George Romero's classic DAWN OF THE DEAD
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Dawn of the Dead

Genre:
Horror/Remake.

Studio:
Universal Pictures.

Production Company:
Beacon Communications/Strike Entertainment/New Amsterdam Entertainment.

Project Phase:
In the Can.

Who's In It:
Ving Rhames (Kenneth); Sarah Polley (Ana); Mekhi Phifer (Andre); Jake Weber (Michael); Kevin Zegers (Terry); Kim Poirier (Monica); Ty Burrell (Steve); Michael Kelly (C.J.); Lindy Booth (Nicole); Matt Austin (Doug); Jayne Eastwood (Norma); Nicolas Marino (Tom); Boyd Banks (Tucker); Ken Foree (The Preacher); Tom Savini (Sheriff).

Who's Making It:
Zack Snyder (Director); James Gunn (Screenwriter); Richard Rubinstein, Marc Abraham, Eric Newman (Producers); Tom Bliss, Armyan Bernstein, Dennis E. Jones (Executive Producers); Michael Messina (Co-Producer); Matt Leonetti (Director of Photography); Niven Howie (Editor); David Anderson (Makeup Suvervisor); Andrew Neskoromny (Production Designer); Denise Cronenberg (Costume Designer); a remake of the 1978 movie directed by George Romero.

Premise:
The dead have risen and begun walking the earth. As civilization deals with the psychological trauma of this unthinkable calamity, in a corner of surburban Wisconsin a pocket of survivors have hunkered down inside a mall. There, surrounded by hundreds of the reanimated dead that walk outside the building, they try to survive by using the resources on hand. But can there be any room for compassion and humanity in a world where unspeakable horror has become an everyday fact of life?

Release Date:
March 19, 2004.

Comments:
The original DAWN OF THE DEAD was the second film in Romero's LIVING DEAD series of zombie films. It is preceded by NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and followed by DAY OF THE DEAD.

Interestingly, NIGHT was remade in 1990 by makeup effects artist Tom Savini. Savini worked on the last two LIVING DEAD films.

Scoop Feedback:

May 9, 2003... Actors Ving Rhames (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE) and Sarah Polley (eXistenZ) are close to signing deals to star in the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, states today's issue of The Hollywood Reporter. The two would play members of a group of survivors holed up in a mall, seeking refuge from the unstoppable hordes of reanimated dead folk. Rhames would play a policeman while Polley would play a nurse.

Production on the new DAWN is scheduled to begin next month. [The Hollywood Reporter.]

June 11, 2003... Creature Corner reports the addition of two new cast members to the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD. According to the horror website, actors Mekhi Phifer (8 MILE, ER) and Kevin Zegers (WRONG TURN) have joined the cast of the zombie flick. As well, the Corner also reports that MINORITY REPORT screenwriter Scott Frank has done a recent polish to James Gunn's screenplay.

DAWN OF THE DEAD has just started shooting (zombies). [Source: Creature Corner.]

June 16, 2003... Principal photography on DAWN OF THE DEAD has begun. Universal Pictures issued a press release today stating that Zack Snyder's picture has begun shooting in and around the city of Toronto, Canada. The movie is scheduled for release sometime in 2004.

Universal described the remake's storyline as follows:

"In DAWN OF THE DEAD, an unexplained plague has decimated the world's population and yet...the dead aren't dying. They've become zombies, stalking endlessly in a constant quest to feed on the flesh and blood of the few remaining living.

"A ragtag group of desperate survivors in a Wisconsin town seek refuge in a large indoor shopping mall, where they must learn not only to protect themselves from the ever-increasing zombie horde, but also to co-exist with each other as one of the last bastions of humanity. Sealed off from the rest of what used to be the world, the group uses every available resource (both within and without) in their against-all-odds fight to remain alive and human."

Universal also beefed up the known list of crewmembers working on the film, which now includes director of photography Matt Leonetti (2 FAST 2 FURIOUS), production designer Andrew Neskoromny (THE CORE), costume designer Denise Cronenberg (SPIDER), prosthetics make-up designer David Anderson (both MEN IN BLACK films) and editor Niven Howie (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS). The film's producers are original DAWN producer Richard P. Rubinstein, Marc Abraham (SPY GAME) and Eric Newman (THE EMPEROR'S CLUB). Exec producers are Tom Bliss (THE HURRICANE), Armyan Bernstein (AIR FORCE ONE) and Dennis E. Jones (VIRUS).

[Source: Universal Pictures.]

June 30, 2003... Last Wednesday an anonymous individual emailed to say that two of the original stars in George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD plus legendary makeup artist Tom Savini would make cameo appearances in the remake, now lensing in Toronto.

Seeking to find confirmation, we were eventually contacted by David Dreher, the webmaster for Tom Savini's website who did confirm Savini's involvement with the new DAWN flick. It turns out the gore guru will cameo as a sheriff in the film. Savini's filmography on his website has been updated to reflect this new role.

The two original DAWN cast members who we've been told have been asked to also cameo in the remake are Ken Foree (who played Peter Washington) and Scott Reiniger (who played Roger DeMarco). We haven't been able to confirm Foree or Reiniger's involvement with the new DAWN OF THE DEAD production so far, but our original scooper was dead right about Savini, wasn't he?

More as we get it... [Thanks to anonymous and David Dreher.]

August 1, 2003... With the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD now currently filming in Toronto, we've been waiting to hear a firsthand report of what it's like fighting off wave after wave of dead folk. Thanks to an early morning email from R.T., we've now got a firsthand account to share with you of what it's like working on the set of DAWN OF THE DEAD. Minor spoiler information is contained in our scooper's account.

"Okay - here's the deal. I am an actor who played a zombie on 2nd unit this week for 4 nights in a row in Toronto.

"Film is set in fictious 'Great Lakes City' and the name of the mall is the 'Crossroads Mall.'

"Our scene for 4 nights: we were greenscreened outdoors with modified schoolbuses (think A-Team) that burst out from the mall in a desperate bid by a group of humans to try and flee the mall. We (zombies) ravage the buses (using 500 they'll make us look like 2000 in number via angles, digital fx) and a 'muscle-head zombie' has a makeshift molotov cocktail type bomb with a barbeque propane tank that he tries to toss back at the bus. The hero CJ with his shotgun pops up the top of the bus and blows the propane tank with one blast, effectively stunning and killing the throng of zombies via ensuing fireball. There was some pyro on the set too. Very nifty.

"Our makeup on the 2nd unit is cheap - no Tom Savini here. Local vfx house Mr. X is doing the digital effects here.

"Here's the best part - Ving Rhames was shooting on main unit the same time as us on the last night (July 31) - he's playing a cop who gets holed up in the mall when the shit hits the fan, so to speak. He came out to see the extras and took the time to shake hands and
chit-chat with us - very very cool guy who gave EVERYONE the time of day. He is a very gracious man, very friendly, even more cool in real life than he seems in his films!

"It's been great fun - long nights - the main unit shoots quite late too, working the graveyard shift along with us common folk!"

[Our thanks to R.T. for sending us their story!]

DAWN OF THE DEAD will be out in theaters next summer.

August 15, 2003... Our undead pal who has been sending us set reports from the DAWN OF THE DEAD production returns with another story to tell. This time he's here to describe the street scenes being filmed on Toronto's city blocks!

Shortly before the east-coast blackout hit Toronto this week, exterior scenes were being filmed away from the surburban mall that's been used for the majority of the shoot. Our man on the scene has been sending us updates on how the production has been coming along, what's being shot and what some of the action scenes are going to be like. It certainly sounds like this version of DAWN OF THE DEAD will be amped up.

You need to be advised that SOME SPOILER MATERIAL is contained in our source's report. While nothing major (like who lives or dies), there is some mention of a scene that does occur later in the film.

"Production is very ambitious - closing off 3 square blocks of eastern downtown Toronto to re-create a 'ghost town' somewhere in Wisconsin. It's just like the end of RESIDENT EVIL - the city
is littered with papers, burnt-out overturned cars, buses and trucks - even a crashed helicopter. It's like a real bad riot locale gone to heck.

"This week's scene? One of the armoured buses has crashed and the rest of the convoy comes back to extract the human survivors - rampaging, looting zombies smell blood and close in for the attack
on the bus but not before our heroes lock themselves in and ping off a few with shotguns. This is apparently very close to the end of the film as the convoy tries to escape to an island free of zombie inhabitants.

"The set is incredible - millions of dollars alone went into setting this up and we are at Front and Cherry St. till end of this week for those diehard fans who want to come check it out!"

[Special thanks to the zombie spy for sending us their reports!]

August 27, 2003... If you've been following our exclusive reports from our DAWN OF THE DEAD insider, you've had an early preview of what to expect from this zombie update. We now know there are more people in jeopardy at the mall, that they are armed with different weapons and have a different strategy to outwit the zombie horde than the quartet in Romero's picture.

Thanks to our pal, we now know part of what happens in the film's climax. It's dangerous stuff because the fates of at least three of the film's main characters are revealed.

We're not in the job of completely blowing the ending of movies, especially ones that have unexpected twists. If you want to know who lives and dies you'll have to see the movie for yourself next year. Still, we will tease you. SPOILERS ARE COMING so stop reading here if you don't want to know...

The ending doesn't take place at the mall. Actually, the ending does sort of resemble the conclusion of another one of Romero's LIVING DEAD films. If you're knowledgeable about those movies and what happens at the end of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAY OF THE DEAD, then you'll also know the end of this picture is either going to be a one helluva downer or it'll be a happy ending. One thing our source promises is that there will be plenty of zombies attacking the survivors.

These scenes were shot August 18-20, and the film was scheduled to wrap two days ago on the 25th. [The dead really do speak!]

October 17, 2003... Apple's trailer park has just unloaded the first trailer for Universal Pictures' DAWN OF THE DEAD. Download the trailer and you'll get your first look at the mall where the survivors are holed up in, a taste of what kind of scares you can expect to see, and your first glimpse at the film's zombies. (Bonus points if you catch the ultra-brief glimpse of FX guru Tom Savini!)

And there's now a date: expect the movie in theaters on March 26, 2004.

Select from four different sizes and watch the dead rise!

January 9, 2003... Following up on the first teaser trailer released three months back, Yahoo! Movies is hosting the new full trailer for the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD. Jarring and disturbing are two words I'd use to describe the trailer; it really does look like they've taken Romero's original DAWN film and ramped it up to 11. Fans of the RESIDENT EVIL games or 28 DAYS LATER should definitely take note...and if you really want to experience the full effect of this trailer, you should see it in a darkened theater. You'll know what I mean when you see the trailer's ending.

If you can't wait until then, hit Yahoo Movies and select from Windows Media, QuickTime and RealOne formats.

DAWN OF THE DEAD opens in theaters in March. [Yahoo Movies.]

February 15, 2004... Universal Pictures has supplied us with over a dozen new stills from their upcoming remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD. With the end of the world nigh and the dead walking the face of the Earth, what's a motley band of survivors to do? Why, hole up inside a shopping mall and hope for the best. What happens when the best that the survivors can hope for is to not be the main course at a zombie all-you-can-eat buffet? Good question. Guess we'll all find out when DAWN opens in theaters on March 26.

Click on any of the stills below to see them full-size and don't forget to read our page chronicling the development and production of the movie for the latest updates! [Universal Pictures.]

March 15, 2004... It's just five days to go until the big budget remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD arrives in theaters. If the trailers and commercials haven't made up your mind whether you should spend your cash to see the movie, maybe eight clips from the film will help you make up your mind. The clips are available for download at the French film site Cinemovies and show scenes from throughout the zombie actioner. Get yourself here at Cinemovies and select from the eight offerings, each of which are titled in english.

And if you're hanging out in front of the television tonight, the first ten minutes of the new DAWN OF THE DEAD will be broadcast uncut on USA Network toward the end of FINAL DESTINATION. That would make the preview slated to air sometime between 10:00 and 10:30 PM. Universal Pictures advises viewers that since this is material directly from the R-rated film and contains scenes of graphic violence, it is recommending that adults use discretion before allowing anyone under 18 years of age watch the preview. [USA Network.]