Q: Because of the style of the film there’s no doubt you’ll get comparisons to Cloverfield. They kept the idea secret so there’s no way you could have known, but when you heard about it were you upset?
A: No. We had no idea that it existed. When we started doing this film, there was no Cloverfield or Redacted so people were saying, “Oh, it’s like Blair Witch”. We kept saying, No, no, no. It’s not like Blair Witch at all. That’s not about emerging new media at all. It’s just about people out there shooting their own stuff. It’s a different kind of animal.” We wanted to be the first to come out of the emergence of the new media in the hands of the people. We’re not the first – Redacted beat us, Cloverfield beat us, but so what? So I guess what we have to say now is, “OK, so we’re not the first but at least we’re part of a trend.” [Laughs]

Q: You’ve always had social commentary in your zombie films except it seems a lot more obvious in this one. Was that intentional?
A: Yeah, we were trying to reinforce the idea and make this white noise of media – there’s even at atom bomb in there that’s subliminal – you hardly see it. We wound up buying all of these images from news services and basically wanted to create a wall of white noise and purposely wanted to turn it into noise. Most of the newscasters’ voices you hear are laid on top of each other – the sound and sound bytes. It was something we were consciously trying to do. Thematically, to that extent I think it’s certainly more obvious. Day of the Dead is probably the subtlest. This one is in your face a little bit, but so was Dawn, man.

Q: You aren’t a guy that strikes me as a guy that would sit on MySpace or YouTube, yet you’ve rationally worked them into the film. Have you been really following all of the new media and is it what inspired you?
A: Oh yeah. It’s really about what’s happening out in the world – all five of them are. I don’t sit around and think about making a zombie movie for the sake of making a zombie movie. For forty years it’s been zombie, zombie, zombie like a curse, but it’s my shtick in a way. I first look for a reason for the film to exist, then figure out a story. This story is about humans and how they respond or fail to respond. You can create any number of characters or scenarios. I always initially look for something I’d like to address.

Q: You films have been packaged and repackaged and you’ve seen VHS, Beta and other formats come and go and now they’re available on DVD, Blu-ray, HD DVD and soon, download. Is it nice to see that your films are some of the first to be available through all of the changes?
A: It’s very cool. I have to tell you something and it’s a bit disheartening: films that I love – great films aren’t out in any format and my films are on Blu-ray. I don’t get it. I’d rather be able to go to the store and find Brief Encounters or Lawrence [of Arabia] or something. It’s nice that I’m still out there but it seems a bit unfair. [Laughs]

Q: There have been big gaps between making most of your films, particularly zombie films. I guess you get asked to do a lot more of these films than you actually do?
A: I do get asked. They’ll say, “C’mon, let’s make a zombie movie” and I’ll say, “No, I don’t have an idea”. Then I knew people that were developing a shopping mall and that gave me the idea [for Dawn of the Dead]. I wanted after Land of the Dead to sort of go back to the roots. Land of the Dead – Universal really let us make the film we wanted to make and I was happy with it but in the end I looked at it and I thought it was getting a little too Thunderdome – “Where do you go from here?”. I didn’t want to go into Planet of the Apes land. Before we started shooting Land I had this idea for Diary and I was really ready to go and do it under the radar – get kids from a film school from some Master Class and say, “OK, let’s make this movie, guys.” I wanted to see if I had the stamina and the chops to go back and make a guerilla film. This is really what I wanted to do and everything fell into place. We were able to maintain control, keep the budget as low as possible, we didn’t take fees – we wanted to take control and that was the trade-off.

Q: Last time I talked to you I was surprised to hear you’re not a horror fan and don’t watch hardly any of them. Do you not find anything interesting in the genre outside of what you make?
A: No, not particularly. It’s not what I collect and I don’t rush out to see them when they first come out. I almost don’t care. I guess there’s a part of it is not wanting it to influence but partially I don’t care. If I think it’s a cool thing, I’ll go check it out but the cynical side of me sits there and I say, “Oh man, I know exactly what that’s going to be”. Unless somebody recommends it, I don’t go out there.

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