long interview with lori cardille..

[Mike70]

and a very interesting one to boot. lots of info about working on day, some decent stories, including one about john landis laughing in her face for being in day, what a dick richard rubinstein is, and how the film was booed by fans at the premiere.

some snippets:


HW: Now you have said in interviews and at the beginning of this conversation, that at the premiere - many moons ago - you remembered the disappointment of the audience at the end. What specifically were they disappointed in?
Lori: I think they thought it was an easy way out. Was it a dream? Wasn't a dream? They wanted some finale that was more certain. That's what I came to understand. I remember at the premiere people were boo'ing at the end.
HW: Wow - and to me it was never a question. It was not a dream because only those three were there. She'd been doing those nightmares throughout the movie, why not have on at the end?
Lori: Well good! I agree with you. And I didn't play it like it was a dream. It was interesting - the boo's.


HW: Oh definitely. If you were in a horror film, you were marked.
Lori: Definitely, right. I remember I met, John Landis for an audition and I told him about Day of the Dead and he kind of snickered. I told him that I won these awards for it and told him the different film festivals and he just laughed at me, in the face - literally. He said, oh there's so many of those out there, awards and festivals. Like get out of this room. People don't realize how you're treated in that world [horror].


HW: So there were no snakes, life is good!
Lori: Well, some of the producers were snakes [laughs] oh don't put that in, no no you can put that in. Yeah, Richard Rubinstein was a snake.

HW: Oh, I wasn't going to go there, but if you want to...
Lori: Well, yes - maybe it's a little unprofessional but it's time. Richard's doing very well now and he definitely was ... George did so much in their relationship to help him be where he is today, and he was just horrible to George. As far as doing the film, he was not sympathetic to actors. He was not good to actors. They had to do the bare minimum as far as SAG [Screen Actors Guild] rules went. But even there sometimes it wasn't so good. Even in the contract. None of us made money, nor do we get residuals ever... maybe the first time they sold it somewhere we got very little bit, like a thousand dollars or something. But I made more one day doing a commercial than I have for my three months on Day of the Dead.
HW: And that's the part that I don't think some of fans know. I don't think they realize that you didn't get paid.
Lori: We got paid, a minimum of minimums and nothing more after shooting. Very small amount. Even my agent, he was trying to negotiate and he [Richard] was unwilling to negotiate. I never done such a big part in a film and of course I wanted to do it more than I cared about being paid, at that point. And it was, well if she doesn't want to do it, we'll get someone else. And they could have because I hadn't done a film.


HW: You were lippy [both laugh]
Lori: Yes I was lippy. A little bit. And I remember saying to him, recently when I ran into him, Yeah, I'm Lori Cardille the one that you paid such big bucks to for doing Day of the Dead I just made such an awful remark. [both laugh]


HW: Rumor has it, that you are quite the story teller. What was the funniest thing that happened on the set? And you can't use the rotten pigs intestines - we all know that one. [both laugh]

Lori: Toward the end of filming and we were sitting in Terry Alexander's backyard, behind the RV. Remember that scene when we were sitting there talking with Terry's wonderful monologue. We're sitting outside where it's all lit up with these lights like a little festive backyard thing. I had a fever, this fever was about 103, and I got a zit right on my chin. Well it was so bad when they saw the dailies, they literally had to re-shoot the scene and collect on insurance - because it was a day wasted - because in my close ups I had this big pimple on my face. I had to go to some doctor and take care of the pimple, but arghh I was mortified.
HW: They had to collect insurance because of a zit?
Lori: [laughing] Yeah, insurance for zits... that was embarrassing. It's embarrassing enough to get pimples but ... And it wasn't that bad there because it was kind of cold. When you're doing a soap or stage you break out after a few weeks because of the thick make up and lights and heat. I had a lot of friends that were in the theater who played in Cats and they really got it, the bad skin. I went to the dermatologist twice a week, just from all the make up. So that was embarrassing, but as far as being funny, all I remember is being silly as can be. I've had that happen in everything I've done though, I just love to laugh - as much as Sarah is a strong straight person I'm just not.

http://www.horror-web.com/interviews/loricardille.html

[bassman]

I had never seen this. Good find, mike.:thumbsup:

The Rubenstein thing is really no surprise, but the zit story is kind of out there....

[AcesandEights]

Excellent, Mike! This will be good for a leisurely read during some downtime tomorrow at work :D

Damn do I love Day!

[SRP76]

including one about john landis laughing in her face for being in day


Who's that? Sounds familiar, but can't remember.

[Mike70]

Who's that? Sounds familiar, but can't remember.

the guy who did american werewolf in london.

btw: if go you to the bottom of that page, there is a link to a whole series of interviews with the day cast. there are long interviews with steel, miguel, and romero.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Isn't His (John Landis) Career in the crapper?

[capncnut]

Nope. He's currently directing Burke & Hare, with Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis, which is going to be a riot.

[JDFP]

the guy who did american werewolf in london.

btw: if go you to the bottom of that page, there is a link to a whole series of interviews with the day cast. there are long interviews with steel, miguel, and romero.

Hey John Landis...

Guess what? Your movie "American Werewolf in London" is good... but, it will never be as good as "Day". Sorry to spoil it for you old chap, but "Day" is one of the finest (to me THE finest) horror films ever made... and your 15 minutes of fame will never compare...

Of course, this is coming from a man who has done such amazing overwhelming masterpieces of film-making such as "Beverly Hills Cop 3" and "The Stupids"...

j.p.

[Mike70]

Hey John Landis...

Guess what? Your movie "American Werewolf in London" is good... but, it will never be as good as "Day". Sorry to spoil it for you old chap, but "Day" is one of the finest (to me THE finest) horror films ever made... and your 15 minutes of fame will never compare...

Of course, this is coming from a man who has done such amazing overwhelming masterpieces of film-making such as "Beverly Hills Cop 3" and "The Stupids"...

j.p.

yeah, but he also directed "animal house", "the blues brothers", "the kentucky fried movie", "coming to america", and "trading places."

the blues brothers easily trumps anything that our fanboy fav george has ever done (other than day), so i wouldn't cast stones at john landis quite so readily. yeah, i'll take some shit for this but i don't really care. other than day, george's films don't hold a fucking candle to landis' work in the late 70s/early 80s.

[JDFP]

the blues brothers easily trumps anything that our fanboy fav george has ever done, so i wouldn't cast stones at john landis quite so readily.

No doubt he's done some good films. But, dissing on "Day" is blasphemy in my book. I don't plan on casting stones on John Landis, I'd just tell him where he could go and what he could do with himself when he gets there for bashing the greatest horror flick ever made. And insulting an actress for her role in it? That's some absolute professionalism there. Good job, jack ass.

While I enjoyed "Blues Brothers", to me at least, it doesn't hold a torch to the trilogy or "Knightriders" for that matter...

j.p.

[Mike70]

No doubt he's done some good films. But, dissing on "Day" is blasphemy in my book. I don't plan on casting stones on John Landis, I'd just tell him where he could go and what he could do with himself when he gets there for bashing the greatest horror flick ever made. And insulting an actress for her role in it? That's some absolute professionalism there. Good job, jack ass.

While I enjoyed "Blues Brothers", to me at least, it doesn't hold a torch to the trilogy or "Knightriders" for that matter...

j.p.

you hit that before i qualified my response. i was editing that post as you responded to read "other than day."

yes folks, even i, your resident dickhead, knows when he's gone too far.

i love day. it is one of my fav films ever. i also really dig knightriders and martin. other than that, i'm not so sure that i care...

damn, you are certainly quick on the draw. want to form a dueling team?

[JDFP]

damn, you are certainly quick on the draw. want to form a dueling team?

Touche (I wish I had a European keyboard so I could put in umlaut's and those little French slashy things and those Spanish backwards question mark things...being as I'm all cultured and what not). Just happened to be in the right place at the right time, Mikey. I've got some Milwaukee's Best in the fridge if you want to partake. :)

Seriously though, anyone who disses on "Day" has no frakkin' idea what a great horror movie is anyway. I immediately lose all respect for people who don't give "Day" the respect of greatness that it so rightly deserves. Hey, you want to try to do better and create an amazing horror movie that will put "Day" to shame and have fans talking about it on a message board 25 years after the fact? Be my guest, do it, and then you can talk smack about works of greatness like "Day". Until then, people like Landis can feel free to shut their pie-hole. :D

j.p.

[Mike70]

Touche (I wish I had a European keyboard so I could put in umlaut's and those little French slashy things and those Spanish backwards question mark things...being as I'm all cultured and what not). Just happened to be in the right place at the right time, Mikey. I've got some Milwaukee's Best in the fridge if you want to partake. :)

Seriously though, anyone who disses on "Day" has no frakkin' idea what a great horror movie is anyway. I immediately lose all respect for people who don't give "Day" the respect of greatness that it so rightly deserves. Hey, you want to try to do better and create an amazing horror movie that will put "Day" to shame and have fans talking about it on a message board 25 years after the fact? Be my guest, do it, and then you can talk smack about works of greatness like "Day". Until then, people like Landis can feel free to shut their pie-hole. :D

j.p.

like i've said many a time on here: day and a few other flicks are my main interest in romero. if it weren't for day (and a few of his other movies), i wouldn't give romero or most of his movies the time of day. day, martin, knightriders, and creepshow. those are what interest me in romero's work. most of the rest are transparent, amateurish level crap that i wouldn't show to a pet raven as entertainment.

i think i've been coming here long enough to be brutally honest about this. also, i've been going through a lot of life changes that have made me re-evaluate just about everything and i've come to find most zombie movies sorely lacking on just about every level.

this may sound harsh but that is how i see it as of right now. please, respect my opinion as i try to respect yours. i may be a king sized dick on here sometimes but as far as the dead movies go, i try to give everyone a fair shake and listen to what they have to say.


fuck. it's time to get back on the topic of lori cardille.

[JDFP]

like i've said many a time on here: day and a few other flicks are my main interest in romero. if it weren't for day (and a few of his other movies), i wouldn't give romero or most of his "movies" the time of day. day, martin, knightriders, and creepshow. those are what interest me in romero's work. most of the rest are transparent, amateurish level crap that i wouldn't show to a pet raven as entertainment.

i think i've been coming here long enough to be brutally honest about this. also, i've been going through a lot of life changes that have made me re-evaluate just about everything and i've come to find most zombie movies sorely lacking on just about every level.

this may sound harsh but that is how i see it as of right now. please, respect my opinion as i try to respect yours. i may be a king sized dick on here sometimes but as far as the dead movies go, i try to give everyone a fair shake and listen to what they have to say - though i will absolutely not listen to bullshit about "budgets", lack of money is no excuse for a lack of professionalism.

I agree with you 100%, Mike. I also agree that the majority of zombie flicks are absolute shit. Other than Romero's trilogy, I'd say a good 99% of "other" zombie movies are absolute shit. Speaking of which, I've been watching a few Fulci flicks lately, and I just don't see the appeal. I just watched "The Beyond" tonight and it made me laugh my ass off (Joe the Plumber and three death scenes with gouging eye-balls, what was that man's fetish with eye-balls? What would Freud have said?)

I've also made a vow that I'm done, just completely done, with any supposed "zombie" movie that has zombies in it that have miraculous superhuman strength and amazing sprint-running abilities... if I never see another running zombie, I'll die (or undie) a happy man...

j.p.

[Mike70]

I agree with you 100%, Mike. I also agree that the majority of zombie flicks are absolute shit. Other than Romero's trilogy, I'd say a good 99% of "other" zombie movies are absolute shit. Speaking of which, I've been watching a few Fulci flicks lately, and I just don't see the appeal. I just watched "The Beyond" tonight and it made me laugh my ass off (Joe the Plumber and three death scenes with gouging eye-balls, what was that man's fetish with eye-balls? What would Freud have said?)

I've also made a vow that I'm done, just completely done, with any supposed "zombie" movie that has zombies in it that have miraculous superhuman strength and amazing sprint-running abilities... if I never see another running zombie, I'll die (or undie) a happy man...

j.p.

i totally agree about fulci. i've watched some of his stuff and it is total shit, i've seen viagra commercials more entertaining. then again italian "horror" other than argento and mario bava is, in my opinion, complete garbage.

i did edit my last post while you were replying. i decided to tone it down a bit. there is blunt honesty and then there is antagonizing folks and i thought that i had gone over that line, and i never try to antagonize people:shifty:

[DubiousComforts]

the blues brothers easily trumps anything that our fanboy fav george has ever done (other than day), so i wouldn't cast stones at john landis quite so readily.
I sure will. Seriously... The Blues Brothers? Other than the gazillion and one cameos, that movie was a bloated sack of nonsense when it came out and it still is today. They wasted matbe 50 police cruisers in that film, completely trashed a mall, dropped a Toyota from about a mile in the air--all for no good reason other than to destroy stuff. None of it is entertaining since the story and humor are extremely thin.

Animal House was legendary when it was released. Prior to Porky's, it was the ultimate taboo-breaking comedy that you tried to sneak in to see as a teenager. Then, every jackass filmmaker (including Landis) got the bright idea that any rotten movie could make a fortune if it starred (enter famous Saturday Night Live alumni here). Meatballs was low-budget fun, but ever see the God-awful Neighbors? Aye carumba...

Btw, $1 to anyone that can quickly name the Neighbors/original Dawn of the Dead connection...

(and we're back!) :p

[capncnut]

Btw, $1 to anyone that can quickly name the Neighbors/original Dawn of the Dead connection...
Gary Zeller did the special effects. ;)

[DubiousComforts]

Gary Zeller did the special effects. ;)
Quit it... stop it... quit it... ;)

Here's ya buck, you f*ck:
http://www.munic.state.ct.us/BURLINGTON/us_one_dollar_bill/us_dollar_front.gif:p

[capncnut]

Quit it... stop it... quit it... ;)
That's what you'll be saying when I brandish the scissors.

http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/electraglidecap.jpg
"What you say I get out those slicers, Big John."


But yeah, again I just went to IMDb, looked up Neighbors, and scrolled down until I saw a familiar name. :D

[krakenslayer]

Lori: Definitely, right. I remember I met, John Landis for an audition and I told him about Day of the Dead and he kind of snickered. I told him that I won these awards for it and told him the different film festivals and he just laughed at me, in the face - literally. He said, oh there's so many of those out there, awards and festivals. Like get out of this room. People don't realize how you're treated in that world [horror].

Wasn't Landis one of the guys who popped up everywhere you looked, just gushing over Romero, around the time Land came out? I'm sure he appears in various parts of the Land of the Dead DVD extras, going on about how great Romero is and how he loves his films. He seems to have changed his tune since his own career took a nose dive.

[capncnut]

Wasn't Landis one of the guys who popped up everywhere you looked, just gushing over Romero, around the time Land came out? I'm sure he appears in various parts of the Land of the Dead DVD extras, going on about how great Romero is and how he loves his films. He seems to have changed his tune since his own career took a nose dive.
He was on The American Nightmare documentary, waffling about how Night Of The Living Dead is one of his favourite movies. I think he was just paid by the IFC to pop his head in the documentary because he clearly doesn't know the film well.

"The part where the kid ate her brother was ewww" or something like that. :rolleyes:

[bassman]

I'm going to have to agree with Mike on this one. I love Romero, but Landis has a body of work on a whole 'nother level. As I believe Hellsing once put it, "Dude directed Thriller. THRILLER!":p


Blues Brothers and Animal House are two of the greatest comedies of all time.

[krakenslayer]

Out of John Landis's entire back catalogue, AWIL is the only flick I truly love.

Blues Brothers I don't mind, mainly because I like Aykroyd and Belushi and I can understand why people love it, but it's not my sense of humour really and I have little interest in blues music.

Animal House was meh for me, again not really my sense of humour.

Kentucky Fried Movie was like a rip-off of Monty Python with most of the insanity sliced off.

Trading Places and Coming to America were vanilla 1980s comedies that could have been directed by pretty much anyone of that era.

The Stupids and Blues Brothers 2000 were much, much more embarrassingly awful than any film Romero has done in the last 35 years.

---------- Post added at 01:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:00 PM ----------

I will say this though: I have a good feeling about Burke and Hare.

[paulannett]

Hey John Landis...

Guess what? Your movie "American Werewolf in London" is good... but, it will never be as good as "Day". Sorry to spoil it for you old chap, but "Day" is one of the finest (to me THE finest) horror films ever made... and your 15 minutes of fame will never compare...

Of course, this is coming from a man who has done such amazing overwhelming masterpieces of film-making such as "Beverly Hills Cop 3" and "The Stupids"...

j.p.

:lol::lol::lol:

Wow, obvious troll is obvious.

You've made it onto my funniest quotes ever list, though you are behind the old classic, "You're Protestant, your God has horns!"

If American Werewolf in London is Landis' 15 minutes of fame, he should be very proud of himself. His one film easily out-trumps any of Romero's, hands down in every single way!

Romero has made some fine additions to the horror genre and he pretty much created the zombie sub-genre we all know and love... but his films are hardly cinematic masterpieces. I have said before, I watch his trilogy and enjoy them, but it's the ideas and the world that is presented to me that I find most appealing. The reason I joined this site all those years ago was to discuss the what-ifs of that world with fellow dead heads, not to circle jerk over Romero and talk about the films.

Back to the 15 minutes of fame. Romero's last 2 films have been terrible (to the point I walked out of Land halfway through and switched off Diary within a few minutes). Survival won't break that trend (regardless of fan boy blind faith:annoyed:), so whose 15 minutes are over?

(I'm already seeing the sleuth of "OMG, let me be a fan boy on a fan boy website, don't you dare disrespect my hero!" replies that I am sure to get). Save your collective breath.

[JDFP]

:lol::lol::lol:

Wow, obvious troll is obvious.

If American Werewolf in London is Landis' 15 minutes of fame, he should be very proud of himself. His one film easily out-trumps any of Romero's, hands down in every single way!

Back to the 15 minuites of fame. Romero's last 2 films have been terrible (to the point I walked out of Land, ok, I had to catch a train but who cares!). Survival won't break that trend (regardless of fan boy blind faith:annoyed:), so whose 15 minutes are over?

I hardly think Romero's a "great" director, but I do think "Day of the Dead" is a great film -- and a far better film than "American Werewolf in London" -- and so is "Night" and "Dawn" (and in my opinion "Knightriders", but I guess you could debate that). "Night" / "Dawn" / "Day" are three of the finest horror films made. Period. "American Werewolf in London" is an entertaining horror flick that is a very good movie, but it's a completely different league. It's like comparing "Aliens" to "Event Horizon", they just don't compare. If you disagree, fine, but calling me a troll? Wow. Hey, if you want to taut the filmography of John Landis, good for you, but he's hardly a great director by any stretch of the imagination -- and neither is Romero. And I don't have any "fan boy blind faith" that you ascribe to me as some people here. I generally think that Romero's films are campy or just out-and-out bad in some cases.

As far as you walking out of a flick. Hey, you want to go see a movie at a theatre, spend $10 - $15 for the ticket as well as another $10 - $15 for concessions, that's on you, chief. I average about $1.10 per movie to watch on my T.V. courtesy of Netflix (oh but wait, I can't say that, because that means I am a troll for Netflix now). As far as "Land" and "Diary" -- they aren't exactly Oscar-worthy zombie flicks, but they're still better than just about all the rest of the drivel out there that go as supposed zombie flicks.

j.p.

[DubiousComforts]

Animal House was meh for me, again not really my sense of humour.
You certainly won't get Animal House if you spell it humour. ;)


If American Werewolf in London is Landis' 15 minutes of fame, he should be very proud of himself. His one film easily out-trumps any of Romero's, hands down in every single way!
How do you figure? Creepshow is the only Romero film that you could possibly compare with American Werewolf and you really can't claim one is better than the other (try it--should be interesting). Otherwise, I'm unaware of Landis actually attempting a serious horror film.

At least nobody ever died on a Romero set (not that we're aware of). You have to give him credit for that.


I hardly think Romero's a "great" director,
Quit feeding the bears!

[krakenslayer]

You certainly won't get Animal House if you spell it humour. ;)


:lol:

I "get" it, I can see what people find funny about it, but it didn't make me actually laugh.

[MaximusIncredulous]

Dissing Day, pfft, and that coming from a guy that got Vic Morrow wasted. What a douche.

Hmmm, Vic Morrow in a Romero zombie flick. Could that have worked?

[ZombieMovies]

:lol::lol::lol:



Romero has made some fine additions to the horror genre and he pretty much created the zombie sub-genre we all know and love... but his films are hardly cinematic masterpieces. .

Romero's Trilogy is a fuckin' masterpiece.. It changed the horror genre

[capncnut]

Wow, obvious troll is obvious.

If American Werewolf in London is Landis' 15 minutes of fame, he should be very proud of himself. His one film easily out-trumps any of Romero's, hands down in every single way!
First off, if there's anyone in this thread who's being a troll, it's you.

Secondly, I don't know if you have been hiding somewhere for the last forty odd years but the first two entries in Romero's dead series, Night Of The Living Dead, and Dawn Of The Dead, have been hailed as modern horror masterpieces. The boxart of Dawn especially carries the quote of 'arguably one of the greatest horror films of all time'. Also...


Night Of The Living Dead was awarded two distinguished honors thirty years after the debut. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1999 with other films deemed "historically, culturally or aesthetically important in any way". In 2001, the American Film Institute named the film to a list of one hundred important horror and thriller films, 100 Years...100 Thrills.

No Landis accolades as far as I can see, pal. I don't want to start a full-on argument here but, erm, put that in yer pipe and smoke it! :p