Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Good stuff. Romero evidently just saw SHAUN OF THE DEAD and flipped out for it. I’m hoping they’ll have a giant splashy Romero quote across the top of the U.S. one-sheet.
Full Report on George Romero's Full Sail Visit
Hey Harry and Moriarty. Tonight at Full Sail (Orlando, FL) George Romero, famed horror legend, came to talk to the student body about his life and his involvement in the film industry.
The night started out with an ex-Full Sail grad intrducing Mr. Romero with a retrospective illustrating his numerous film projects and the ideals behind them. George Romero took the stage, looking good for a man 60 plus. George sank inot his nice, black leather chair and began to talk a bit, about his humble beginnings in Pittsburg and what it was like to make film before the whole “digital revolution”.
About 10 minutes into his illuminating speech the lights and sound both went out, and a high pitched squeel filled the hall, (which was at one point some sort of clothing store since the Misses and Juniors Neon Signs still hung right about Romero's head). George took it in stride and continued to answer questions unwavered by the fact that two thirds of the audience couldn't hear a word he said, enjoying himself all the same.
Just as the sun went down, and no longer blinded Romero, audio was regained and George went on to talk about various future projects that he's working on and answered some questions about his previous work.
Some Highlights:
George's main focus of the night was talking about how today's horror films are only being used as spectacle and cheap thrills, while Romero sees film as a vehicle for social criticism and parable. Speaking speficially about “Jeepers Creepers” and the “Dawn of the Dead” remake, he pointed out how it lacks any soul and loses that dimension of social critique that underlined so much of his original work.
George also repeated dogged the recent “fast zombie” movies, laughing to himself that there's no way he would use zombies that moved like rocketships, so relax folks, the Romero Shamblers are here to stay.
When asked if he could take Zack Snyder (director of the recent Dawn of the Dead remake) in a fight, Romero answered, “Well, I am bigger...”
Romero went on to talk about both Diamond Dead and Dead 4 (adding to the Dead Trilogy) saying that both looked like they were in the running to be made and that for every twelve projects he works on, and tries to get going, only one ever makes it into a theatre. He also stressed how important control over a project is to him, and that he'd rather work with a lower budget and have less interference than make a huge movie under studio control.
Finally, when asked about Dario Argento, and about Two Evil Eyes specifically, he said he loved working with him, and that although they worked together on seperate segments of said movie, he'd love to work closer with him, maybe even co-directing something in the future.
Overall, George came across as a very likable guy, completely free of the jading that seems to have overtake so much of the entertainment industry as of late. According to him it's because of how much time he spends in Pittsburg. If you use this, call us PiratedTV and Lowery.
Thanks, guys.
"Moriarty" out.
