I had the great pleasure yesterday to partake in my first aptly named zombie walk. The 2010 Vancouver zombie walk had about 5000 participants, with most of them done up as the undead. The zombies present were of all shapes, sizes and shades of blood red. There were even zombie children with their parents at this yearly event.
Each year the event draws more and more people to the Vancouver Art Gallery for the start of the annual zombie walk. Participants walk down Vancouver’s posh Robson Street much to the delight of the onlookers on the sidewalks, in the shops and in their cars. Many onlookers come ready with cameras in hand to take photos of this great event.
This year the event was headlined by the upcoming feature film Bong of the Dead by writer, producer and director Thomas Newman. Along with his award-winning crew that includes make up guru and industry leader Mike Fields, some of the cast of the film and of course zombies, headed the procession through the streets of Vancouver. Under a BongoftheDead.com banner, the cast and crew of the film handed out t-shirts and flyers to the upcoming movie. No other group of zombies attracted nearly as much attention as this bunch did.
The 2010 Vancouver zombie walk had about 5000 total participants and they jammed the streets with the undead. There was very little police presence as the zombie hoard was well-behaved – except the odd transit bus was surrounded and covered in fake blood by the zombies. Most passengers could be seen to making mock scared faces and gestures of panic, but it was clear everyone dead and undead had a great time with the spectacle.
Well it’s the interview you all have been waiting for! We had the great pleasure to sit down with the writer, producer and director of the upcoming feature length zombie movie, Bong of the Dead, Thomas Newman and the following are his answers.
For those that don’t already know, Bong of the Dead is a creation of the warped mind of Thomas Newman. The blood and gore was put to full effect with the FX guru Mike Fields who is a veteran of every major gore and horror movie of note as of late.
Bong Of The Dead is a comical road adventure about two close friends who find a way to make the best of a mass zombie outbreak caused by meteorites from outer space. Tommy and Edwin are a pair of major stoners who one day discover a way of using zombie brains as a means of growing potent pot. Now that the world is abandoned and there are flesh eating monsters at every turn what more can one do except find a way to benefit from it. The boys manage to deplete their supply of weed and decide to take a road trip in search of more zombies in order to kill them and use their brains for fertilizer. Along the way they find themselves hostages to a psychotic zombie who has an evil plot to take over the world.
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The following is an interview with Simone Bailly who plays Leah Kroker in the zombie movie by Thomas Newman, Bong of the Dead. According to the writer, producer and director of the movie, Simone Bailly was cast in the film Bong Of The Dead not only because of her raw talent and professionalism as an actor, but also because of her stunning on screen presence.
Simone is no rookie to movies and television. She has a large and ever-growing resume that includes some of Hollywood’s and television’s biggest shows and movies. Just a few days ago while watching a re-run of Battlestar Galactica I noticed her looking as good as ever!
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Well zombie fans do we have a treat for you – we have an interview with actor Mark Wynn from the upcoming zombie movie Bong of the Dead by Thomas Newman. Having been on set I saw firsthand how Mark was the life of the cast and crew. Bouncing from place to place with an insane interest in everything that was going on, Mark was always a pleasure to speak with.
Thomas Newman said of Mark Wynn, “He is a true professional who brings an incredible amount of energy to the part of Edwin. His ability to take the character and make it his own was awe inspiring.”
The following is our interview with Mark Wynn about Bong of the Dead.
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The following is our second interview with the cast and crew of the upcoming feature film Bong of the Dead. Today we interview horror FX guru Mike Fields. If it’s gore, fantasy or just plain mind-blowing you can pretty sure Mike Fields may have had his fingers on it. The zombies in Bong of the Dead will be some of the best you have seen.
MIKE FIELDS:
With a track record like “Masters of Horror”, “Narnia”, “Fido”, etc. its easy to figure out that the quality of the FX in this film is top notch! Mike Fields brings years of experience and his great talent to Bong Of The Dead.
Interview with Mike Fields
1) Q. Why did you jump on board as Co-Producer to Bong Of The Dead?
I’ve worked in this industry for years on a lot of productions for other producers and top directors around the world. When I was presented with the opportunity to work on a film that I was not only going to do the make-up for but also Co-Produce, I was all over it! I know Thomas’s work and know that like myself he works fast but puts out quality and I wanted to bring the same type of quality he was after for our first feature together.
2) Q. What was your biggest challenge?
The budget that Thomas wanted to do this epic like film with was a bit challenging at times. We had to do make-up on over 50 people for the battle sequence and we had to make it look great or else there would be no point! When we first discussed the film and the $15K budget I knew that we were going to have to cut some corners. I immediately began creating latex masks for zombies which would be background instead of creating original face applications.
3) Q. What makes this film different from any other film you’ve ever worked on?
The thing that makes Bong of the Dead stand out from the rest is the fact that its a 100% original script idea. There are no films out there to date that I know of personally that combine all the genres together into one action packed movie. I mean we have, comedy, horror,action, adventure, we even have romance in there at some point and it all works! This film has so much action, blood and guts that for the 15 solid days we worked on it there was not a single person on set that was not covered in blood at some point.
