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IESB gets back from the New Orleans set
of Dead of Night and lives to talk about it!
{sidebar id=1}In the past few years, we have visited some great movie sets. From Vancouver to Prague, we've been
around the world visiting some of the biggest movie productions that
Hollywood has had to offer. But, our recent visit to Kevin Munroe's
Dead of Night set in New Orleans is the one that broke the mold.
A big screen adaptation of the
best-selling Italian comic book series, Dylan Dog, created by
Tiziano Sclavi and published by Italys Sergio Bonelli Editore, the
film stars Brandon Routh as Dylan Dog, Sam Huntington as his sidekick
zombie Marcus, Taye Diggs as Vargas, head of the Vampire family and
Anita Briem as Elizabeth, another potential in the long line of Dylan
conquests.
The comic book series has sold more
than 56 million units worldwide and has been translated into 17
languages since its debut in 1986.
Dylan Dog is a reluctant
paranormal investigator who must save the undead hidden among us from
their human predators.
The film is being directed by Kevin
Munroe, whose 2007 re-imagining of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
resurrected the billion dollar franchise. Munroe brings a fresh take
on the supernatural whodunit by bringing a hip, modern style in a
supernatural world populated by vampires, zombies, werewolves and
other supernatural creatures by focusing less on the transformation
from human to non-human and more on the seamless interaction between
and among the living and the undead.
Most set visits tend to be a bit cookie
cutter in nature and pretty standard - stand around, see a few scenes being
shot, get escorted through the sets, interview the talent and finally
call it a day. Each visit is usually limited to only one day on set
and - more often than not - we hardly ever have any real quality
interaction with the cast or crew. This wasn't the case on Dead of
Night. You see, we became part of the film.
The morning after our arrival we made
our way to base camp at the Thalia Power Plant in New Orleans around
5:45am. We were escorted to the wardrobe and make up trailers to
start our transformation from online journalists to the walking dead.
Yes, it was fitting that we went to a city known for its voodoo,
witchcraft and the paranormal to be transformed into Zombies.
Approximately two hours later I was a
Zombie ready for my close-up. The special effects make up was
supervised by the very awesome Academy Award winning Drac Studios.
While I can't give away too much on
what we saw or did just yet (that'll be coming later this year) we
did speak with cast members Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, Anita
Briem, Peter Stormare and Kurt Angle as well as director Kevin
Munroe, producers Gil Adler, Scott Rosenberg, Randy Greenberg and
their phenomenal department keys. You may just see our ugly zombie
mugs on screen in a scene with Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington and
Brian Steele in a monster suit.
Dead of Night is not your typical
Zombie/Vampire/Werewolf movie wait are there any other movies
with all three? While there is no denying that this film has its
roots in the horror genre, its also has a big Trouble in Little China
meets Men in Black feel to it.
Obviously there are some differences
between the original Italian Dylan Dog comic that was set in London
with Groucho Marx as the sidekick. In Kevin Munroe's adaptation this
story is taking place in New Orleans and sidekick Marcus (Sam
Huntington) has joined up with Dylan. The Groucho character was
removed from the U.S. comics long ago due to rights issues.
IESB posted the first image from the
film earlier today of Brandon Routh in the telltale red shirt and
black jacket seen below,
Oh, and did I tell you Anita Briem
serenaded us in her trailer with an acoustic guitar and in her
Icelandic native tongue. Yep...she did.
First I have to thank our good friends,
the legend and mega producer Gil Adler and director Kevin Munroe for
putting on one of the best set visits in IESB history and also to
Randy Greenberg and Scott Rosenberg from Platinum Studios for their
great hospitality.
Plus to my online journalistic friends,
Ryan Rotten, Devin Faraci, Patrick Lee, Stax and Paul Christenson, it
was a blast, best group of guys to go prowling Bourbon Street with.
And alligator really does taste like chicken.
IESB will bring you much, much more from the set of DEAD OF NIGHT later in the year!
DEAD OF NIGHT is set to release in 2010.
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