Set Visit: Land of the Dead Part 2

Welcome to the second part of our set visit to George A. Romero’s return to the horror genre that he created!

June 7th 2005, 12:00am

Last Updated on November 15, 2024

My second day as a proud member of JOBLO.COM on the Land of the Dead set was even more exciting than the first one. This time we thankfully were located in “interiors” protected form the deadly cold Toronto nights. The location was set within a vast and fancy, semi corporate building, with an interior that echoed one of a Cathedral. This place stands as “The Green”, the sumptuous refuge in which “Fat Cat” Kaufman (played by Dennis Hopper) and his Staff reside. The scenes shot on this night took place during the final act of the picture. I got the opportunity to witness a couple of “Zombies in action bits. Here’s a swift breakdown of what I saw:

SCENE 1 – EASY RIDER VS BIG DADDY

– A crowd of corporate types are scrambling about the building, running for their lives. Head Zombie “Big Daddy” (ode to Ghost of Mars perhaps?) barges in the building, with a jack hammer in hand and an army of the undead behind him. Of the lot, I got to see some of the key Zombies which were “The Butcher” (an undead dressed like a Butcher) and the Baseball chick (a young girl dressed up in a baseball uniform). Many of the undead were carrying automatic weapons; yes they really are evolving. Kaufman is being led out by one of his bodyguards, he faces Big daddy for 5 seconds.

He says:” You have no right!”, points a gun at him and unloads a couple of rounds before exiting through a side door with his body guard. The highlight of that bit for me was seeing veteran Dennis Hopper’s performance improve and expand through every take. This was Hopper’s first day on set and seeing the Legend gradually ease into the part was for me quite the treat. Take 2 was my favorite where Hopper added an almost unintelligible profane word to his dialogue. The man looked ANGRY! I bought it!

SCENE 2 – QUARTERBACK ZOMBIE

– An army of Zombies rush through the main hallway of the premises, taking down the human residents in the process. The highlight of that scene for me was seeing that poor sap get tackled by an undead to then crash into what looked like to me a “huge” flower pot. That Zombie should audition for the 49ers. What a tackle!

SCENE 3 – UNDEAD SNACKING

– And the Ketchup hit the fries! In this scene a group of Zombies start doing some fervent munching.

It should be noted that the overall makeup for the Zombies by KNB were very old school. Damaged undead were many with the more memorable one having his brains dangling out of his skull. In this scene the zombies got busy and I got to witness an undead biting off a big chunk out of some poor guy’s leg. The flesh tore, the guy screamed and I almost stood up and applauded. Yes I was salivating like Pavlov’s dog in dire need of a chew toy.

EXTENSIVE INTERVIEWS
– I also got the chance to take part in round tables with John Leguizamo, Greg Nicotero and Asia Argento. Click on their links below to access the bla-bla sessions.