George A Romero has died :(
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Rip jorge
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How Casting a Black Actor Changed ‘Night of the Living Dead’
“A mutual friend of George’s and mine was a woman by the name of Betty Ellen Haughey,” producer Russ Streiner relates. “She grew up in Pittsburgh, but at that time she was living in New York and she knew of Duane Jones. He’d started off in a suburb just outside of Pittsburgh, yet he was off in New York making a living as a teacher and an actor. Duane happened to be in Pittsburgh visiting his family, and we auditioned him. And immediately everyone, including Rudy Ricci, said, ‘Hey, this is the guy that should be Ben.’”
Director George Romero agrees with that recollection: “Duane Jones was the best actor we met to play Ben. If there was a film with a black actor in it, it usually had a racial theme, like 'The Defiant Ones.' Consciously I resisted writing new dialogue ‘cause he happens to be black. We just shot the script. Perhaps 'Night of the Living Dead' is the first film to have a black man playing the lead role regardless of, rather than because of, his race.”
(Contrary to that opinion, oft-expressed by Romero and others, Jones was not the first black actor to be cast in a non-ethnic-specific starring role; Sidney Poitier earned that distinction in 1965 playing a reporter in James B. Harris’ nuclear sub suspenser “The Bedford Incident” and, the following year, portraying an ex-military man turned horse-breaker in Ralph Nelson’s western “Duel at Diablo,” doubly ironic given "Duel’s" racial theme, albeit one centering on Native Americans.)
At that, black actors were no strangers to Latent Image ads. “In looking at some of those old [mid-‘60s] commercials,” says co-writer John Russo, “we always had black actors and we always gave a lot of work to people who had a tough time getting it. That was our nature, so we didn’t blink at casting a black actor in that role.” The slim, handsome Jones was himself was quite familiar with aspects of the ad world, having earlier posed as an Ebony magazine model in layouts selling everything from liquor to Listerine.
While still earthy and capable, Ben acquired an at once intense and understated quality that Jones brought to the role. According to the late Karl Hardman: “His [Ben’s] dialogue was that of a lower class/uneducated person. Duane Jones was a very well-educated man. He was fluent in a number of languages.” A B.A. graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Jones had dabbled in writing, painting and music, studied in Norway and Paris, and was completing an M.A. in Communications at NYU between “Night” shoots. “Duane simply refused to do the role as it was written. As I recall, I believe that Duane himself upgraded his own dialogue to reflect how he felt the character should present himself.”
A look at the original script demonstrates the difference. When white Ben first arrives at the house, he says to Barbara: “Don’t you mind the creep outside. I can handle him. There’s probably gonna be lots more of ‘em. Soons they fin’ out about us. Ahm outa gas. Them pumps over there is locked. Is there food here? Ah get us some grub. Then we beat ‘em off and skedaddle. Ah guess you putzed with the phone.”
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Who...
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Lurkristocrat wrote: »Who...
Created zombie movie in the 60s...had a lead black actor slap honkies during the civil right era -
R.I.P. to a cinematic genius.
For those who don't know who he was, the man was the godfather of the modern zombie genre. Feel free to pay your respects, especially if you're a Walking Dead fan. -
Night of the Living Dead got me really into zombie flicks as a kid. I've seen everyone of his movies. Dude really created a genre.
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Night of the Living Dead scared me wife to death when she was a child
My fav is Day of the Dead -
Trippy, watching night of the living dead atm.
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That was a real horror movie back then, mainly to white people lol.Lurkristocrat wrote: »Who...
Created zombie movie in the 60s...had a lead black actor slap honkies during the civil right era -
77
He lived a long life -
Its crazy, even today black actors rarely get anything but race based roles.
77 death date 7/16 (1+6=7)
7 x 7 = 49 years from release of "Night of the Living Dead" -
Ain't reading all that. He had a good one. White, rich and privileged.
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Im surprised Hollywood haven't remade NOTLD yet
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R.I.P. mayneINB4 he comes back as a zombie
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A true master. Monkey Shines and Martin were my joints. R.I.P.
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CottonCitySlim wrote: »Im surprised Hollywood haven't remade NOTLD yet
It was already remade in 1990. Probably will be remade again. -
So u sayin a black man created the idea of zombies?????...
https://youtu.be/-_f2Enn8x5s
