Hasitha Fernando on the story behind Zombieland as it turns 15…
Good horror comedies are something of a rarefied commodity. So, every now and then when a movie like Zombieland comes a long it becomes instantly memorable. With an uber-talented cast, a darkly comedic script and compelling performances the movie is the quintessential modern horror comedy classic. Here’s what happened behind-the-scenes during the making of the film 15 years ago.
The story was originally meant to be a television show
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have been working in the industry as screenwriters for quite some time involved in efforts like Clifford’s Really Big Movie and Cruel Intentions 3. But the duo drew the attention of people in the industry by having their inventive screenplay featured in the 2007 Blacklist, which is a list of the “most liked” unproduced scripts in a given year. Reese and Wernick have stated that the idea for Zombieland had “lived in [their] heads” for four-and-a-half years. But the story was originally envisioned by the pair as a television pilot to debut in the summer of 2005 and not as a feature film. The hilarious “Zombie Kill of the Week” that’s featured in the movie was actually a detail that was left over from the script that was developed as the pilot of the proposed TV show which eventually got carried over to the feature film version. In the pilot version a “Zombie Kill of the Week” would be featured in every weekly episode carried out by the character of the show.
The movie was inspired by another modern horror comedy classic
Starting off his career as a PA in the writer’s office of Dawson’s Creek, Ruben Fleischer worked his way up the industry directing television commercials for such brands as Cisco, Eurostar, ESPN and Burger King as well as music videos for artists like M.I.A, Electric Six and Gold Chains before landing his first feature film gig with Zombieland. Initially, horror legend John Carpenter was eyed to direct the project back when it was originally conceived as a TV pilot. However, when the project metamorphosed into a feature film Carpenter’s interest in the effort dwindled and with his busy schedule the possibility of helming a feature film wasn’t viable. But Carpenter’s departure proved to be a boon for Fleischer who joined the project and brought some of his own, unique ideas to the table. Inspired by Edgar Wright’s cult-classic gem Shaun of the Dead the filmmaker helped writers Wernick and Reese to craft the script from a series into a self-contained feature film by adding certain elements that he felt would work in the context of a road story set in a zombie apocalypse.
Woody Harrelson was arrested for marijuana possession during filming
Cheers was a popular NBC sitcom televised in the 80s where Woody Harrelson first achieved acclaim for playing the charismatic bartender Woody Boyd. After shifting from the small screen to feature film Harrelson achieved early successes with efforts like Money Train and Indecent Proposal. But it was with 1996’s The People vs. Larry Flynt that he achieved critical success by garnering an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nomination. Before he accepted the role of the zombie hatin’, gun totin’ Tallahassee Harrelson had four conditions – two of them concerned cast and crew, a third was an environmentally conscious production and non-consumption of dairy products by the director for a week. Hilariously the actor got arrested for marijuana possession during the shoot, which unfortunately halted production for an entire day.
“That” cameo was originally written for Patrick Swayze
Zombieland features one of the most brilliant and memorable cameos in recent memory and it involves, none other than, Bill Murray. But at the very outset of production Murray was not the performer that producers wanted – it was Patrick Swayze. His cameo would have seen him parodying famous scenes from past efforts like Dirty Dancing, Road House and Ghost. However, Swayze was suffering from significant health issues as he was battling pancreatic cancer at the time and was too weak to visit the set. Swayze tragically passed away in September 2009 and the part was offered to many other actors such as Joe Pesci, Mark Hamill, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Matthew McConaughey. When none of these options panned out Harrelson made a few calls and was able to convince Murray to take the role.
Emma Stone was cast in a different role in the beginning
Emma Stone’s meteoric rise in Hollywood is undeniable. Starting out in the theater and stints in the small screen the talented actress has gone on to win high praise and numerous accolades over the past few years for her critically acclaimed performances in Easy A, Birdman, La La Land and Poor Things. Following the success of Greg Mottola’s Superbad Stone’s next project was Zombieland. However, originally she was cast in Amber Heard’s role 406 until the producers realized she was a much better fit for the vivacious Wichita.
Jesse Eisenberg wasn’t the first choice for the role of Colombus
Following his television debut on the short-lived television-drama series Get Real, Jesse Eisenberg next moved to feature films achieving acclaim for efforts like Roger Dodger, The Squid and the Whale and Adventureland. The actor achieved wider recognition as well as an Academy Award nomination for playing Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher’s The Social Network. In Zombieland Eisenberg plays the socially awkward but overtly chatty Colombus who possesses a fear of clowns. In real-life Jesse Eisenberg’s mother worked as a part-time party clown to make ends meet. Interestingly, prior to his casting Jamie Bell was originally cast in the roll before he dropped out. Twilight alum Taylor Lautner was also considered as a probable replacement but things didn’t quite pan out.
The zombie creation process was given some extra attention
To bring the myriad zombies feature in Zombieland to life, special effects makeup designer Tony Gardner who had worked on such efforts as 127 Hours, Hairspray and There’s Something About Mary was brought in. Gardner, who had previously worked with Rick Baker in developing the signature look of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video wanted to create something memorable and was given free reign by director Ruben Fleischer to come up with some truly gnarly character designs. “We were just trying to be real extreme with it, stated Gardner, “and trying to balance the scares out with the comedy”.
The source of the zombie infestation was explicitly revealed
Many zombie related movies intentionally try to side-step or keep the origins of the zombie infestation ambiguous. But in Zombieland the source of the zombie outbreak is revealed pretty early on in a piece of expository dialogue by Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus who reveals that the first patient consumed an infected hamburger, so the source is a pathogen, like a virus. And people could only transform or get infected if they come into direct contact with other zombies, so it is not an airborne infection.
The intended soundtrack songs could not be used since they were expensive
Director Ruben Fleischer is a big fan metal music and therefore envisioned the final showdown to be one that is chock full of songs from bands like Slayer, Death Deicide, Terrorizer, Bolt Thrower and Carcass. However, the production team assuming that these songs would come cheaper and instead focused on purchasing the rights to the more mainstream songs thinking they’d be more expensive. But it turned out it was the metal songs that were more expensive to acquire. Since Fleisher’s original plan didn’t work out the climax is accompanied by an original metal score composed by musician David Sardy.
Box office glory, rave reviews, and a sequel
Made on a production budget of $23.6 million Zombieland went on to make a decent worldwide box-office return of $102.4 million. The movie became an instant hit with film critics and audiences alike with review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes boasting a rating of 89% based on reviews from 259 critics with a rating average of 7.4/10, the website’s consensus reading: “Wickedly funny and featuring plenty of gore, Zombieland is proof that the zombie subgenre is far from dead.”
Roger Ebert was surprised by Zombieland’s ability to be significantly humorous while zombies remained the focus of the film and felt that “all of this could have been dreary, but not here. The filmmakers show invention and well-tuned comic timing”. He credited Bill Murray’s cameo appearance as receiving the “single biggest laugh” of the year and gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. Along with Roger Ebert many other critics and reviewers too singled out Bill Murray’s cameo as one of the film’s most memorable moments. The effort even went on to garner multiple accolades at the Sitges Film Festival, Saturn Awards and the MTV Movie Awards.
The success of Zombieland meant of course that a sequel would be inevitable and thus on its 10th anniversary a sequel titled Zombieland: Double Tap featuring the original cast was released to critical and financial success. Fleischer hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a third outing but it all depends on the availability of the cast and the right script.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
