Dawn of the Dead was a film that Zack Snyder and James Gunn worked on together, with Gunn serving as the screenwriter for the remake, and Snyder directing the whole project. While Gunn was not very keen on the idea of remakes, the director revealed that Dawn of the Dead was a notable exception.
James Gunn has always been of the opinion that films that had a great run during their initial release do not require remakes. However, Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, which the former wrote, gave him a bold new perspective on what remakes could achieve even for films that had nothing to fix with another iteration.
James Gunn was intrigued by the different take in Snyder’s version of Dawn of the Dead
In an interview in 2001, James Gunn talked about his distaste for needless remakes, saying that a good product might not need a second shot at success after all. However, while working on Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, the director realized that a remake might not just be a fix-it, but also a medium to enhance the story in a way in which it can create a new perspective. He said:
At first I was hesitant about doing a remake — I used to think that remakes of movies that were successful in their original versions were unnecessary, but for some reason I was lit up by Dawn of the Dead. I could see a different take on the same subject, with more survivors and more of a focus on surviving in a world where the rules have totally changed.
I also saw a chance to do something in the horror genre that was very different from the teen romps of the past few years. Tonally, it’s a return to the great, gritty horror films of the ‘seventies, aligned modern day special effects and a sizable budget.
James Gunn’s novel approach to remakes made Dawn of the Dead, which was Zack Snyder’s feature directorial debut, one of the best films in the director’s filmography. It is ironic to think about the interview back in 2001, as James Gunn is now soft-rebooting a universe that Zack Snyder put into motion over at WB.
While remakes can be great, Hollywood really needs to do them right
Hollywood’s biggest studios have decided to hedge their bets with reboots, remakes, and legacy projects rather than focusing on making original content. Some of the top-performing films in recent years have been franchise films, that have given the audience some kind of nostalgia.
While more often than not, there comes along a film that updates an old project in the best way possible (like Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu), there is a slew of bad remakes (usually jumping mediums) that manage to not only upset fans but also create a combative relationship between the studio and the films that they produce.
There have been a lot of calls from fans for original content, but as long as the money keeps flowing toward remakes, reboots, and reimaginings, there is little that the industry giants in Hollywood can do.
Dawn of the Dead can be streamed on Prime Video.
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