Audio interview: George Romero, director of Diary of the Dead

by John P. Meyer

George Romero's Diary of the Dead opens here in North Texas (and in limited release nationwide) on Friday, Feb. 15. We had a chance to speak with Mr. Romero by phone through the auspices of the Weinstein Company, who hold distribution rights to the film. I was told that I'd have 10 minutes to converse with Mr. Romero, and when those Weinstein folks say 10 minutes, they bloody well mean it - take it from me. (You'll hear the warning buzzer going off at the 9 minute 45 second mark during this audio podcast.)

Here are excerpts from our conversation:

"Zombies don't have any particular context to me."

"I'm always amazed that people keep coming back to see zombies get killed. I've come up with a few new ways to knock 'em off."

"You end up spending a lot of time in the shower to think up new ways of disposing of these guys."

"I don't think it's close to Blair Witch in any way." (re. Diary)

"Maybe reality TV has turned into reality movie-making."

"When their names come up in the credits they get more applause than I do!" (re. the celebrity guest vocalists)

"I'm happy to be legal again." (re. the newly-resolved writer's strike)

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to roll out my questions involving Mr. Romero's upcoming visit to Dallas for the red carpet 40th anniversary screening of his breakthrough film, Night of the Living Dead. So I guess I'll have to catch him there.