[Flyboy]

source: The Hollywood Reporter

Quote

Zombie movie “Night of the Living Dead” is coming back, this time in a 3D CGI format and without the involvement of George Romero.

Titled “Night of the Living Dead: Origins,” the re-imagining is being directed by newcomer Zebediah de Soto and produced by Simon West and Simon West Productions president Jib Polhemus.

On the story front, De Soto, who wrote the script with David R. Schwartz, wants to update the tale partially by bringing out the characters’ backstories and make what he called “an American-style anime.”

The latter will be done by using new technology the filmmaker is inventing. De Soto, along with partner Gus Malliarodaki founded New Golden Digital, a digital effects company which develops cutting-edge hardware and software.

The duo created and designed a real-time effects system, known as 'The Beast', which allows filmmakers the ability to direct CG performances the same way they would direct real live actors. The aim of the process is to make tennis balls on a stick representing real people or monsters a thing of the past by allowing actors interact with CG elements as if they are tangible.

Matty Miranda and Anthony Le are executive producing. George Passakos is co-executive producing while Warren Davis and Tiffany Shinn acts as associate producers.

De Soto, who has no agent or manager, directed a short titled “War Dogs” – sort of Vietnam War set in space - that made the rounds in Hollywood late last year. West (the director of movies such as "Con Air," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," and the upcoming TV show "Human Target") and Polhemus were impressed at how the short manage to look like the production had a higher budget than it actually did, and began looking for a project to partner on.

De Soto was a fan of the original “Living Dead” and once the trio realized the rights were in the public domain, zeroed in on that project.

Sounds exciting!!

[zombiekilling101]

lame. another cash grab.

[secretcog]

Might be cool. Can't be any worse then the garbage thats been released over the past year regarding the mainstream zed craze. Acke!

[neoflux]

I personally love the idea... I'll wait to judge the execution till it's more then a concept.

Still between Night of the Living Dead: Origins, Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated ( http://www.notldr.com), Night of the Living Dead in 3D ( http://www.passmorel...rsion_news.html ), Creepy Night of the Living Dead ( http://www.licenseto...te.blogspot.com ), and comics Russo is doing with Avatar and the other projects which were shuffling around Cannes... fans will need to be flexible.

What's good and bad... right and wrong... is all in the details. Who does right by the fans, who does right by the 68ers, and who does right by the story.... past there if its handled right, this can be incredibly exciting to see the story manifested in so many different formats and media.

-Mike

[neoflux]

Now that I've read it a few more times it raises some questions for me.

They are modernizing the story... but focusing on the characters origins/ back stories.

If they do both doesn't that mean they are focusing on new versions of the characters (which nobody is invested in) and then fixating on pre-outbreak events. I can't help but imagine a scene of some 'random' guy in jeans in a t-shirt haggling over the price of a grave wreath while his sister sits in the car texting about the changing weather on her cel phone.

The other big pitch is a 3D American Anime.

Isn't anime about being super flat? I mean they use cgi for vehicles and such and computer generated shortcuts to cut production cost but largely the only thing worse then CGI in anime is Americanizations of anime.

[Dubious COmforts]

This is the ultimate bad idea among bad ideas. It's CGI, it's anime, it's 3-D. It seems they don't really know what it should be so they're throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

Ever notice that it's always a first-time director, a self-declared "fan" that decides the world needs his take on Night of the Living Dead? You simply don't see filmmakers with a number of good films to their credit falling over themselves to remake another director's masterpiece.

When Martin Scorsese or John Carpenter decide to remake Night of the Living Dead, then perhaps I'll be interested.

[neoflux]

Dubious COmforts said:

Ever notice that it's always a first-time director, a self-declared "fan" that decides the world needs his take on Night of the Living Dead? You simply don't see filmmakers with a number of good films to their credit falling over themselves to remake another director's masterpiece.

When Martin Scorsese or John Carpenter decide to remake Night of the Living Dead, then perhaps I'll be interested.

Well that's somewhat absurd... John Carpenter is a contemporary of George Romero... both of which admit to pulling from 50's horror comics, films, and novels in their works. Scorsese is also a contemporary of theirs but in that case you've got the wrong genre and are just grasping at names.

Just about every Greek status we have is a Roman reproduction... most Roman statues we have are modified revisions of Greek sculptures... this is the nature of art... you can see influences clearly in most artist's early works... sometimes even referencing their source by name.

Now if Origins ends up being art is a completely different question... but younger film makers cutting their teeth on their versions of 'classic' ideas is not the problem. The issues I see are what you pointed out... throwing keywords out there and hoping something sticks. If the story exists already then you should only be judged on what you bring to it... and that's the weakest part of the presentation right now.

There is nothing wrong with being a fan and working with the ideas and media you grew up with and love... the issue becomes what you do with them. For me that comes down to respect.

Rob Zombie's Halloween for example does not claim to be 'better' or an 'improvement' on Carpenter's film... and though he redid the movie... in the process he brought something new to it... and like it or not you should be able to respect that.

NOTLD:3D as another example did make claims of 'improving it'... 'modernizing it' (which is horror-speak for adding nudity, curses, drug references, digital effects and gimmicks). They positioned themselves as an alternative to the original film and that's a promise they couldn't live up to. You didn't feel that respect for the original media... and that was it's greatest failure.

This project seems to have a new tool/ technique that they are bringing to the work. The biggest fear here is experiments yeild worthless findings without controls. I mean if they are focusing on their tool... that's fine but if they are going to let other things slip because of it then they should just leave the other elements as they stand. Change for the sake of change is one of the weaknesses of many young artists and film makers.

In the end, it's going to come down to how much consideration they give before they change things... because every change you make could either honor the original or put it in bad company... with animation the rules are even more open because you aren't even limited by reality. Restraint and focus is what is needed here because they may take too many liberties for their own good and when try to do too much it's a recipe for failure.

NOTLD may be the bible to the zombie culture... but even churches have artisans depict scenes and new priests use it in their sermons week after week. We just have to hope that those who preach are devout because the difference between praise and blasphemy is all in the details.

[Dubious COmforts]

neoflux said:

Well that's somewhat absurd... John Carpenter is a contemporary of George Romero... both of which admit to pulling from 50's horror comics, films, and novels in their works. Scorsese is also a contemporary of theirs but in that case you've got the wrong genre and are just grasping at names.

It's not absurd in the least. Carpenter and Scorsese are examples of two highly-respected directors that could be trusted to do a great job with a classic story. Carpenter's The Thing is considered one of the greatest remakes of all time, and Scorsese has demonstrated a better grasp of the dark and horrific in his films than most self-purported "horror film" directors.

Jeff Broadstreet and Zebediah de Soto have yet to demonstrate that they're capable of directing themselves out of a paper bag. What is truly absurd is allowing these amateurs the chance to piss all over a much-beloved work simply because it's public domain and they can get away with it. I won't pay one cent to encourage them.

[neoflux]

Dubious COmforts said:

It's not absurd in the least. Carpenter and Scorsese are examples of two highly-respected directors that could be trusted to do a great job with a classic story. Carpenter's The Thing is considered one of the greatest remakes of all time, and Scorsese has demonstrated a better grasp of the dark and horrific in his films than most self-purported "horror film" directors.

I don't think there is any question that if they were to do it that some of his notable peers could handle it well and make a great film... but this would largely be a lateral movement and it's unlikely that they would do it. They've already proven themselves and found their own hand in the media... Scorsese could do horror... but it's not what he does.

Dubious COmforts said:

Jeff Broadstreet and Zebediah de Soto have yet to demonstrate that they're capable of directing themselves out of a paper bag. What is truly absurd is allowing these amateurs the chance to piss all over a much-beloved work simply because it's public domain and they can get away with it. I won't pay one cent to encourage them.

Here's we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm not going to argue that NOTLD3D is good... or that Origins will be.. but it comes down to the the old expression 'I may not agree with what you have to say... but I defend to the death your right to say it.'

Copyright is BS across the board. 68er's shouldn't have lost their rights because there wasn't fine print on the final print.... but I believe all copyrights should only last for a generation... which was defined by the original US copyright law as 12 years + 12 years renewal until studios and corporate entities paid-off politicians to extend it time and time again. Life + 70 years is the sentence you give to a serial killer not a film.

[Devilspaintbrush]

secretcog said:

Might be cool. Can't be any worse then the garbage thats been released over the past year regarding the mainstream zed craze. Acke!

agreed

I have gotten to the point that ** out of **** isnt that big a deal now and is called "Watchable"

getting old I guess

[zombiekilling101]

secretcog said:

Might be cool. Can't be any worse then the garbage thats been released over the past year regarding the mainstream zed craze. Acke!

what mainstream zombie films have been released in the last year?..........

[retro zombie killer]

There might be some Video Releases but no big theater ones that I've heard of? Last one I saw was Comet Of Darkness or something like that where this comet carries spores that infect everyone who isn't drunk and turn them into zombie incubators for some alien hybrid!!

[Zombob]

Dubious COmforts said:

Jeff Broadstreet and Zebediah de Soto have yet to demonstrate that they're capable of directing themselves out of a paper bag. What is truly absurd is allowing these amateurs the chance to piss all over a much-beloved work simply because it's public domain and they can get away with it. I won't pay one cent to encourage them.

With all due respect, Jeff Broadstreet and Zebediah de Soto ALSO have yet to not prove themselves. How can they be labeled without having the chance to prove themselves? I'm not saying that they will succeed, but, as of yet, we don't know if they will fail, either.

retro zombie killer said:

There might be some Video Releases but no big theater ones that I've heard of? Last one I saw was Comet Of Darkness or something like that where this comet carries spores that infect everyone who isn't drunk and turn them into zombie incubators for some alien hybrid!!

That was Days of Darkness.

[neoflux]

Zombob said:

With all due respect, Jeff Broadstreet and Zebediah de Soto ALSO have yet to not prove themselves. How can they be labeled without having the chance to prove themselves? I'm not saying that they will succeed, but, as of yet, we don't know if they will fail, either.

Zombob, Jeff Broadstreet directed NOTLD:3D (2006). So good or bad... it's fair to take a stance on his vision of Night of the Living Dead. I do however agree with you completely that we should wait for something to manifest itself before we judge Origins too harshly.

[goesaround]

If they were doing a remake with people I would be interested. Mo gimicks, no cartoons. I well acted film with actors. I would enjoy a serious take. Not a gameboy version

[paultagonist]

goesaround said:

If they were doing a remake with people I would be interested. Mo gimicks, no cartoons. I well acted film with actors. I would enjoy a serious take. Not a gameboy version

There's already been two remakes with people. How many do you need?

I'm looking forward to it. Although I didn't like the story much, I thought the computer-animated look of Final Fantasy: Advent Children anime was amazing.

At this point NOTLD has transcended just being a movie you watch. Since it's public domain, and it's arguably the most famous zombie flick, it seems to scream "remake me." For a beginning director, it's a boon, since they know it has such a cult following - most likely because they're a fan themselves - and that many people will probably automatically watch it.

In any case I'm looking forward to it. NOTLD, at this point, is beyond just Romero (like it or not).

[Dubious COmforts]

paultagonist said:

There's already been two remakes with people. How many do you need?

Actually, I never needed any, but I'd settle for just one good one.

[paultagonist]

Dubious COmforts said:

Actually, I never needed any, but I'd settle for just one good one.

I thought Tom Savini's was pretty damn good..

[Thing]

Oh Yeah, Zeb de Soto and David Schwartz.

I am sure I can’t be the only one who remembers them to be the 2 gentlemen
behind the now defunct DEAD television series.

Somewhere buried here in the ATZ archives is the thread regarding this drama that played out last year.

I must agree I am certainly not looking for any remakes, especially of classics.
But these two guys have proved themselves to be pretty talented.
I guess we’ll see if this is real and if it will pan out.

[MrShape666]

So, basically, it's another Night Of The Living Dead remake?

Lets see, that makes four.

Maybe I should take my camcorder and remake it? Why not, everyone else is? I'll just get lots of footage of drunk frat boys at raves and tell everyone they're zombies. Who can tell the difference?