Int: John Leguizamo

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

JoBlo.com/AITH interviews John Leguizamo

Fine actor John Leguizamo has dabbled
in the genre before (Night Owl and Assault on Precinct 13 remake), but this is his first “to the core”
horror role and
I’m excited to see him tackle the undead with his own brand of charm/screen presence. Here’s what Mr Leguizamo had to
say about his foray in “Land of the Dead”. Thanks to

Alan “the man” Jones
for the hook up!

WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS

On Dawn
of the Dead Remake:

Zombies move
fast, it went all against his rules, no research. Our movie has
serious rules, which makes it amazing to work with him. In our
Zombieworld they have to move slowly because they are decomposing,
George hasn’t told any of our dead extras how to walk because he
wants them all to be individual. That if he gives instructions
everyone will look the same. This way everyone comes up with their
own personality. I become a zombie in the movie, I don’t know if
that ruins things but…I’ve probably fucked it up

On his
character of Cholo:

I play a
zombie killer, and then I have a slip up. You can’t turn into a
zombie unless you are bit, right, a vampire kind of thing. I do
towards the end and I become a zombie. I play Cholo the zombie
killer, a Chicano-ism meaning cool guy. There’s a group of us in
this Mad Max apocalyptic world, mostly populated by zombies apart
from a few enclaves of humans. Dennis Hopper runs one of them.
Zombie killers keep them away until we can get supplies from town,
little fortresses of rich neo-conservatives.

Cheyney’s
world. Simon Baker is a z killer too and the both of us were
friends, but I’m feeling more competitive towards him because I feel
he always gets more recognitions. He’s like the captain while I’m
the co-pilot. He has large aspirations. Zombie killing is an actual
profession and we get hired in this future to keep them away, to
stop them over-taking and keeping numbers down.

Correlation
between the movie and America being so isolationist?

That’s why I
love it. Why did I want to make a zombie movie? Because I love
Romero, he’s one of the greatly respected genre directors. Quentin
Tarantino, Stephen King etc all love him. He put politics into the
genre and mixed it with social commentary and a sense of humor.
NIGHT had those political overtones, this does too. It has an
operatic thing going on because he is parodying the situation of the
haves and have mores in America. Having what they have and
protecting themselves against the zombie killers… I don’t know if
it’s George’s take but mine is the zombies are the poor working
classes.The minimum wage folk. In my opinion Kaufman is the George
Bush figure but I ’m not sure if that’s George’s again. That’s what
helped me get through the movie.

I grew up
watching the trilogy and I was always a fan of NIGHT. It freaked me
out, was so cool, best movie ever. That’s the first time you learn
about zombies. That’s how I did, like a documentary. I aggressively
went after this part because I wanted to work with George. I even
cut my salary in half, true. The script had these great political
aspirations in it. The characters were really complex, the story was
about the characters and none of them were sill people screaming and
all that. There was this political overtone. Competition between me
and my best friend Riley, put a bit of racism in there, and self
hate. I loved all the complexity.

Are people
going to pick that up while watching the film?

Depends on who
you are. You get out of a movie what you put in and bring to it. How
smart are you? How clever? A lot of people are going to see the
movie as a parable I think, a satire comparison. It covers all the
right areas without getting on a soap box.

Gore and
action?

It’s the most
action-orientated of the series! I like that a lot. And its crazy
gory, an autopsy show! There’s specificness in terms of the
intestines coming out and the organs exploding. Want one good
version without a better DVD cut? It’s with Rogue Universal and that
allows a lot more edge than the regular Universal, not dissing Uni
at all you understand but they have to be more commercial. Rogue is
allowed to have more individuality. Ours will have everything in one
version.

Is
the film unremittingly bleak like the past 3 movies?

Still has that
which is great but still has humor and comic streak. Such an ageist
industry and here’s Romero at the prime of his life, in his mid
Sixties. We’ve done all nights, in Canada, in the winter. And he’s
out there chain-smoking, drinking coffee, with these giant owl
glasses. He hears everything.

Any
connection to the other movies?

Now it’s a ‘quadrilogy’,
if that word exists, it’s supposed to be the end of all the Night,
Dawn, Day, might be beginning a new cycle, who knows? The zombies
are organized here, thinking, using weapons, like the evolution of
man. They are putting things together and working stuff out. They
smell worse, sniff a bit before I kill them.

How was his
experience on set?

I’ve enjoyed
the whole thing. Have great acting moments in this with Baker and
Hopper, juicy and dramatic. Amazing action stuff where I had this
shark harpoon, a C02 gun, and shot it into the air. I was kitted out
with four squibs for my death…ooops I did it again! (We were told
not to reveal this obviously). Harpooning brains out on my
motorcycle. Did all my own stunts apart from one wheelie motorcycle
one in the rain that would have been too dangerous. All night
shoots and you become a zombie yourself doing that.

You started
shooting in October?

Movie finishes
this weekend. It’s tough being an actor on this type of film. You
have to run home before the sunlight appears or else you’ll never
sleep. The moment the sun hits your eyes it’s hard to sleep. Close
those curtains like a vampire, with ear-plugs. Always exhausted
because you never catch up. Got to bed at 7 am, could only sleep
until 1, 2 at latest.

How was it
working with George?

He works the
best way, he trusts you and has hired you for what you bring to the
role, and then he shapes it. Impressed by how savvy he is. Always
gives me a little thing that gives me a new perspective on my
performance. Added sense of humor, or darkness, plants seeds that
make a big difference. For example: The big scene with Hopper when
I’m trying to become Republican, I mean rich! The living has this
lifestyle that I want to be part of. I look around Hopper’s
apartment, he’s telling me he has no room for me, and it’s enormous,
so I added a sense of irony on George’s suggestion. I think it’s
lightening the darkness or darkening the lightheartedness.

How crucial
is Dead Reckoning to the plot, it was the title at one point?

It’s a huge
vehicle. It’s a tank, submarine, awe-inspiring and welded out of
different organic pieces. You feel powerful in it and it helps you
believe in the movie. We have to fight a major force of zombies, so
have to have a powerful vehicle that can go in there and cause
damage, like they had in Iraq perhaps. When we were inside, so
tough and cramped. Have a huge scene in there with Simon and it was
hard to move around. Very claustrophobic. It almost tipped over one
day when we were doing this crazy stunt. Knocked trees and lampposts
over

Is there a
lot of CGI in the film?

Trying to do
it all organically – until they come to the final edit and see
what’s missing. It’s a new world for film, man; it’s not old school
anymore. I assume there will be tweaks but as of now it’s all
organically done. The guts, gore and blood. Why not enhance it if
you have that ability.

Are we in for a
new type of Zombies?

Its classical
zombies with the new evolution of thinking, regrouping and
organizing – a union of zombies. That’s new, the movement is old.
It depends on how decomposed they are. The great thing about the
story is that it’s not clear who the heroes and villains are. Hopper
is obviously the villain if you are a staunch democrat like me. We
are zombie killers, but does that make it right? Just because they
are dead, you do get a feeling of change at the end though.

Did you get
to work with Asia Argento?

I have one
scene with Asia. She’s a loose woman in the apocalyptic world. She
gets saved by Riley, she’s a feral creature. Such a feisty chick I
love it.

His opinion on Romero:

My opinion of
Romero now is he was the godfather of horror movies. There’s so much
tribute to him. This movie is a masterful piece, it could be closure
but I don’t want to say that. He’s aged but kept his love of the
zombie and taken it to a whole new operatic, complex level. A great
tribute to him at this point in his life. He’ll get great
recognition from it and a throne in the corridors of cinema.

Opinion on
recent zombie pictures?

I love horror
movies. A good one is exciting. We all live with fears and its good
to get them out of our system. Have to have a place to let that out.
I’m from NY and 9/11 caused us to think about moving, you live with
that threat all the time. When you see horror movies, and especially
apocalyptic ones, you can work things out of your system. Lets out
the tension. Hate cheap horror, the ones for teenagers. But
hopefully LAND will appeal to adults who love
a message and the teens who love the action.

I’d
like to thank John for sharing the joy with all of us fanboys. Can’t
wait to see ya kick that ass in the film!

RETURN TO
PART
1
PART 2


OF MY LAND OF THE DEAD SET VISIT