ROTTEN TOMATOES: Romero Breaks Silence on "Diary of the Dead"

Romero Breaks Silence on "Diary of the Dead"

by Alex Vo | July 05, 2007

George A. Romero's been keeping an unusually tight lip on "Diary of the Dead." But don't take that as a vote of no confidence: Romero's come out of the woodwork to comment on "Diary," calling it his best film experience since 1968.

In an excited letter sent to Ain't It Cool News, Romero gushes that "Diary of the Dead" is a movie that comes from "the heart. It's not a sequel or a remake. It's a whole new beginning for the dead."

Here's the letter in its entirety:

Quote:

Hi, guys,

Lemme tell ya about Diary of the Dead. I love it. It's the first film since my original Night of the Living Dead that I can say is completely my own.

I’ve been trying to work under-the-radar, with no hype or press, but lately I've started hearing all kinds of shit about "What's goin' on with Romero?" "What's with his new film?"

Gimme a break over here! I'm up in Toronto workin' my ass off, making Diary the best it can be. Truth is, I'm having a blast. I've gone home to the kind of filmmaking that I used to do, back in the day.

Diary is a hundred percent independent, made with my partner, Peter Grunwald, and our new friends at Artfire. I haven't had this much freedom since 1968. The cast, of what film critics will probably call "unknowns" (they won't be for long) is, in my opinion, f***** great.

This one comes from my heart. It's not a sequel or a remake. It's a whole new beginning for the dead.

Thanks to all of you who are out there waiting and wondering. You guys, the fans, have always kept me going. Now Diary's keeping me going, night, dawn, and day.

I love this movie. I hope you will, too. I'll be back here from time to time to keep you posted.
Stay tuned.

Stay scared.

George A. Romero

The "whole new beginning" bit is intriguing. Hopefully, he won't take another extended break and let this new vision remain uncompleted.

Taken entirely from the perspective of film school students, the film takes place on the same night of the original zombie outbreak depicted in "Night of the Living Dead." "Diary of the Dead" is tentatively scheduled for a 2007 release.

Source: AICN

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(1-20 of 23 posts) | Reply

Crenshaw writes:
on Jul 05 2007 01:39 PM

saaahhhhwweeeeet

(Reply to this)

Bonowski writes:
on Jul 05 2007 01:59 PM

pleeeeeease be good. i'm excited for this, but keeping my hopes low.

(Reply to this)

SplendidIsolation writes:
on Jul 05 2007 02:02 PM

Interesting indeed.

(Reply to this)

carrierj1 writes:
on Jul 05 2007 03:00 PM

[b]Hope. . .[/b]
it's better than "Land of the Dead".

(Reply to this)

Herberbaly writes:
on Jul 05 2007 03:24 PM

Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead were both great, Day of the Dead was decent, and Land of the Dead was horrible. He obviously loves zombies, and hopefully he can make something creepier and a lot less campy than Land... I have faith, but if it's anywhere near Land of the Dead, I'm satying away

(Reply to this)

FireflyFan4evr writes:
on Jul 05 2007 03:30 PM

The only one of his films I can say is somewhat entertaining is "Dawn of the Dead". His latest, "Land of the Dead" was excruciatingly terrible and one of the worst films I've ever seen. I don't have high hopes for this new project, but I'm always up for a zombie flick (or comic) that is good (such as "The Walking Dead" from Robert Kirkman).

(Reply to this)

Bathazar B writes:
on Jul 05 2007 03:59 PM

If it's even two-thirds as good as Dawn it'll be out-of-the-park great.

(Reply to this)

bat-fink writes:
on Jul 05 2007 04:49 PM

Romero must have thought Land of the dead was great while he was making it surely? I dont trust his judgement.

I think Zombies have had their day!

(Reply to this)

Product_of_You writes:
on Jul 05 2007 05:23 PM

Why do you people think Land of the Dead was horrible? I was impressed by how much I enjoyed it.

(Reply to this)

dylan21484nj writes:
on Jul 05 2007 08:09 PM

i prefer a cast of unknowns rather than a cast of Hollywood actors in a film like this. unknowm actors add to the realism of the film since no one knows who they are and you can buy into the idea that they're actual people much easier. but if they get a big star, like say Tom Cruise, starred in it, it would just be "Tom Cruise in a zombie movie" and it takes you out of the experience.

(Reply to this)

123Dan123 writes:
on Jul 05 2007 09:13 PM

This is gonna be the granddaddy of all Zombie Films :D:D:D

(Reply to this)

Reaper99 writes:
on Jul 05 2007 09:16 PM

In reply to this comment (#893909)
dude r u forgeting whos doin the damn thing i think low hopes r an insult 2 Romero n his creative genius

(Reply to this)

Brad 3000 writes:
on Jul 05 2007 09:37 PM

In reply to this comment (#893919)
How difficult is it to type actual words? I understand this retarded shorthand for phone texting, but come on - you have a full keyboard at your disposal, please use it.

(Reply to this)

Pilgermann writes:
on Jul 05 2007 09:51 PM

The internet has helped make people even more stupid.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to this film. I hope it's better than LAND OF THE DEAD, although I did actually enjoy that movie.

(Reply to this)

frogleg writes:
on Jul 06 2007 05:21 AM

Yeah, I didn't like Land, either. But I'll always watch a Romero zombie movie. They pretty much all have bad acting and great gore.

(Reply to this)

SpikesInMySkull writes:
on Jul 06 2007 10:18 AM

OK, I'm going to say this...

Land of the Dead wasn't very good, it paled in comparision to Night of the Living Dead, and the original Dawn of The Dead... but it was easily 10,000 better than the frickiin God Awful POS remake of Dawn of the Dead that everyone seems to get such a major hard on for. I always appriciated Land of The Dead if for no other reason than it was Romero throwing something out there in repsonce to the completely bastardization of his work. There wasn't a sinlge point that made the original Dawn of The Dead great that wasn't completely missed by the remake, and anyone who thinks the remake had anything of it's own to offer hasn't seen enough horror movies.

Land of the Dead was a half-hearted effort at best, but at it at least it brought back the political/socio commentery enough to make the point that doing an "of the Dead" movie without it is completely stupid.

Personally, I'm hoping Romero can now buiild on that and make a good horror flick to go with that statement, and really point out how bad the remake that everyone loves so much really is.

...yes I'm bitter.

...oh, and if you don't think zombie movies should have political/socio commentery, go find another franchise as that's the entire friken' point of the original films. Of course if Zakk Snyder has shown that he has any talent it's for consistantly missing the point... kind of like how 300 was good except for the parts that Snyder actually wrote instead of just directly adapting scenes from the graphic novel... those where terrible.

/endrant

(Reply to this)

nathanpoitras writes:
on Jul 06 2007 10:37 AM

Just what we need, another zombie flick! It's been about 1 month and a half since the last one. George Romero has to be the least versatile director in the history of movies.

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pulgasari writes:
on Jul 06 2007 06:24 PM

[b]In reply to this comment (#717189)[/b]
The remake of Dawn of the Dead probably would have been more popular if it wasn't called "Dawn of the Dead". Just about the only connection it had to the film it was supposedly remaking was "zombies in a mall" and "black dude as a main character". It was actually a rather well-made film, although I understand those who are a bit peeved at its lack of faithfulness to its source material.

(Reply to this)

pulgasari writes:
on Jul 06 2007 06:33 PM

[b]In reply to this comment (#717202)[/b]
Apparently you don't know much about George Romero, because zombie flicks aren't the only films he's made. He's also made "Martin" (a deconstruction of the vampire myth) "The Crazies" (Thought "28 days Later" was the first movie to feature a viral plague that turned its victims into homicidal, olympic-sprinting killers? WRONG) Creepshow (a horror anthology flick) "There's Only Vanilla" (a romantic comedy before they became fashionable) "Knightriders" (a movie about people who joust... on motorcycles) and "Monkey Shines" (a helper monkey goes on a homicidal rampage... sweet).
Could you please [b]research[/b] a director or actor's filmography before you bash it?

(Reply to this)

Rabbitofzen writes:
on Jul 31 2007 10:27 AM

I was just wondering if any one has any idea what distribution company will be working with DIARY. In my little area of the U.S. independently released films have a hard time finding theaters to show in if they're not distributed by a major company.

(Reply to this)