How the Original Script for ‘Day of the Dead’ Helped Create ‘Land of the Dead’: Part III

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Old Characters, New World

The screenplay as a whole does not receive the proper credit that it is often due. It is in essence the genesis of any motion picture and a wonderful draft of a script can serve as a powerful tapestry, filled to the brim with an engrossing world where incredible things happen that captivate the reader and eventually the audience when the story is translated to the screen. That's essentially what the original script of Day of the Dead was on paper, a stunning and sprawling story set at the end of the world and concepts and ideas from that script were about to come to fruition on the big screen as George A. Romero inched closer and closer to filming Land of the Dead. 

At this point in the process he had already re purposed and redesigned the world he created in Day by giving the new story an isolated world and incredibly advanced zombies when it came to their intelligence, but there was more for George to pilfer from the script, some of the characters that lay dormant and unused in the final cut of Day would finally find life in Land. For the most part, there weren't many left to adapt, since a fair chunk of them did make it into the 1985 finished product, but lo and behold there were a couple of minor characters, and one big one to say the least that would eventually become an important part of George's new story. If Day had made it to the big screen with George's original vision, we would have been introduced to a pair of interesting folks known as Spider and Diesel.

Spider was a deaf mute, one loyal to the cause who does everything within her power to help save lives on the island and Diesel, well he was nothing less than a force of nature, since he was essentially a man made of muscle, with a side of muscle and he was not a man to be messed with. These two characters both shared some important moments in the third act of the original script and clearly George thought they could find a home in Land as a transformed pair of people and they eventually evolved into Charlie and Pillsbury. While Charlie was clearly not a deaf mute, Romero still made the character a differently abled individual while keeping Spider's loyalty and drive alive in Charlie. It allowed for Charlie to be one incredibly like-able character in the finished product and one that we root for, since the man is a hero through and through. As for Diesel, well he became Pillsbury, and few changes came to this character. He was still a giant hulking man who could pummel anyone with the flick of his wrist, the biggest difference here is that Pillsbury was granted a sense of humor and some great comedic moments whereas Diesel was all business.

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But of all the characters from the original Day of the Dead script, only one comes to mind that was truly larger than life on paper, Governor Henry Dickerson, a.k.a. "Gasparilla". This absolute monster signaled a first for Romero when he first put him to paper; a true antagonist who dutifully and proudly made a point to make people's lives hell. In the script he was a stupidly rich man, drunk on power and a villain this wonderful simply could not go to waste, and he was transformed for Land of the Dead, into the enigmatic Kaufman. This new and improved version of the character was completely toned down when it came to Gasparilla's penchant to scream and shout. Kaufman is a reserved villain, one that observes and calculates his every single move, a true survivor and one that knows how to manipulate people to do his bidding. 

If anything, Kaufman is a true reflection of the times, a rich man who believes that preserving the old way of life is the only thing that matters and by keeping the status quo going, people remain in line. There are wages to be paid in his world, work to be done, all to keep the masses busy and content and while that may not seem to make him that bad of a villain, bear in mind he'll quietly remove anyone that gets in his way or disapproves of how he runs things. If anything, Kaufman is vastly superior to Gasparilla since he comes across as charming and business like whereas Gasparilla was nothing more than a loud and obnoxious slob who saw the end of the world as an opportunity to unleash his inner jerk. Much of this is thanks to Dennis Hopper's "Rumsfeld-esque" performance, something certainly relevant to 2005 but this final survivor of the original script, is the true gem of Land of the Dead. 

Of course, when all is said and done, a couple of questions remain. Did all of this work? Was pilfering the old script worth Romero's time? The answer to those questions is a resounding yes. Land of the Dead was not only a fascinating piece on post 9/11 America; it was also a grand and sweeping adventure, one that entertains on so many levels. It's poignant, powerful and has something for every horror fan out there. If anything, the best word to use to describe Land is to call it a masterpiece. This is the story that George wanted to tell, one that reminded us that the battle of good versus evil will never end when it comes to mankind unless we work together as a species to survive; and the fact that Romero gives us hope in the closing moments of this motion picture make it a special one in the franchise because it actually leaves you wondering...that maybe, just maybe...the disjointed humanity he presents to us in this universe will survive after all and that if there is hope for them...there's hope for us as well. 

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