George A Romero's Land of the Dead Interview 2 John Leguizamo (Cholo) Previous INTERVIEWER Is the film gory? JOHN LEGUIZAMO It is crazy gory. It's unbelievable, like an autopsy show on the Discovery Channel. The stuff that I've seen, the specific details of the intestines coming out from the little to the large and all the organs coming out, it's crazy. INTERVIEWER Is there humor in the film as well? JOHN LEGUIZAMO There's still humor and that's what's great about it. I'm surprised and excited because it's such an ageist world, especially this business and there's Romero at the prime of his life in his 60s. He's amazing.  He was doing all night shoots in Canada in the winter and he's amazing with these gigantic owl glasses. George sees everything because one ear doesn't work. You've got to talk louder in the other, but he hears everything which is really scary. So, you know, he's just saying that just to catch you off guard. INTERVIEWER Are there connections to any of the three previous movies with this one? JOHN LEGUIZAMO I think Land of the Dead is supposed to end that whole cycle of Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead. Or possibly maybe begin a new one. INTERVIEWER Are the zombies evolving? JOHN LEGUIZAMO Yeah, it's like the evolution of man. They're putting things together and organizing. INTERVIEWER What scenes have you done that you've really liked? JOHN LEGUIZAMO I've enjoyed the whole thing. I've had some great acting moments within this movie which I love with Simon Baker and Dennis Hopper. Some really juicy dramatic acting stuff and then I've had amazing action stuff where I had this real shark harpoon gun, a CO2 gun. I shot it, even though nobody was standing there but I shot it in the air and it was awesome. I get to fight some zombie that jumps out at me from nowhere and punch the hell out of it and then I put the harpoon right through its brain, riding my motorcycle. INTERVIEWER Did you perform any of your own stunts? JOHN LEGUIZAMO Yeah, except for one that was a really crazy motorcycle thing. There was no way I was going to do it. It was raining, there were leaves. I had to pop a wheelie and do a spin. I'm not that good. INTERVIEWER How many nights did you shoot? JOHN LEGUIZAMO We started in early October. INTERVIEWER So it's been all night shooting so far with a few day shoots? JOHN LEGUIZAMO Yeah. It was tough. It's tough to have a life because as soon as you see daylight and the sun hits your eyes, it's really hard to sleep. You feel like you have to stay up or you have to run home and close those curtains, like a vampire. Get in there, put earplugs in and pull the phones out.  But then everybody's always worn out. You're always exhausted because you never really catch up. INTERVIEWER What time does night begin for you now? JOHN LEGUIZAMO 7:00 AM-ish or so. INTERVIEWER What time do you sleep until? JOHN LEGUIZAMO 2:00 PM I hope, but normally 1:00 PM. INTERVIEWER What was it like to work with George? Does he work closely with the main cast? JOHN LEGUIZAMO George works the best way that all the great directors I've worked with have. That is they trust you and they hire you because of what you bring. They allow that and then they shape it. I was really impressed by him and how savvy he is and he always gives me a little thing that gives me a new perspective on my performance. Sometimes it has a sense of humor to it, sometimes it is a little dark. But he hits me and plants little seeds that really make a big difference in what I'm doing. Next		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