George Romero ( + Dead Reckoning)

Started by socketlevel, December 13, 2003, 05:17:23 PM

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grand theft sparrow

Well as long as other people get to make George Romero films...  :roll:

ElPandaRoyal

Yeah, the "deal" now is to remake Romero to earn some bucks...
Si

grand theft sparrow

If the writers and directors of these remakes really had any kind of respect for the man, they'd donate a portion of their paychecks to getting Dead Reckoning made. I suspect that ought to include Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, but since 28 Days Later was shot on the (relatively speaking) cheap, they don't have to kick in as much.

modage

George Romero Set for Land of the Dead
Source: Variety Thursday, July 15, 2004

George Romero is set to direct Land of the Dead, a horror film that picks up on the zombie saga he hatched with Night of the Living Dead and continued with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Variety says the film, from Romero's own script, will begin production in October in Winnipeg or Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was the site of shooting for Romero's original 1968 zombie trilogy.

In the film, the zombies having taken over the world and those left alive are confined to a walled-in city that keeps out the corpse corps. Anarchy rules the streets, with the wealthy insulated and living in fortified skyscrapers.

The drama revolves around a group of scavengers who must thwart an attempt to overthrow the city while the dead are evolving from brainless slow-moving creatures into more advanced creatures.

Romero had been developing Diamond Dead, a black comedy musical that's being produced by Scott Free and Andrew Gaty, and he also scripted an adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which he may direct for Canadian financier Don Archibald and Lions Gate.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

Leguizamo, Hopper to Play 'Dead' for Romero
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Simon Baker, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper are off to "The Land of the Dead," George A. Romero's return to the zombie genre that he made famous.

Asia Argento and Robert Joy also are joining the cast.

Written and directed by Romero, the story takes place in a world overrun by zombies where the human survivors live in a walled city. While the zombies are evolving, certain factions seek to overthrow the city.

The film is meant to complement Romero's earlier zombie movies, "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead" and "Day of the Dead," and to start a new line of zombie films.

Universal Pictures is distributing domestically and internationally. The European-based Wild Bunch, which is co-producing, is handling the film in France, Benelux and French-speaking Switzerland. The production is scheduled to begin shooting Oct. 11 in Toronto.

Mark Canton, who is producing through his Atmosphere MM shingle, said the film also will feature cameos.

"A lot of people revere George, and fellow directors and actors are calling to see if they can be zombies. I think it's a testament to George and the genre that he created," Canton said.

Baker will next be seen in "The Ring 2."

Leguizamo, shooting "The Honeymooners," next can be seen in "Assault on Precinct 13."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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socketlevel

the one last hit that spent you...

MacGuffin

Romero Driving Buick 8
Living Dead director helming King novel flick.

Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero has signed a deal with newly-formed production company Chesapeake Films to helm a movie adaptation of Stephen King's novel From a Buick 8, according to today's Variety.

The novel, published in 2002, is the story of a man who, following the death of his police officer father in a tragic accident, discovers a secret that members of Pennsylvania State Patrol's Troop D have long kept hidden behind their headquarters. The man encounters his father's friends and colleagues who take turns relating the twenty-year history of the mysterious Buick Roadmaster locked in Shed B and how its discovery and unexplained behavior has captivated the tightly knit group of men for two decades. The Buick seems to be a conduit to another reality and every now and then it breathes, inhaling a little bit of this world, exhaling a little bit of whatever world it came from.

It's more like King's The Green Mile than his earlier automobile-centric work Christine, which was also turned into a film.

The script for From a Buick 8 was penned by Johnathon Schaech and Richard Chizmar, principles at Chesapeake Films.

Romero, whose work was last seen in theaters with Land of the Dead, is currently in production on Diamond Dead, the story of a young woman who must kill 365 people with the help of a rock band that she accidentally killed and brought back to life. He's also linked to another Stephen King adaptation, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Double duty for Romero on 'Solitary'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

George A. Romero has signed to write and direct the thriller "Solitary Isle" for Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment and Kadokawa Pictures.

The film, based on a short story by Koji Suzuki ("The Ring," "Dark Water"), marks the first project in a 50-50 joint venture between Hyde Park and Kadokawa in which they will co-finance horror-thriller films in the under-$25 million range. "Solitary" likely will be distributed by 20th Century Fox, where Hyde Park has its first-look deal. Hyde Park International will handle foreign.

The story chronicles an expedition to a deserted island that turns deadly as the explorers face an unknown force.

Amritraj is producing alongside Kadokawa's Jennie Lew Tugend, Lauren Weissman and Shinya Egawa. Romero's partner Peter Grunwald also is producing. Patrick Aiello is shepherding the project for Hyde Park.

Los Angeles-based Kadokawa Pictures is a sister company of Japan's Kadokawa Shoten Publishing, which boasts a vast library of film-friendly horror novels and short stories, including "The Ring," "Dark Water" and "Solitary Isle." The production division is producing and financing the Edward Burns-Shannyn Sossamon starrer "One Missed Call," a remake of the 2003 Japanese film.

"Part of Hyde Park's strategy is to partner with major conglomerates, and I am happy to be in business with Kadokawa," Amritraj said. "We hope this will be the first of many movies we'll make together."

Hyde Park signed a five-year, first-look production and distribution deal with Fox in July 2005.

Horrormeister Romero, whose credits include the seminal zombie thrillers "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead," most recently wrote and helmed last year's "Land of the Dead."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Horror veteran Romero returns to "Dead" zone

The dead are rising again. Horror maven George A. Romero has signed on to write and direct "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead," following in the tradition of his 1968 cult classic "Night of the Living Dead."

With a story mixing elements of "The Blair Witch Project" and the long-running "Dead" series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches.

After going more than two decades without making an independently financed zombie film, Romero told his production partner Peter Grunwald he was frustrated working within the system. "I was trying to convince Peter we could just run off and do it ourselves," he said.

Instead they convinced Artfire Films to finance the under-$5 million project, enough to work with union crew members who've been longtime friends.

Romero's new script replaces the original's static-filled radio with new technologies like smartphones to inform characters of impending doom. But fans can expect the classic Romero style.

"It has my sensibility, my sense of socioeconomic satire," he said. "And it has my zombies! They're not rushing around -- they're gonna be moving slow." Added Grunwald, "There'll be a lot of howling."

The film's four-week shoot is scheduled to begin October 11 in Toronto.

"Dead" is just the latest in a series of films with a recurring theme for Romero, including 1978's "Dawn of the Dead," 1985's "Day of the Dead" and 2005's "Land of the Dead." His other credits include 1982's "Creepshow," 1973's "The Crazies" and the 1974 TV documentary "O.J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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children with angels

It's like he's making up for lost time and catching up on the self-conscious/postmodern horror phenomenon in the mid 90s that he missed out on whilst on sabbatical...
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

MacGuffin

Exclusive Interview: PRODUCER JOHN HARRISON TALKS TO iF ABOUT ROMERO'S DIARY OF THE DEAD -- PART 1
iF has the first word on the new George A. Romero zombie movie that returns to the original roots of the zombie genre. 

John Harrison is man of many talents and his career shows it. His early work was on zombie movies with George A. Romero as both an assistant director and composer. Then more recently there are the critically acclaimed DUNE and CHILDREN OF DUNE mini-series that Harrison wrote, produced and directed for SCI FI Channel. Now Harrison is going back where it pretty much all started. His newest project is the much-anticipated new Romero zombie flick, DIARY OF THE DEAD. iF MAGAZINE is one of the first to talk to Harrison about what we can all expect from the new Romero social commentary horror flick.

iF MAGAZINE: Your next project is a new zombie film with George A. Romero, correct?

JOHN HARRISON: We're going to start a film in October; actually we're staring pre-production over Labor Day for a new zombie film from George [Romero] called DIARY OF THE DEAD. It's a terrific new script that George has written, and I will be producing. We worked together on developing this with his partner Peter Gruenwald. Over the past couple of years, we've been trying to come up with an idea that a television approach might be kind of cool, but some people have come along and want to finance a theatrical movie so that's what we're doing.

iF: The blurb in Variety said it's people making a zombie movie, but while they are filming real zombies attack them?

HARRISON: That's right. It's about a bunch of students who are making their senior project. To some extent it's George revisiting the origins of the Zombie mythology. This is NOT a sequel to any of the other DEAD movies. He's essentially going back to first principles if you will. It's about a group of college students making this movie, and suddenly they are attacked, the world starts to crumble around them, and as they are trying desperately to get to their homes together, they continue to have these horrific experiences. They continue to document everything that happens to them as they go, and thus, THE DIARY OF THE DEAD. It's a very good script. As someone who has been involved with George for years, the script is just fantastic. It's got all of his humor and all of his social commentary and obviously some really great scares.

iF: So he's probably returning to his roots, instead of doing another big studio picture like he did with LAND OF THE DEAD?

HARRISON: No doubt. It's not autobiographical, I would hesitate to say that, but I would say that it is very much in a sense, you could stretch it and say that the kids in the woods making a movie is very much a metaphor for what it was like when he was in the 'Burg. It's similar to when George [John] Russo, [Bill] Heinzman, and all those guys got together and made the first NIGHT. He definitely wants that energy and that style and that camaraderie and the way of doing it going back to the independent way of doing a movie.

iF: I know you were involved with the first two CREEPSHOW films as well as the DEAD movies with George. Do you have any involvement in the new re-makes of some of those films or CREEPSHOW 3?

HARRISON: I haven't been involved in any of the subsequent sequels to any of the DEAD movies. They're doing a remake of DAY OF THE DEAD, and they have a couple of other DAY OF THE DEAD subtitled films, none of us have been involved with those movies. A company called United Film Distribution (UFD) owned the rights to those movies and when that company went out of business they sold the rights to another company owned by the Dudelson Brothers and those are the guys who have been re-inventing these movies. We haven't been involved in any of them.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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cron

Quote from: MacGuffin on September 01, 2006, 11:15:40 AM
iF: So he's probably returning to his roots, instead of doing another big studio picture like he did with LAND OF THE DEAD?

HARRISON: No doubt. It's not autobiographical


¿?
context, context, context.

MacGuffin

Romero's Diary of the Dead Still on Track

Arrow in the Head, and several other sites reported on October 5 that George Romero, the 66 year old auteur behind Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Crazies and several other damn fine terror flicks, had collapsed and been hospitalized for a non life threatening illness. As a result, Romero had to cancel several personal appearances and shooting of his new zombie film Diary of the Dead was to be delayed by at least two months. However, a new report from Dread Central says the film is still on track with Romero at the helm and will probably have begun production by the time you read this.

This new film is said to be something of a cross between a standard Romero zombie film and The Blair Witch Project: While making a low budget horror film, several young filmmakers find themselves in the midst of a real zombie outbreak. The crew proceed to record the event for posterity, taking themselves into the thick of the zombie action. As the director told Dread Central when the project was first announced, "I want to do this from a subjective kind of view with no music. You know, something really raw. So it's kind of a stylistic experiment, a low-budget, under the radar kind of thing that's just sort of from the heart." There has been some talk that this film might go straight to DVD, and although that might carry a certain stigma, I think that might be gutsy move on the part of Romero and his distributors. This way he could make as gory a film as he wants, and it's kind of reminiscent of Romero and company's decision to circumvent the MPAA by releasing Dawn of the Dead unrated.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Another entry set for 'Diary of Dead'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Although "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" won't be released until next year, Artfire Films and Romero-Grunwald Prods. have greenlighted a sequel that Romero will direct from his screenplay.

The instant sequel, which will be offered at the American Film Market, will pick up where the first film ends. Fighting their way out of a mansion through a horde of ravenous zombies, the survivors of "Diary" escape to a remote island only to be plunged into another battle with the dead.

Principal photography is set to begin in the spring.

Romero-Grunwald's Peter Grunwald will produce with Artfire Films' Artur Spigel and Ara Katz. Dan Fireman of Artfire and Sam Englebardt will serve as executive producers. Voltage Pictures and Cinetic Media will oversee foreign and domestic sales, respectively, for the Artfire/RGP alliance.

"Diary" premiered at September's Toronto International Film Festival, where Cinetic sold North American and Mexican rights to the Weinstein Co.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

'Dawn of the Dead' goes 3-D
Romero's 1978 film adds dimension for theaters
Source: Hollywood Reporter

George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" will be "dimensionalized" to stereoscopic 3-D for a planned theatrical release.

New Amsterdam Entertainment has tapped 3-D company In-Three, which will use its proprietary "dimensionalization" process to turn the 1978 indie horror flick movie into 3-D. The project is expected to be completed within the year.

So far the only legacy 2-D film that has been converted and re-released in digital 3-D is "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," which Disney released in October 2006 in 168 theaters, grossing $8.7 million. Disney reissued the film in October and plans to repeat this year and in 2009.

There are slightly more than 1,000 3-D-ready digital screens in the domestic market, and that number is expected to grow.

In-Three uses patented software tools and techniques to create a second camera image from a 2-D image. Each frame is "dimensionalized," meaning that all objects are moved forward or backward from the screen or in relation to one another so as to achieve the desired dramatic effect.

In-Three "dimensionalized" the "Star Wars" 3-D demo clip that first screened at ShoWest in 2005.

Conversion of legacy material using the process starts at about $50,000 per minute and can reach more than $100,000, depending on the complexity of the imagery in terms of visual effects and other elements.

"We are seeing interest now that people realize there will be sufficient screens to justify the cost," In-Three's Neil Feldman said.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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