There certainly has been a great deal of news and publicity centering on THE WALKING DEAD. Today, more talk hit the web, this time from THE MIST director himself. 

AMC spoke with Darabont during production on THE WALKING DEAD. “I’ve always wanted to do my take on the zombie mythos, since I was a kid and I saw Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD—the 1968 black and white version. Whenever there’s a question about zombie behavior I go back to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Here’s my favorite thing: the endless debate among the fans about how fast a zombie can move. There are the folks who just can’t stand seeing zombies running. I’m kind of in that camp, but if you look at the very first zombie in NIGHT—the one in the cemetery chasing Barbara—he gets up to a pretty good jog. I’m keying our zombie behavior off of that film: Whether they’re in a very languid state or they’re on the attack, they’ll move no faster than that first zombie in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

“One of the things I found most intriguing about [Robert Kirkman’s comic] THE WALKING DEAD was that it was so focused on the characters. Within the context of the cool zombie apocalypse, there was this very serious character drama. I thought, this is a great opportunity to satisfy not only zombie fans, but bring in an audience that wouldn’t normally, necessarily, seek out a zombie film to watch.”

Georgia has been on Darabont’s mind lately, as he’s shooting the series in Atlanta. “Atlanta and Georgia all-told is proving to be brilliant for us in terms of what it has to offer, in terms of what the story needed, in terms of the variety of locations—it really is a fantastic place to shoot. It’s hot as hell at the moment. But once you get used to that and wear a towel on your head, you’re pretty good.

“Right now, we’re filming the shootout that kicks things off for the series. It’s the kind of thing I haven’t had a chance to do that often in my career. Most of my movies tend to be very sweet, talking dramas. I haven’t had a chance to do that much action. So I’m actually getting a lot of my desire for that sort of thing out right now, and expressing my desire to roll a car six times. Yeah baby, I’m there! Let’s load those guns with more blanks, absolutely. The first zombie is up tomorrow. It’s going to be the very first scene of the entire series—a good, gut-punch of a scene right off the bat.”

Stay tuned for more news on AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD as production rolls on.

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