Jeffrey Reddick is the man who wrote the original Final Destination, and oversaw the production of the first sequel, but his latest task presents the screenwriter with his biggest challenge yet – writing the remake to George Romero’s Day Of The Dead. Directed by Steve Miner (Halloween H20) and starring Mena Suvari (American Beauty) and Dawn Of The Dead’s Ving Rhames, the new Day Of The Dead, at least on paper, seems like an interesting proposition. SciFiNow caught up with Reddick for the following exclusive preview.
Can you tell us how the new Day Of The Dead differs from George Romero’s original picture?
Well it is a lot different. I went in and pitched a take on the story that was a lot closer to the original but which kind of updated the story and the surroundings. But then, during the development process, the script got further and further away from that and now it is a very different film. The military is still involved, there is a bunker and I tried to keep some of the themes of George Romero’s story alive – like how humanity could be worse than any outside evil – but I would say that this is more an action movie with horror in it than a horror movie with action it. I think that the masses are going to like it and I think that it is a fun, entertaining thrill ride, but I am not sure how the die-hard Romero fans will react (laughs). It is definitely not as faithful to the original as it started out being and I kind of wish it was called something else – but, in saying that, it is a lot of fun and very different from the dark, dreary 28 Days Later sort of films that we have been seeing.
Were you approached to write the remake after your success with Final Destination?
What happened is this: the producers called my manager after they had hired Steve Miner to direct because they had read my original draft for Final Destination, which was called Flight 180. They liked my writing and they brought me in and told me about the plans to do a new Day Of The Dead. After that I pitched some different takes on the story but they wanted someone to write the screenplay in two weeks. I told them I could not do that so they passed on me but, thankfully, Steve Miner fought for me and I was given more time to work on the script.
Does it bother you that someone went and did a really low budget digital film called Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium? Do you think that this might confuse audiences and hurt the commercial potential for your movie?
I heard about that movie as I was writing this remake and then I ended up reading the synopsis of Day Of The Dead 2: Contagium and it was about a viral outbreak that takes place over 24 hours – the same thing I had come up with (laughs). So my immediate reaction was just “oh fuck”, you know? But that movie didn’t have much of a release and only the really hardcore horror fans know about it.
There were rumours that they went back and reshot some of the new Day Of The Dead after a negative test screening. Can you talk about this?
There were only three test screenings. I read one very lengthy review on Aint It Cool News and that guy must have been sitting in there with a frigging notebook writing down scenes and every bit of dialogue (laughs). They did do reshoots but the only thing that they reshot, and this is the honest truth, is some practical effects and one character originally died but the audience really responded to him. So they went back and reshot the ending and allowed him to survive. But then they had two more test screenings to see how the new finale went down and the audience actually seemed to like the character dying more (laughs). As a result, that is not even being used any more. You will probably see it on the DVD.
Day Of The Dead was originally announced for late 2007 and now it seems to be in limbo. When will we be seeing it?
I just emailed Steve this week about it and we are aiming for spring 2008. We just don’t know the exact date.
Was working with Steve Miner an exciting prospect for you?
Yeah, I was very excited and that is one of the reasons that I decided to take the meeting on Day Of The Dead. I knew the fans would still drag me over the coals but I loved a lot of his stuff – Friday The 13th Part 2, House, Warlock, Halloween H20 and Lake Placid among them. He was a great guy to work with and really down to earth.
Can you talk about the presence of Ving Rhames in Day Of The Dead?
Well it is funny, a lot of the message boards seem to think that they hired him in order to trick people into thinking this is a sequel to Dawn Of The Dead (laughs). I honestly don’t think the producers are that crafty and Ving is hardly hurting for work. I did actually write the character of Captain Rhodes as an African-American and that was to put a different spin on some familiar characters. The original Rhodes character was this racist, misogynistic guy and at the time Romero’s Day Of The Dead was made that was certainly a part of our culture – especially the overt racism. However, in the year 2007 I don’t think you can have that. None of my friends who are in the military would serve someone like that so I didn’t think we could do that. But Ving is great in the movie – although his Captain Rhodes is very different from the original character (laughs).
Does this link to the Dawn Of The Dead remake in any way?
No, it doesn’t link to Dawn Of The Dead at all. Nu Image bought the remake rights to Day Of The Dead and they could only base their film on the original. They don’t have the rights to Dawn Of The Dead so we can’t mention it or refer to it. This had to stand on its own.
So, just to wrap up, what’s happening with the Final Destination series?
I still talk to the producers and they keep me in the know about what is going on. Yes, they have been talking about doing another sequel and the third one actually did better, domestically at the box office, than the first two did. Money talks so I am sure that there will be a Final Destination 4 down the road but I was not involved in the third one and right now I am focusing on getting the financing completed for a film that I am lined up to direct. I love writing but a lot of the time what you put on the page is changed by the time it gets to the screen. So I have a script that I have held on to, and which I really believe in, and we have some good producers attached to it.
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