Comic-Con 2009 – We conference with “Zombieland” director Reuben Fleisher as well as stars Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg.
They talk about the characters they play in the film.
Emma Stone says “I play a girl named Wichita who was a con artist before the apocalypse happened and is really using the zombie world to much of her advantage and continuing the con…stealing cars and weapons from these boys.”
Woody Harrelson says “I play Tallahassee who’s a fellow who’s probably gone through a little heartbreak in life and is a bit of a loaner but then fortunately he runs into Jesse Eisenberg’s character and we become an unlikely duo. We do a lot of zombie killing together.”
“That’s right,” Eisenberg follows up. “I play Jesse Eisenberg in the movie,” he kids. “My character has obsessive compulsive disorder before the zombies take over then he uses it to his advantage when they do take over because he’s obsessed with survival and comes up with a list of forty seven rules for how to survive in the post-apocalyptic world including take Ziploc bags and buckle up.
On what separated this from other similar films Eisenberg says “All the characters in this movie as kind of like we described, also other characters – Abigail Breslin plays Emma’s little sister…they’re kind of like a tag-team of con artists. Every character in this movie is very well rounded, interesting, fully dimensional…all those words I learned in acting class.”
Reuben Fleischer adds “Also tonally I think it’s more communiqué than a lot of other zombie movies. It’s not so straight forward. I mean ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is really funny and I guess that’s its closest kindred spirit as far as approach to the zombie apocalypse but I think that this is much more grounded…an American version of that. It’s more a comedy than it is a horror zombie movie. It’s really about these characters and their unique experiences and the zombie are somewhat of a backdrop for it all.”
On some of the weapons they find and use on the film, Fleischer says “I think Woody’s character’s the best at that.”
“Chainsaws, skillet, toaster,” Harrelson adds. “But you know, my character’s really obsessed with Twinkies so I’m rummaging around for Twinkies.”
Is it gory?
“There is a fair bit of gore,” replies Fleischer. “It doesn’t distance you from the movie because it’s so gory but there’s a sequence of rules that introduces the film. Kind of the rules that Jesse’s character has learned to live by in the zombie apocalypse and there is some gore for sure in that sequence.”
On the post-apocalyptic theme and why it’s so popular Fleischer says “Well, I think now more than ever the post-apocalypse is something we all have on our mind given the recent economic recession as well as ecological, environmental…pandemics. There’s a lot of threats that could have some serious bad effects on our world that we live in. I was just thinking about that though because there’s Woody’s other movie ‘2012,’ ‘The Book of Eli,’ ‘The Road,’ our movie. There’s a bunch of these post-apocalyptic movies coming up but ours is definitely the funniest.”
On their favorite zombie kills in the movie:
Jesse Eisenberg: “Woody has the most interesting kills but the most enjoyable one to film was where I’m being chased by a zombie with a baseball bat and I kind of slide under his bat as he’s swinging in order to kill a zombie that’s chasing me. It was fun to shoot because I like sliding on floors.”
Emma Stone: “I got to butt a zombie on the head with the back of my shotgun.”
Reuben Fleischer says “She actually gave him stitches, the actor.”
“Yeah, so I really butted this guy on the head and he falls like eighty feet to his death.”
Woody Harrelson: “I can’t top that but I like the skillet, just the THUD of it.”
"Zomblieland" opens on October 9th. Check out the group for all the videos, images and movie details!