“How could I not? Night of the Living Dead. George Romero basically invented the modern zombie and I don’t think he gets enough credit for it, because a lot of people have taken his idea, myself included, and Edgar Wright, although it was very much a tribute to George, and sort of run with it as if it’s like the public domain, like Frankenstein’s monster or the mummy or whatever. But this was 1968, right in the heart, right in the middle of the civil rights movement. It was a major kind of thing that he cast Duane Jones as the lead, a Black actor. It really, really rings true that this was a time of social upheaval, no more sort of demonstrated than in the final moments of the film, which are the darkest… is one of the darkest endings of any film ever. I remember we showed George Shaun of the Dead. He said, “I really enjoyed the movie,” and I said, “I… I’m sorry because Philip, Bill Nighy’s character, he reanimates quite quickly in Shaun of the Dead and I know in Dawn of the Dead Roger takes quite a while before he comes back.” And I was really sort of like… had this verbal diarrhea, like I was apologizing for messing with his mythology. And he went, “Simon, I didn’t mind.” I was like, “Phew.” So yeah, as a tribute to George, an amazing maverick filmmaker, this is where it all began. And it’s a piece of work. It really is. Black and white. Terrifying. Brilliant.”
