Director says Zombieland: Double Tap brings more laughs, variety of zombies

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

If you've been hoping for a sequel to director Ruben Fleischer's zombie comedy ZOMBIELAND ever since that film came out in October of 2009, you'll be glad to know that the wait is almost over. Fleischer and ZOMBIELAND stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin have all returned for the 10th anniversary sequel ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP, which is set to reach theatres on October 18th.

Speaking with Fandango about DOUBLE TAP, Fleischer said his approach to the sequel was to try to recapture the feeling of the original without repeating themselves – so while gags like "Zombie Kills of the Year" are back, don't expect more clown zombies or another search for Twinkies.

ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP also tries to keep things fresh with the addition of new characters played by Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch, Zoey Deutch, and Avan Jogia… plus a new type of zombie that the characters haven't encountered in their post-apocalyptic world before.

Fleischer told Fandango, 

I think our heroes are a little complacent because the zombies don't present much of a challenge anymore. They've started to categorize them into different groups. There's ones that they call Homers, who are kind of the dumber zombies. There are the Ninjas who are a little bit more crafty and they might sneak up on you. And then there's the Hawkings, who are smarter zombies. Then there's a new kind of zombie that they haven't met before called a T-800, a name for the infamous Terminator. These T-800s are much more dangerous, threatening form of zombie. For the first time, I think our heroes feel like they're in true jeopardy because of this newly evolved form of zombie."

But while the characters may be in real danger for the first time in a while, that doesn't mean the thrills will overpower the laughs. In fact, the director thinks DOUBLE TAP may be 

funnier than the original. It's really, really funny. A lot of the really funny stuff is improvised. Jesse's one of the wittiest people that you can hope to meet. So when you have people like he, Emma and Thomas Middleditch and Woody and all these guys just improvising, we end up with some really incredible moments. I mean, the script was terrific to begin with, but there's so much additional jokes that were just created in the moment in the scenes. Even some of my favorite jokes are ones that the cast came up with on the spot, which is pretty cool."

The screenplay for ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP was written by the first film's screenwriting duo of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, with an assist from Dave Callaham. The story centers on 

the comic mayhem that stretches from the White House and through the heartland. The zombie slayers must face off against the many new kinds of zombies that have evolved since the first movie, as well as some new human survivors. Most of all, they have to face the growing pains of their own snarky, makeshift family.

The release of DOUBLE TAP is just three weeks away.