Trivia / Dawn of the Dead (1978)

• Ability over Appearance: The initial concept of the Roger character, which is included in Romero's adaptation to the novel, is of a burly guy around 5'10" tall. Romero even auditioned a number of actors that matched the description, but he felt they all made Roger too macho in the auditions. Scott H. Reiniger, who is considerably shorter than the character was conceived, instead gave Roger a cool demeanor in his audition. This ended up helping secure Reiniger the part, as Romero wanted the audience surprised that the cool and seemingly-unflappable Roger ends up being the first character who loses it.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Roger's slide between the escalators was improvised on the spot by Scott H. Reiniger. David Emge jokes that the spike strips that started appearing between the up and down escalators was largely because of Reiniger's improvised slide, and in interviews has referred to them as the "Reiniger Bump."
• Amateur Cast: The four lead protagonists were virtual unknowns at the time the movie was filmed, though Foree was in Actor's Equity.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: According to an interview, Scott H. Reiniger said he very nearly missed out on being cast in the film. After his audition, George A. Romero said he loved his audition, but as he'd already cast the 6'5" Ken Foree as Peter, he was hesitant to cast the 5'7" Reiniger opposite him because of the heavy height disparity. Reiniger flat-out told Romero that after the audience had been watching the film for 15 minutes, they'd forget about it. Reiniger said shortly afterward, Romero let him know that he'd gotten the part.
• Channel Hop: The film was released by United Film Distribution Company, but the film itself remains the property of producer Richard P. Rubinstein, and has been licensed to various home video companies over the years. It was last released to DVD and Blu-ray from Anchor Bay, but remains out-of-print because Rubinstein funded a million-dollar 3D conversion, and nobody can afford the film's asking price. Day of the Dead (1985) was also originally released to theaters by United, but they kept the rights, and it's now owned by successor Blairwood Entertainment (formerly Taurus Ent). Both Anchor Bay and Scream Factory have released the film to DVD/Blu-ray.
• Creator Couple: George A. Romero and future wife Christine Forrest Romero both cameo in the film during the opening sequence at the news studio, and are seated side-by-side at the main control room. CFR is the female employee that angrily calls for Dan to type up the updated list of rescue stations.
• Deleted Role: Joe Pilato, who later played the main antagonist in Day of the Dead (1985), plays one of the police officers at the dock when Roger and Peter meet up with Stephen and Francine. While in the extended version, his part is included, in the U.S. Theatrical cut, he has no dialogue and is barely visible before the core cast takes off. He's still in the credits of the U.S. Cut however, and anyone who sees his name in the credits for the first time will be confused due to his blink and you'll miss it appearance in that cut.
• Focus Group Ending: In a way. The film initially ended with Peter shooting himself and Fran committing suicide by shoving her head in the spinning helicopter blades, and at the end of the credits, the helicopter's motor would sputter and die. During filming, George A. Romero decided he liked the characters too much to give them that fate, and felt the tone of the film didn't support it, so it was changed to both of them surviving and heading off to a fate unknown. A plaster cast of Gaylen Ross' head was made for the final suicide sequence, but when the ending was changed, it was redressed and used in the scene where Wooley blows off the head of one of the tenement residents with a shotgun.
• Inspiration for the Work: The idea for the film began in 1974, when George A. Romero was invited by friend Mark Mason of Oxford Development Company—whom Romero knew from an acquaintance at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon—to visit the Monroeville Mall, which Mason's company managed. After showing Romero hidden parts of the mall, during which Romero noted the bliss of the consumers, Mason jokingly suggested that someone would be able to survive in the mall should an emergency ever occur. With this inspiration, Romero began to write the screenplay for the film.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The film and its many cuts has been restored and re-released many times on Blu-ray and even 4K...in Europe. In the US, however, it has yet to get even a second chance at a new Blu-ray release thanks to Rubinstein’s asking price being unaffordable for any company to release, leaving those releases out-of-print and very, very expensive to buy online (to put that in perspective, used copies of the Anchor Bay Blu-ray can command a sum as high as $200 USD). So unless you have a Blu-ray player that plays imports or still have the original Anchor Bay releases, chances are bootlegging might be the only way to see the film now, especially for newcomers. In some form of a silver lining, however, the "Second Sight" box set from the UK does have Region free 4K UHD discs, so anyone with a 4K player can still enjoy the film; and on top of that, because you can easily watch it for free on YouTube
• Limited Wardrobe: David Emge half-jokingly said that part of the reason he secured the role of Stephen "Flyboy" Andrews was because they had already bought the brown leather bomber jacket for the character, and that between the two actors being considered for the role, Emge and one other, the other guy was too big to fit into the coat, thus Emge secured the role.
• No Export for You: Due to the licensing issues detailed in the Keep Circulating the Tapes entry, the 4K release of the film (as well as all Blu-Ray releases past the out of print Anchor Bay release) has yet to be released outside of Europe.
• On-Set Injury: While filming the scene where Blades falls over the railing after being shot by Peter, a bunch of cardboard boxes were set up to cushion Tom Savini's fall. However, he managed to miss some of them and partially landed on the hard floor, causing an injury requiring him to work from a golf cart for several days. Savini said he also injured himself during the scene where the biker goes through the "glass" panel after being shot. The production used sugar glass, but while it was setting, half of the "glass" ended up being thicker than the other half, and that was the side that Savini's upper body went through.
• Real-Life Relative: Tom Savini's niece and nephew played the two zombie kids.
• Self-Adaptation: George A. Romero wrote and directed this movie then wrote its novelization with Susan Sparrow.
• Spared by the Cut: The film originally ended with all the characters dying, with Peter and Francine both committing suicide - Peter by shooting himself in the head and Francine by getting her head sliced off by the helicopter propeller.^note The Your Head Asplode shot used a plaster cast of Francine's head that was to be used for the helicopter blade death, with it painted brown and a mustache and beard attached.
  • Interestingly, the credits would've focused on the helicopter blades, where they would eventually slow down and stop altogether. Implying the helicopter didn't have that much fuel in it...
  • Doubly fridgy since in the actual ending Fran still acknowledges there's "not much" fuel left in the tank.
• Technology Marches On: Late in the film, a biker starts to steal a television, until another one points out to him that there's nothing to watch, now that all the stations are offline. But once VHS became a household item (let alone DVD and Blu-ray), this would no longer be a problem (well, provided you had electricity), as there is never a shortage of something to watch, even if there won't be any more new material.
• Throw It In!: Many of Tom Savini's brilliant makeup effects were improvised. And they look great. Of particular note is the zombie with it's head blown off. The head was actually cast from Gaylen Ross, intended to be used for the darker ending where everyone died. When the ending was changed, Savini re-purposed it for its use in the film.
  • The above-mentioned escalator slide that Reiniger makes during the film was improvised on the spot by the actor.
• What Could Have Been: During the making of the movie, a pregnant extra suggested her character should be shown having her baby ripped out by the zombies. Romero and Tom Savini gave a resounding "No. Just… No" Reaction.
• Working Title: Dawn of the Living Dead.

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