Interview with George A. Romero, director of 'Survival of the Dead'

The master of the zombie genre is back! George A. Romero's "Survival of the Dead" is now in theaters and VOD, and the man himself recently stopped in San Francisco, CA to chat about the new film, which follows a bunch of characters as they try to stay alive while the dead continue to walk the Earth.

I didn't get that much time with Romero, but we talked about how he came up with this story, how many more "Dead" films he has planned, how much he loves to shoot films in Canada, and what he thinks of all the mainstream zombie films we've been seeing lately. Hint: he doesn't really like them.

The Screening Log: How did the story of "Survival of the Dead" come together, and did you have that Western flair of the film in mind from the beginning?

George A. Romero: No. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a long story. When I made "Diary [of the Dead]," I had these other four films that were all sort of 10 years or more apart from each other in real time. They are sort of all on a single track. You can watch the four in sequence, and it's on its own rail, and I wanted to do something about emerging media, citizen journalism and all that. I figured I got to do it quick and I can't do it three years after "Land of the Dead." It wouldn't make any sense because these kids wouldn't be in school and going around with cameras. I thought I would be a single film, a little sidebar.

So we met the people at Artfire who financed that film, and we really hit it off with them. They are willing to give me full creative control as long as I stay within a certain budget perimeter. "Diary" cost so little to make, and even though it had a limited release, worldwide it made a great deal of money. So they said, let's go again. So I said to myself, now we go again and it makes a lot of money, you're going to want to go again, so why don't we think of this as a big project. Let's say, hypothetically, that there may be three more of these films that all spin out of "Diary," it would be great fun for me. I have never been able to cross characters over and I have never been able to have people meet each other again, because the first four films are all owned by different people.

So I got this idea. I'm now going to take a more universal theme, like war, entities that don't die, and make that a central theme for like three films using characters that spin out of "Diary" and themes that cross over and all that. Yet, each one could stand on its own. We may not make two more, we may not. This may go in the toilet and I might get hit by a bus… But that was the idea: I'm going to start out with a story about a feud. It was only then when we knew it was real and I was sort of doing one of the later drafts of the script that I remembered a William Wyker Western called "The Big Country." And so I got the department heads together and we all watched a print of "The Big Country" and I said it could be more fun for us if we could play with that and let's try to make it look that way… go 2:35 widescreen and not mute the colors. That's just the tonal quality of it. That traces it all. That's how it happened.

The Screening Log: I wanted to ask you about working with your cast on this film. It features familiar names and characters and actors with powerful performances. How was it directing them, and how did they work together?

George A. Romero: Fabulous. Kenny Welsh is just a pro. He's wonderful, terrific, flexible. He was in there every minute. Everybody was freezing and the conditions were hideous, but no bad apples. Everybody had a good as time as possible given the weather conditions, but it was fabulous. They are there to work, and they understand that the more efficiently they do it, the easiest it is to get the job done. These guys were great.

The Screening Log: You've released a new "… Dead" film every two years for the past few years. Are you already working on a next one?

George A. Romero: I've started a story. I have both stories, you know. Not fully screenplayed, but I have notebooks on two more. They all start with characters from "Diary," and I am looking for other ways for the stories to cross into each other. Things that make sense.

The Screening Log: "Survival of the Dead" is taking a new approach in terms of distribution with VOD. What are your thoughts on this?

George A. Romero: I got my fingers crossed. No feedback yet. Oddly, you would think it would be instant. It takes a while, and it's only been out there for a few weeks. I'm definitely open to the idea. It's the distributor's call. They think it's a good idea. They've done it a couple of times and apparently it's worked out for them.

The Screening Log: Over the past few years we've seen so many mainstream zombie movies pop up. Yours stand out in that one category and you stick to your classic approach. Share your thoughts on this new depiction of zombies.

George A. Romero: There are a couple of things I don't like about it. First of all, dead men don't run. Their ankles would snap. I think it comes largely out of video games. Part of the thrill of it is the speed when they come at you, and when the speed increases and the number increases. They're coming over the ceilings and across the walls, and I think filmmakers felt they have to go that way. That's where it's at. And then they said well wait a minute, maybe they reason too like I do, but they can't be dead if they're doing all that. So we'll give them a virus, we'll give them a germ or a rage bug or something. I think that's how that shit all evolved and I don't like it. I find it a bit apologetic.

The Screening Log: You just don't get tired of this genre. Why?

George A. Romero: Oh man, I am having a ball. I mean, you know, I love it. I grew up on EC comic books, and those were always full of bad jokes and puns, and you chuckled all the way through the gore stuff. You have to be willing to buy it that way, and I think the EC comics, the early ones before the comics code, were a good indoctrination into that. Stephen King and I have had several conversations about it. It's that chuckle while you barf thing. I love it.

I made the second film and I realized I can do funny stuff. I could do social criticism, and I could do whatever I want. Money people don't even notice what I am doing underneath there. You know, as long as the gags are there…

The Screening Log: Studio vs. independent. You seem to prefer the latter, so what has your experience been making these films independently on more low budgets?

George A. Romero: It's great. I love it. These last two films have been back to the roots for me. I've made four films in Canada now, and I work with a family of people. A guy who shot my first Canadian film shot this film. The production designer's the same. I just have friends and collaborators that get in there. They all know we are working with low budgets and they know how to cut back without losing quality. It's fabulous. It's great having control. I haven't had creative control of any film I've made since "Night of the Living Dead." Mainly you want to have something to say about where to spend the money and where not to spend the money. There is so much waste. Proportionally, the higher the budget goes, less of it goes on the screen, because you got to pay for Dennis Hopper's cigars, and you got to pay for a better caterer. The insurance costs more and the trailers have to be fancy.

The Screening Log: So how easy is it for you to pull in the budget you need to make a film like this?

George A. Romero: My friends at Artfire are great. They are willing to finance and make the film without even selling it yet. That's fabulous too. There is nobody breathing over your shoulders. We had a Canadian distributor when we shot the film, but that was it.