For those of you who are unaware (this included myself), a brand new re-imagining of George Romero‘s Night of the Living Dead is being made, and it will be completely computer animated, and in fabulous 3-D.
The movie will be called Night of the Living Dead: Origins, and it aims to do things that haven’t been able to be done in live-action films. Directing duties will be handled by Zebediah de Soto, a true fan of the original film. The 1968 film was the first movie he ever saw after a strict childhood that had him forbidden from TV.
The latest Living Dead has now also begun casting its roles, and you will not be able to deny the loyalty that they show to the zombie genre in their casting. Names that have high association with the horror and zombie genre are getting the jobs, and horror fanboys will surely have to take a peek, even though the thought of a CGI zombie film must be a tad infuriating.
Casting so far goes as follows: Joe Pilato, who appeared in both the original Dawn of the Dead as well as Day of the Dead, will voice the role of Harry Cooper, a working man who only cares about his injured daughter. Bill Moseley (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects) will actually voice the same role of Johnnie that he played in the 1990 remake. Danielle Harris (Halloween, Halloween II) will voice a woman having trouble dealing with being without her family. And rounding out the cast is Alona Tal (Supernatural) voicing the bitter wife of Harry Cooper, Cornell Womack (Rescue Me) as a tough NYC cop, and Jesse Corti (Heroes) as a reporter.
In terms of details, you can expect the typical zombie madness we’re so used to. But de Soto also wants to try and step away from the norm where he can, which means trying to move away from the “backed into a corner” locations most zombie movies have.
I wanted to make this look like a living Monet; it’s expressionism. It’s going to be the first zombie movie played on a epic scale. This is the ‘Empire of the Sun’ of zombie films. … I lived through the L.A. riots and saw the city on fire; I remember seeing people running, people getting pulled out of cars. And with 9/11, these images have been ingrained on people of my generation. I just thought that is the way it would really be, a lot of chaos.
Night of the Living Dead: Origins is currently being animated with voicing set to begin soon. No word yet on when the film will be released.
[Source: THR]
