Last October, George A. Romero gave an interview in which he talked about the fact that he can't get funding for a noir-style zombie movie that he's been wanting to make for years. The man who, with co-writer John A. Russo, first gave us flesh-eating ghoul zombies in 1968's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD isn't able to get a zombie movie made in this zombie-obsessed age.
Well, there's still no movement on the noir project, but Romero has shifted gears and is now looking to get a different zombie film off the ground. This one would be called GEORGE A. ROMERO PRESENTS: ROAD OF THE DEAD.
Romero has written the screenplay for ROAD OF THE DEAD with Matt Birman, who served as second unit director on LAND OF THE DEAD, DIARY OF THE DEAD, and SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD. The script is based on a pitch Birman put together ten years ago and is set
on an island where zombie prisoners race cars in a modern-day Coliseum for the entertainment of wealthy humans.
Zombies driving cars in some kind of death race? That's definitely not a concept that has ever occurred to me before. Birman describes the idea as "ROAD WARRIOR meets ROLLERBALL at a Nascar race", and says significant inspiration was taken from BEN-HUR.
Romero will be stepping back and producing this one while Birman directs it. Birman previously directed the 2013 family drama A FISH STORY. Romero's fellow producers will include Birman, Matt Manjourides, and Justin Martell.
ROAD OF THE DEAD will be one of the projects being presented at Frontières, the Fantasia International Film Festival's film co-production market, which is set to take place from July 20th through the 23rd in Montreal.
I really want to see Romero get his noir made, but ROAD OF THE DEAD sounds off-the-wall and crazy enough to provide a good amount of entertainment itself. I hope things will go well for the project at Frontières.