Birth of the Living Dead Page #5

to come out and cooperate.

I mean, all we had to do

was call up and say, "Guys!"

And, you know and they

brought the vans out

and the dogs

and everything else!

You know, it was amazing

all the cooperation

that we used to get.

I mean, it was incredible.

Everybody was sort of with us

because we were trying

to actually make a movie.

The dozens of zombies

are played by friends,

family, local townfolk

and clients of Romero's

commercial production company,

the Latent Image.

Most of the zombies were people

we used to work with.

People that, that

were giving us jobs.

Advertising people,

a couple of news guys.

A lot of the zombies

were clients of ours

from ad agencies.

Humoring us,

saying, "Sure, okay.

I'll come out."

A woman came out and was willing

to appear nude from behind.

I don't know if there's any

such thing as a bad zombie.

I mean, I love them all.

But, you know, you get

people who come out.

I mean, if I do anything,

if I make a gesture,

if I'm talking

to twenty zombies

and they're all looking at me

saying, "Well, what do I do?"

"Well, you walk

over here."

And if I go like that,

everybody does that.

So, pretty much just say,

"Do whatever you want.

Do your best zombie, man."

And you get some

incredibly creative things.

One of the investors

Ross Harris was a meat packer.

So he brought

all these entrails,

so it was pretty rough.

That was all real stuff,

real intestines,

real livers, cow livers.

We wanted to push the envelope,

let's see what

we can do with this.

Just bring out buckets of stuff

and... I'm telling you, boy,

people that come to be zombies

they're really dedicated.

They'll dig into that

stuff and chew on it

and I'm going, "Oy!"

You'll never get me to do that!

That's guts!

It's guts!

When I was gonna show it,

I'm thinking to myself

they're probably just gonna say,

"That sucked Mr. Chris."

Or whatever it may be.

And sure enough, it was the--

it was the complete opposite.

It's amazing the impact

that this movie made,

that this guy made--

you know, with no budget.

How it still was important

and how it still resonates

with everyone who watches it.

When they were dead, they, um,

they were acting

like with no muscles,

they had like, to stay.

What's the name of that?

What's the name of that?

Starts with "R."

- Riga...

- Who said it?

The whole curriculum I have with

the kids is where they learn

literacy through the process

of making movies.

Rigor mortis.

Say it again.

Rigor mortis.

Say it again.

Rigor mortis.

And what happens with that?

Christopher Cruz teaches his

literacy through film program

in the Bronx, New York.

George Romero

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