Hi,
This is a really cool forum. I look forward to getting on here from time to time. I showed "Knightriders" to my little brother (he's 12) last night. It was the first time I had seen it in many years. I had forgotten just how many actors from "Dawn, "Creepshow" and "Day" were in that film. He liked the film overall, but thought it was too long. Considering that it is almost 2 1/2 hours, I thought it moved very fast. Thanks for the nice compliments about my documentary. I hope it does get a U.S. release very soon. I was kinda pissed that it was not included on various special edition DVD's of the film, but I think that was a marketing move and not a deliberate snub. I am thinking about releasing the entire roundtable discussion between George, John, Russ and Karl. About 1/4 of it was actually used for the documentary.
A little background: After being asked by J.R. and John to direct this thing, I immediately thought of the roundtable idea, pipe-dreaming about getting all four of them together on one stage. Other than George, I thought it would be easy to get them there. I did not know that they had NEVER een together doing one interview since the release of the original film in 1968! We shot it on a overcast and cold November day at the Hardman-Eastman studio. It was not sure if George would show up, but being the great guy that he is, he arrived just a few minutes before we had planned to start shooting.
You have to understand that George is not a big fan of interviews, and he gets tired of all the interviews associated with "Night," because that film has a lot of bad memories as well as good ones. The copyright issue is still a very sore spot with all of them, so I didn't get into that with them. All I asked them to do was comment on various aspects of the making of the film.
It was amazing to see what happened next. They just sat back, relaxed and told the story, together for the first time in 25 years. I honestly think that they had a ball and I contend that this roundtable was better than any of the audio commentaries on the laserdisc and DVD releases. simply because it was very much from the heart. They left the studio better friends, and at one point George asked them if they wanted to make another film together! His exact words were "Do you guys need some bread to do that?" (This is the first time I've ever told anyone about that)
Of course, for one reason or another, they didn't. I think it's very unlikely that they ever will work together again. John's "30th Anniversary" film (with the new footage blended in with an edited "Night") and the fact that George produced "Land of the Dead" in Canada sort of put the nail in the coffin.
By the way I really appreciate the nice e-mails and support, especially about being the chef in "Day of the Dead" There is a wonderful website about "Day" that published my in-depth essay about the experience of being a zombie in that film. I think the website is down though. If I can find the file I'll post it. Stay safe all!
TB
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Originally Posted by zombiethomas
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