friend's with Edgar and when Edgar heard we were doing the movie he asked Greg. Greg asked us and we and Universal jumped at the chance to have them in the movie. They also came up with the idea to make a documentary of their experience of coming here to be extras which will be on both their and our DVD. INTERVIEWER What do you think about Simon Pegg as a zombie in the film? BERNIE GOLDMANN Let me tell you, SimonSimon is without a doubt the best zombie we've ever had. He was not only the coolest looking zombie, but you could see why this guy is going to just continue to have a huge career. You could not take your eyes off of him.  He was just magnetic as a zombie. In the scene that he's in, there are a number of zombies.  There are 100 or so extras in the scene and he's the one that you watch. INTERVIEWER Do you think Simon Pegg's strong presence as a zombie on-screen will draw the audience away from the story? BERNIE GOLDMANN It won't pull the audience out of the story. I don't want to be arrogant about it, but I think we've done it in a way in which it's not going to stand out, but if you're a fan and you know who Simon is, it's just a quick bit. INTERVIEWER Did you embrace George's vision to keep the zombies slow and stumbling? BERNIE GOLDMANN I think both Danny Boyle and Zach Snyder made cool movies and I think they made the zombie movie their own, but George, I think, is the author of the genre.  I don't think you want to change that. I don't want to say George and I haven't had disagreements about the movie because I think disagreements about movies make things better. You understand them and ultimately get, creatively, to a better place. But that's one area where George has been very steadfast, that's his style and it's the kind of thing you don't screw with. INTERVIEWER I heard that you are currently involved in another project, a film called 300. Can you tell us what it's going to be about? BERNIE GOLDMANN Yeah. 300 is based on a Frank Miller graphic novel. It's about SpartaSparta, 480 B. C. when the Persians were going to come and invade Sparta and how 300 Spartans went out and defended Sparta. Zach Snyder is going to direct. INTERVIEWER Is it going to be a big epic? BERNIE GOLDMANN It's not. It's going to reinvent the epic. Zach has a great style, he's got a great take on the material and wants to be very faithful to the graphic novel, and it's going have a great look like the graphic novel. Again it's going be an R-rated, pretty violent movie. If you know the graphic novel, it is very graphic. It's going to be very different than anything you have ever seen in this genre before. INTERVIEWER What's the budget like? BERNIE GOLDMANN It'll be half or a third of any of those epic movies. It'll be much more reasonable. INTERVIEWER What do you think is the public's perception of George Romero? BERNIE GOLDMANN Well, first off, George's Night of the Living Dead is on AFI's Top 100 Movies. So that's the number one perception. I think what's interesting about George Romero as a director, and a director of horror films, is that there's a mythology to his movies. He is a grounded in science-fiction. A lot of guys direct horror movies that aren't about anything. George's movies are always about something. That's one of the things that is cool about this movie; it is actually about something, if that's what you want to see in the movie. It's not forced down your throat, but there's definitely a point of view to the movie. It's definitely about something and there's something that George wants to say with the movie. With that being said, it's really scary and it's really fun. There's a lot of unique action. So, I think that's who George Romero is. I think that's what makes him a unique talent. He makes really fun, gory horror movies, but he makes really smart, interesting horror movies that make you think a little bit too. INTERVIEWER Do you think George will still be on the cutting edge with this movie? BERNIE GOLDMANN I believe so. I think what he has to say in this movie has not been said before. I think it's very reflective of what's going on in America right now. I think we're kind of a society driven by fear. I think making a zombie movie about people who are driven by fear is a really unique idea. What's cool and interesting about this movie is that there are no black and white characters. It's not a black and white world. Last night, we shot a scene with Dennis and his line in the scene is, “In a world where the dead are coming back to life, trouble loses it's meaning.” INTERVIEWER Do you think he stepped up to the plate? BERNIE GOLDMANN I do. He's got a style all his own, which I think is what you need to be a leading man. He shouldn't try and be somebody else. Simon has his own take on being a leading man and on being himself. He's not overpowering the role, but he's playing it the way that a guy would in this world. He's a survivor and a leader, and like everyone else, struggles with his morality, with being what his vision of a good person is.		Home Interviews Antoine Fuqua Interview King Arthur Interview Arv Grewal Interview Asia Argento Interview Behind the Scenes of "War of the Worlds" Bernie Goldmann Interview Clive Owen Interview Dakota Fanning Interview Dennis Hopper Interview George A Romero Interview Greg Nicotero Interview The Hulk Press Conference Ang Lee Press Conference Ioan Gruffudd Interview John Leguizamo Interview Kathleen Kennedy Interview Keira Knightley Interview