George Romero

George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American film director, screenwriter, editor and occasional actor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed Grandfather of the Zombie.

Trademark:

Often features radio or television news broadcasts playing in the background.

Trivia:

Education: Carnegie-Mellon Institute (art, theatre, design).

Prior to Night of the Living Dead (1968), he was better known as an industrial film-maker, who created TV commercials, promotional featurettes and industrial training films. One of his assignments was to shoot short films that were used in the TV show “MisteRogers’ Neighborhood”.

Was originally slated to write and direct Resident Evil (2002).

Was slated to direct a theatrical version of Stephen King’s novel “The Stand,” adapted for the screen by Rospo Pallenberg. The film never materialised. Instead, the novel was adapted into a TV mini-series, “The Stand” (1994).

Frequently casts African-Americans as the heroes of his films, although the parts aren’t usually written specifically for any particular race, going against the stereotype of the Black character dying early in horror films.

In 1968, he reinvented the horror genre with his Night of the Living Dead (1968), a cult classic that made its way onto the prestigious National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

The 2002 Sight & Sound Greatest Films Poll (2002) listed his Top Ten films as The Brothers Karamazov (1958), Casablanca (1942), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), High Noon (1952), King Solomon’s Mines (1950), North by Northwest (1959), The Quiet Man (1952), Repulsion (1965), Touch of Evil (1958), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951).

Originally set to direct Pet Sematary (1989), but when filming was delayed, he dropped out and Tom Savini was given the opportunity to direct the film but passed. Finally, Mary Lambert stepped in.

Began making movies at the age of 14 with an 8mm camera.

Is good friends with stuntman/special-effects artist/actor/director Tom Savini. The two have worked together on many films.

Dawn of the Dead (2004), the remake of his movie Dawn of the Dead (1978), was released before the fourth part of his Zombie-series, Land of the Dead (2005), was even filmed.

He has two children, a son and a daughter (who will be attending Tisch, NYU in the Fall 2006 to study film-making).

He resides in Toronto, Canada.

Was originally set to direct two Stephen King stories that would later turn into TV features: Salem’s Lot (1979) (TV) & “The Stand” (1994).

Father of Tina Romero and G. Cameron Romero.

When discussing his influences, he has that the Universal horror classic made a strong impression on him and his favorite horror film as a child was The Thing from Another World (1951). However, the film he said made him want to be a director was The Red Shoes (1948). While discussing the directors who made a strong impression on him, he said that Orson Welles and Howard Hawks were his favorites, surpassing Alfred Hitchcock.

Was originally attached to write and direct Resident Evil (2002), but left the project in 1999 due to creative differences over the script.

Of Cuban and Lithuanian descent.

A big fan of The Archers’ (aka the British team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger) movie The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), based on Jacques Offenbach’s operetta. He is interviewed at length about his love for the film and especially its artistic direction, use of color, and use of fantasy/horror themes in a special feature included on the Criterion Collection’s 2005 DVD release of the film. Before video tape and DVD versions of the film were available, Romero would frequently rent a 16-millimeter film copy–as would Martin Scorsese, he subsequently learned, from the very same New York City rental company. Alas, Romero reported that the two fans have not yet become aware of each other.

The Dead Zone is a 1983 science fiction-thriller film based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by David Cronenberg, the film stars Christopher Walken, Tom Skerritt, Martin Sheen, Herbert Lom, Brooke Adams, Anthony Zerbe, Ken Pogue, and Colleen Dewhurst. The plot revolves around a schoolteacher, Johnny Smith (Walken), who awakens from a coma to find he has psychic powers.

Tagline:  In his mind, he has the power to see the future. In his hands, he has the power to change it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4d1fugaW2o]

Trivia:

• Director David Cronenberg had to re-shoot the scene in which John Smith has his first premonition. It showed a little girl’s room burning and a small E.T. doll could be seen on one of the shelves. The scene had to be re-shot when Universal Pictures threatened to sue.
• Cronenberg fired a .357 Magnum loaded with blanks just off camera to make Smith’s flinches seem more involuntary; this was Christopher Walken’s own idea.
• Before the accident, Johnny instructs his class to read “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Christopher Walken would later go on to appear in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow (1999).
• Martin Sheen’s character says he has had a vision that he will be the President of the United States. Sheen went on to play the President of the United States in the mini series “Kennedy” (1983) and in “The West Wing” (1999).
• Greg Stillson, played by Martin Sheen (né Ramon Estevez), has damning pictures taken of him by a photographer, played by Ramon Estevez, Sheen’s son.
• A stuntman was severely burned around the legs and groin when a squib went off too near him during the shooting of the WWII flashback sequence.
• The “sweat” on Christopher Walken’s face during the “burning bedroom” sequence was in fact a flame-retardant chemical that had been sprayed onto him. The resulting effect, which hadn’t been anticipated, looked surprisingly dramatic on film.
• David Cronenberg wanted to change the name of Christopher Walken’s character: “I’d never name someone ‘Johnny Smith’”, he quipped, but in the end it was left as is.
• One of only three David Cronenberg films that do not have a score by his friend, composer Howard Shore. This was due to studio politics in which Paramount wanted a more familiar composer to write the music for the film. Michael Kamen, who had written the music for the film Venom (1981) for the studio, was chosen instead.
• During the time Michael Kamen was composing the music for the film in London, he would play the score on the piano in his home. He received several complaints by his neighbors who asked, “Can you please stop playing that music? I can’t sleep and it’s giving my family nightmares.”
• This film (and Stephen King’s novel) are both loosely based upon the life of famous psychic Peter Hurkos. Hurkos claimed to have acquired his alleged powers after falling off a ladder and hitting his head.
• The poem Johnny reads in the beginning of the film is the end of “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe.
• There are several deleted scenes that were filmed and completed but have never been seen publicly and are thought to have been discarded prior to the films release. Among them: – A prologue showing John Smith as a boy (played by Stephen Flynn) who sustains a head injury during an ice hockey match. The scene features actor Sean Sullivan as John’s father. – An alternate scene of John Smith’s vision of the Camp David scene (featuring Martin Sheen) in which John himself appears in the vision as a helpless spectator. Photos of these scenes appeared in the December 1983 issue of Cinefantastique.
• Hal Holbrook was Cronenberg’s original choice to play Sherrif Bannerman, but Dino De Laurentiis rejected this idea as he had never heard of Holbrook at the time.
• In the WWII scene, civilians in the burning city are speaking Polish.
• Three people were involved in the James Bond franchise. Anthony Zerbe (Roger Stuart) would later appear in Licence to Kill (1989), while Christopher Walken (Johnny Smith) would later appear in A View to a Kill (1985). Michael Kamen, who did the music for this film, would later do the music for Licence to Kill (1989).
• Before his accident, Johnny Smith is an English teacher. Stephen King was also an English teacher before becoming a full-time writer.
• The Dead Zone was the first of several Stephen King novels and short stories that took place in the small town of Castle Rock. Others include Stand by Me (1986), Cujo (1983), The Dark Half (1993), and Needful Things (1993).