George A Romero's Land of the Dead Interview 2 Mark Canton (Producer) Previous INTERVIEWER We have heard that this film was different from the others that he has done. How is it different? MARK CANTON To me, there's no difference. George is just trying to make the version of what you have. I don't think it's different at all in terms of the movement of what he's done. It's evolved, but he's evolved as a filmmaker too. He doesn't want to do exactly the same thing. He didn't do it on all of his previous three zombie movies. I always liked Day of the Dead. To me, that's the movie that I thought, as an evolution, I liked. The thing about this movie is that there's this secret evolution of a species, of the dead, which is something that's appealing. There are some things that the zombies have never done. Not just with make-up or what they do in the movie, it's never been done in any zombie movie. Their evolution, in terms of their own thought process, to me is a good reflection of the times we live in. In the film it's a zombie dead evolution. What happens if they actually start to perform their own union? INTERVIEWER Are we seeing a comeback of the zombie genre? MARK CANTON Yeah. INTERVIEWER Why do you think people will want to watch this movie? MARK CANTON Because I think we live in very nihilistic times. I think we live in a time where people are just so battered by the news that they read, and the news on television that, in some ways, it's their way to kind of release themselves. You go in and you like any movie that has tension and action but it's also fun. I mean it is many things blended together. If you have a date, you're holding hands with the date because it's scary. So I kind of think it's a great date movie too. When you leave the theater, you tell your girlfriend or your wife, god that was scary we better go back to my place. I do think in terms of the world we live in, it's a dark time, and I think that people are uncertain. When people are uncertain, I think they want to express themselves. These movies, are revolutionary. The zombies are like revolutionaries. They are their own army coming back to tell people that maybe they were wrongly and unjustly killed. Remember in Night of the Living Dead, a lot of the themes were about Vietnam. This is sort of the world we live in now with IraqIraq and everything else. I feel it's a culturally and globally painful time for us. So it's a way of expression and at the same time, it's a way to release. INTERVIEWER There's a lot of censorship going on in American television. Is it more difficult to make a certain movie in Hollywood? MARK CANTON I think so, but this is an R-rated movie. Nothing's going to stop it from being an R-rated movie. The DVD will be the DVD, and then there will be an unrated version. The unrated DVD of Taking Lives is doing great. I was joking to George that we should have a Japan only version because he's like a national hero over there. Everyone can travel to Japan to see it. I'm a parent. I have three children. There are things that you have to consider about these things. This movie's not holding anything back. We never once said, should we shoot this or not? INTERVIEWER You said we'll be seeing zombies do things we've never seen before. Any specific examples? MARK CANTON No. You'll have to see the movie. There are surprises. Movies that have really worked for me, are films like Pirates of the Caribbean, which did things you never expected in a pirate movie. We're going to do some of those things here. INTERVIEWER Did you think it would be difficult after you left the big studios to get into being an independent producer? MARK CANTON It's hard, but it's also a good challenge. We have a really great little company, and we're going to keep it that way. We have a lot of movies we're involved with. INTERVIEWER How was it for George to have a larger budget than he was used to for this film? MARK CANTON He got comfortable right away, believe me. Within the first week he already said he didn't have enough money. He figured it out though. It's been a lot of pressure. Honestly, Universal has been amazing because, first of all we financed the movie, so it's a negative pickup. But they have stepped up and been great. They're involved with us throughout the entire world now. As a matter of fact, with the exception of France and a few other territories, Universal's now distributing the movie everywhere, so this is great for us. Universal is really, really good. INTERVIEWER How well do you think this movie will turn out? MARK CANTON I'll be honest with you, if we make the movie as good as I think we can, we can set a bar. There was this great article in USA Today, New York Times had a big piece, and Premiere Magazine. Everyone has been here. The Shaun of the Dead guys and the MTV UK guys were here doing cameos in the film. You all are here. It's exceptional for that to happen on a movie like this. If we do what we're capable of doing, we will make a movie that really crosses over. I'm no longer and Universal is no longer thinking of this, as a genre movie. On Ain't It Cool News, Land of the Dead is one of the most wanted to see movies in 2005, which is staggering. On the list is War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg, and then there is our little movie. The scary part is that there is going to be an expectation now so we really have to be good because people are expecting us to be good. So I don't think we'll get away with anything, but if we do our jobs right that would be great. This isn't the end. This is the end of this series, but the intention is clearly for George to take us on a new adventure, which is kind of designed in this movie, as you'll see. The object here is this is going forward and hopefully we will be back next year filming another George Romero film.		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