Last week, we celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Shaun of the Dead’s triumphant revival of the zom-com, and this week Zombieland hits the five-year mark. As if that wasn’t reason enough to shine the spotlight on the slapstick gore fest, it looks like the movie is finally moving forward with a sequel.
The first Zombieland was such a terrific blend of comedy and horror — not to mention it has one of the greatest opening credit sequences ever — that pushing for a sequel that’s even half as good seems like a gamble destined for disappointment. (Need I remind you how Anchorman 2 came out?) To mark the fifth anniversary of Zombieland’s undead glory, unwrap a Twinkie and indulge in some trivia. Like what Tallahassee’s Twinkies were really made of…
1. Woody Harrelson ate custom-made vegan-friendly Twinkies. It may come as a shock, but Twinkies are not a vegan-friendly food. Woody has been a strict Vegan for years, which meant that special Twinkies had to be made out of cornmeal to accommodate the actor’s diet.
“I’m not a Twinkie lover. I don’t do sugar or dairy either. When we finally shot my Twinkie-eating scene in the movie, they had to give me a specially made mock Twinkie made of corn meal.”
2. Patrick Swayze almost played the celebrity zombie. Before Bill Murray it was going to be Patrick Swayze’s house the zombie-fighting crew was going to breaks into. Swayze would have played himself and parodied scenes from Ghost and Dirty Dancing. Joe Pesci, Kevin Bacon, and Matthew McConaughey were also considered before landing on zombie Bill Murray.
3. John Carpenter was originally going to direct the movie. Zombieland might have been a lot different had the horror master been in the director’s chair. Carpenter was interested in doing the film, but ultimately had to turn it down because of prior engagements.
4. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” almost made it into the opening credits. Before Metallica, it was the King of Pop who was considered for the opening credits. The licensing of the song would have undoubtedly been expensive, and director Ruben Fliescher told Vanity Fair that a number of artists were on the table before settling on the metal.
“And Metallica, we’re lucky to have them and it’s fucking amazing to have a zombie movie start with “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which is incredible. But, yeah, through the process we tried a million different songs. One of my favorites was Tiny Tim’s “Tiptoe through the Tulips.”
5. Had Zombieland been a TV show, every week would feature a “kill of the week.” Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese had worked in reality TV prior to writing the comedy and had written Zombieland as a TV script that they then sold to CBS. CBS passed on making it into a TV show and handed it over to Sony, but had it become a show, Wernick and Reese planed to feature an over-the-top “kill of the week” in each episode.
6. Several zombie victims have repeat appearances. The man eaten in the bathroom is the same man that Little Rock and Wichita pulled their ring scam on, and the “poor fat bastard” killed in the film’s opening is later killed by Tallahassee with a banjo.
7. Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later were major influences on the movie. Writer Rhett Reese said that while he enjoyed zombie movies as a kid, he never felt a sense of urgency because they were slow moving. It wasn’t until he he saw 28 Days Later’s sprinting zombies that he was truly terrified and decided to incorporate that particular trait into Zombieland. Director Ruben Fliescher also told Vanity Fair that seeing the zombie comedy done well with Shaun of the Dead was one of the reasons he decided to take on the project. “When I set out to make this film I wanted it to be as funny as Superbad and as scary as 28 Days Later.”
*Bonus* That Zombieland series did happen… for a brief moment. Considering how hugely successful the movie was, going ahead with a TV series was obviously a must. Amazon developed and even ran a pilot of the series last year, but it’s pilot was so poorly received it was cancelled after a single episode. Hopefully, the sequel will be a little more lively than the short-lived series.
