Post by IRON BALLS on Oct 5, 2009 12:13:53 GMT -5
Forget saving mountain tops or climbing the Golden Gate bridge to protest the logging of Redwoods. Woody Harrelson has a new calling.
It’s killing zombies.
He’s even got a favorite weapon.
“I like the skillet. Just the thud of it,” Woody said.
Harrelson stars alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin in the new zombie-comedy “Zombieland,” opening this weekend.
Comcast.net was on hand when Woody, Jesse, Emma, director Ruben Fleischer and the writing team Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick talked to reporters at Comic-Con about the “zomedy.”
“I play Tallahassee, who is a fellow who has probably gone through a heart breakin’ life and who is a bit of a loner who fortunately runs into Jesse Eisenberg's character and they become an unlikely duo," Woody said. "We do a lot of zombie killing together.”
Like the rest of the characters in “Zombieland,” Tallahassee’s name is derived from his home, pre-zombie apocalypse. Since the zombie virus spread, each of the foursome has had to figure out how to fend for themselves, trusting no one and fighting off the undead. For Tallahassee, this means meeting the zombies head on.
In fact, it seemed like the drawling, jeans-clad actor hadn’t quite gotten out of his country-song-come-to-life character.
“I always fancied myself an action hero,” Harrelson said. “I didn't actually get the parts to prove it out. It was cool and it was great to kick ass and not really hurt anyone.”
Eisenberg’s character Columbus takes a slightly different approach to survival.
“My character has obsessive compulsive disorder before the zombies take over and then he uses it to his advantage when they do take over,” Eisenberg explained. “’Cause he's obsessed with survival he comes up with a list of 47 rules of how to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, including taking Ziploc bags and buckling up.”
But “Zombieland” isn’t really all about the undead; it’s about the characters and the relationships they build when they team up and hit the road.
“Abigail Breslin plays (Emma Stone’s) little sister (Little Rock). They're kind of like a tag team of con artists,” Eisenberg explained. “Every character in this movie is well rounded, interesting, fully dimensional, fleshed out. All those words I learned in acting class. All of these characters are that and that's what separated it from the other movies that are similar.”
Despite the obvious comparisons to “Shaun of the Dead”-- it’s also a comedy and it has zombies – “Zombieland” holds its own in the genre and delivers non-stop laughs. Fleischer described it as “a much more grounded and American version of (‘Shaun of the Dead’).”
We would describe it as its out-of-control “ugly American” friend that it met on a study abroad. It’s rougher and raunchier, but with an equally ridiculous sense of humor. And *spoiler alert*, it has a not-to-be-missed walking dead cameo from an “SNL” alum.
“I think what we envisioned more than anything was an escapist fantasy," Rhett Reese said. "This post-apocalyptic landscape, we all dread it, but I think it would be fun. It would be fun to not have any traffic on the freeway and be able to walk into the White House and swing from the chandeliers in the Lincoln bedroom. And to be able to kill without consequence and take out your inherent violence that's in you on these creatures …”
Well, it’s not the escapist fantasy that most of us would imagine. There’s no beach, no margaritas, but the cast seemed to love filming it. Both Emma and Abigail learned to use fire arms for the first time on set.
“It's cathartic,” Stone said. “How often do you get to point a gun at a human being and not actually hurt them, but still have them die?”
She paused and looked at the slightly shocked room. “I guess that sounded horrifying when I said that,” she added with a laugh.
While the film is, for the most part, a buddy road movie, it does have some seriously gory elements, as exemplified by Columbus’ first encounter with his hot-neighbor-turned-brain-eater. If you ever wondered how you would fend off a zombie gone crazy in your apartment, be advised that spraying air freshener in their eyes only works to a point.
There’s also a brilliant and hilarious opening sequence that sets up the new zombie world to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” As Columbus aptly described, “It’s like a greatest hits of nightmares.”
And what about the ongoing slow vs. fast zombie debate? (Yes, there is a heated debate amongst rabid zombie fans about which zombie type is more authentic.) Like Danny Boyle (“28 Days Later”) and Zack Snyder (“Dawn of the Dead”) before him, Fleischer thinks there’s no better way to ratchet up the scares than with a zombie that runs.
“The fast zombies are scary, like truly scary and ferocious and there's snot and puss and vomit coming out of them as they race toward you and it's truly frightening,” Fleischer said.
Eisenberg described filming the action. “We all had puke at some point in our mouths, which was delicious. It was like saltines and kind of a honey (taste).”
Personally, Fleischer thinks the world has room for all types of zombies.
“I don't happen to be a zombie purist and I think all zombies can live together in harmony,” he quipped.
We couldn’t agree more. Whether you love them fast or slow, there’s a place for all zombie movie fans in “Zombieland.”
It’s killing zombies.
He’s even got a favorite weapon.
“I like the skillet. Just the thud of it,” Woody said.
Harrelson stars alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin in the new zombie-comedy “Zombieland,” opening this weekend.
Comcast.net was on hand when Woody, Jesse, Emma, director Ruben Fleischer and the writing team Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick talked to reporters at Comic-Con about the “zomedy.”
“I play Tallahassee, who is a fellow who has probably gone through a heart breakin’ life and who is a bit of a loner who fortunately runs into Jesse Eisenberg's character and they become an unlikely duo," Woody said. "We do a lot of zombie killing together.”
Like the rest of the characters in “Zombieland,” Tallahassee’s name is derived from his home, pre-zombie apocalypse. Since the zombie virus spread, each of the foursome has had to figure out how to fend for themselves, trusting no one and fighting off the undead. For Tallahassee, this means meeting the zombies head on.
In fact, it seemed like the drawling, jeans-clad actor hadn’t quite gotten out of his country-song-come-to-life character.
“I always fancied myself an action hero,” Harrelson said. “I didn't actually get the parts to prove it out. It was cool and it was great to kick ass and not really hurt anyone.”
Eisenberg’s character Columbus takes a slightly different approach to survival.
“My character has obsessive compulsive disorder before the zombies take over and then he uses it to his advantage when they do take over,” Eisenberg explained. “’Cause he's obsessed with survival he comes up with a list of 47 rules of how to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, including taking Ziploc bags and buckling up.”
But “Zombieland” isn’t really all about the undead; it’s about the characters and the relationships they build when they team up and hit the road.
“Abigail Breslin plays (Emma Stone’s) little sister (Little Rock). They're kind of like a tag team of con artists,” Eisenberg explained. “Every character in this movie is well rounded, interesting, fully dimensional, fleshed out. All those words I learned in acting class. All of these characters are that and that's what separated it from the other movies that are similar.”
Despite the obvious comparisons to “Shaun of the Dead”-- it’s also a comedy and it has zombies – “Zombieland” holds its own in the genre and delivers non-stop laughs. Fleischer described it as “a much more grounded and American version of (‘Shaun of the Dead’).”
We would describe it as its out-of-control “ugly American” friend that it met on a study abroad. It’s rougher and raunchier, but with an equally ridiculous sense of humor. And *spoiler alert*, it has a not-to-be-missed walking dead cameo from an “SNL” alum.
“I think what we envisioned more than anything was an escapist fantasy," Rhett Reese said. "This post-apocalyptic landscape, we all dread it, but I think it would be fun. It would be fun to not have any traffic on the freeway and be able to walk into the White House and swing from the chandeliers in the Lincoln bedroom. And to be able to kill without consequence and take out your inherent violence that's in you on these creatures …”
Well, it’s not the escapist fantasy that most of us would imagine. There’s no beach, no margaritas, but the cast seemed to love filming it. Both Emma and Abigail learned to use fire arms for the first time on set.
“It's cathartic,” Stone said. “How often do you get to point a gun at a human being and not actually hurt them, but still have them die?”
She paused and looked at the slightly shocked room. “I guess that sounded horrifying when I said that,” she added with a laugh.
While the film is, for the most part, a buddy road movie, it does have some seriously gory elements, as exemplified by Columbus’ first encounter with his hot-neighbor-turned-brain-eater. If you ever wondered how you would fend off a zombie gone crazy in your apartment, be advised that spraying air freshener in their eyes only works to a point.
There’s also a brilliant and hilarious opening sequence that sets up the new zombie world to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” As Columbus aptly described, “It’s like a greatest hits of nightmares.”
And what about the ongoing slow vs. fast zombie debate? (Yes, there is a heated debate amongst rabid zombie fans about which zombie type is more authentic.) Like Danny Boyle (“28 Days Later”) and Zack Snyder (“Dawn of the Dead”) before him, Fleischer thinks there’s no better way to ratchet up the scares than with a zombie that runs.
“The fast zombies are scary, like truly scary and ferocious and there's snot and puss and vomit coming out of them as they race toward you and it's truly frightening,” Fleischer said.
Eisenberg described filming the action. “We all had puke at some point in our mouths, which was delicious. It was like saltines and kind of a honey (taste).”
Personally, Fleischer thinks the world has room for all types of zombies.
“I don't happen to be a zombie purist and I think all zombies can live together in harmony,” he quipped.
We couldn’t agree more. Whether you love them fast or slow, there’s a place for all zombie movie fans in “Zombieland.”