Director Zack Snyder‘s latest movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, isn’t quite the “trash fire” that some people contend, but it is a troublesome mess. That argument though has been applied to most of his films with only one consistent exception. His 2004 debut feature, Dawn of the Dead, remains his best.
It lacks the social/consumer commentary of George Romero‘s 1978 classic, but it finds a life and energy of its own with some bravura set pieces and action beats. The gore is plentiful (and mostly practical), it’s fun while still being incredibly bleak, and it wisely features Sarah Polley delivering head shots to zombie interlopers. Snyder recorded a commentary track for his director’s cut release, so I gave it a listen.
Keep reading to see what I heard on Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead commentary.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Commentator: Zack Snyder (director), Eric Newman (producer)
1. The opening originally featured a transition from the Universal logo into the sun, but while Snyder loved it Newman reminded him that they needed to fit the Strike logo — Newman’s production company — somewhere after Universal’s.
2. Sarah Polley was their first choice for this role. They’re unsure who the guy playing the doctor with her is, but Snyder likes him. “He’s really great though,” says Snyder. “He sells this kind of doctor vibe that I love.”
3. The first scene in the movie is the first they shot. This was Snyder’s first feature, and he assumed you just start on page one, “and they were like, no no, normally you shoot the last death scene first.”
4. The off-screen character name “Dr. Dhandwar” is a nod to director Tarsem (The Fall) whose full name is Tarsem Singh Dhandwar.
5. Snyder points out something odd about the neighborhood in the overhead shot at the 2:38 mark. There’s an entire row of homes with no road access — their driveways just end at a fence of some kind. The helicopter didn’t get the widest shot they wanted so they had to work something up in post-production.
6. Hannah Lochner plays the little blond girl who greets Ana (Polley) before attacking her the next morning, and Newman suggests she’s destined to be a big star in Japan because “much of the Japanese marketing is around her which is kind of cool. They just love the idea of that little blond girl who will rip your throat out.”
Universal
7. The Old Milwaukee beer bottle actually contains fake beer. Newman says the only corporate sponsor interested in actual product placement was Panasonic. “People were like ‘do we want to be in this movie where blood gets sprayed all over our thing? I don’t think so,'” recalls Snyder.
8. Polley and Louis Ferreira (who plays the husband) gave Snyder grief over their shower scene saying that no on really kisses in the shower.
9. Zombified Vivian (Lochner) does a little jump up from the ground after being pushed by Ana, and it was accomplished with some subtle wire work.
10. Snyder did three takes of Ana’s run to the car after being attacked by her husband, and Polley told him she ran more in just those three takes than in any of her full movies previous. He responded that she should get used to it.
11. The swerving cop car that almost hits Ana’s car actually almost hit the car. The fish-tailing back end wasn’t planned.
12. They recorded this commentary track the day before the film opened theatrically.
13. Snyder cameos during the opening credits montage as a soldier with a machine gun on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
14. The script is credited to James Gunn (Slither), but Newman adds that Scott Frank (Get Shorty) and Michael Tolkin (The Player) did some work on it as well.
15. Ving Rhames came to them about starring in the film saying “I want to be in this movie because the black guy lives.”
16. The stores in the mall all have fake names, and Snyder’s favorites are the book store called Bookmark and the coffee shop, Hallowed Grounds. They also named a department store Gaylen Ross after an actress from George Romero’s original film.
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