As previously reported here, among the ghoul extras will be Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg—creators of the upcoming horror/comedy SHAUN OF THE DEAD, which Nicotero can’t praise enough (“it’s absolutely my favorite film of the year”)—while Romero-film stalwart Savini will have a featured acting role. “And I’m quite sure that there are gonna be days on set” when Savini will contribute to the FX here and there, Nicotero says, recalling his experiences on Robert Rodriguez’s FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, on which KNB supplied FX and Savini played the character Sex Machine. “Robert kept saying, ‘You gotta do one gag, come on!’ ” Nicotero recalls. “ ‘You have to do a blood effect, just for fun!’ Tom is a born performer, he loves acting, and he’s also a great makeup effects artist, and we tried to coax him to do stuff on DUSK TILL DAWN, ’cause Robert was like, ‘I want to see the master in action!’ I’m sure that we will convince Tom to pump blood on something for LAND.”
The details of Romero’s LAND screenplay are being kept tightly under wraps for now, but Nicotero is able to share a few hints about the direction of the storyline, which once again ties in to current affairs. “At this point in the story, the zombies are the majority, and we’re taking up where we left off with Bub, who was the first ghoul we saw with a hit of intelligence,” he reveals. “They’ve basically taken over, but there are still bands of [surviving] humans, and the story is all about their existence. It’s intriguing how George has still been able to inject social relevance to today’s culture, which is what made NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAWN OF THE DEAD so important, in terms of social commentary. This one is going to be about greed and selfishness and money, and how that drives everyone. George’s movies are always about one part of society consuming another, whether it’s consumerism or wealth and power, and we’re definitely going to stick with that.”
The artist also reveals that earlier drafts of the script, back when it was called DEAD RECKONING, might have hewed a little too close to recent events. “This was pre-9/11,” Nicotero explains, “and some of the things that happened in the finale of the original draft had to do with skyscrapers and helicopters and things. So George’s first rewrite was like, ‘Well, that’s kind of insensitive, I’m going to have to change that around a little bit.’ So he’s been rewriting and rewriting, and what I’ve found amazing is that usually, when you get a script and they keep changing it, the revisions feel like a fleshed-out skeleton that has more and more meat picked away from its bones, but it’s the exact opposite with this movie. Every draft that I’ve read has been a little better, and feels more and more like the film everyone’s expecting from George.”
LAND OF THE DEAD isn’t the only project to keep the KNB team busy this year. Nicotero’s partner Howard Berger is in the midst of the epic fantasy adaptation THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (“He’s been in New Zealand since the end of May, and he’s going to be there until January”); the company recently wrapped up work on Dark Castle’s HOUSE OF WAX, collaborating with Australian artist Jason Baird, as they did on the previous Dark Castle flick GHOST SHIP; and Nicotero just spent three and a half months in Austin, TX reteaming with Rodriguez on SIN CITY, based on the comics favorite by Frank Miller (who is co-directing with Rodriguez).
“That was an unbelievable experience,” Nicotero raves. “We were able to realize Frank’s character designs on Mickey Rourke, Benicio del Toro, Bruce Willis… People were so interested in being involved that they were coming to us, saying, ‘I want to wear makeup, ’cause I want to look like the guy in the comic book!’ ”
The artist is equally enthusiastic about his crew: “I couldn’t be more proud of the people at KNB; I could spend 10 minutes naming all of them,” he says. “Chris Nelson, Jake Garber, Gino Crognale—these guys have absolutely elevated the quality of the work that comes out of our shop. It’s not one person’s individual achievement, its everybody’s involvement.” And now they’re poised to make a bloody splash with what can only be seen as a makeup FX artist’s dream project. “All I can say when people ask about my feelings on LAND OF THE DEAD is, 20 years ago this month, I was having my head cast to be a zombie in DAY OF THE DEAD, and now I’m doing George’s new movie,” Nicotero says. “As far as I’m concerned, my career has come full circle. And it has been great. I couldn’t be more delighted or enthusiastic.”
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