Zombieland fans have been eagerly anticipating a sequel to the film practically since it was released and while there has been a lot of talk about the project, there has been no real movement on it. The four lead actors, as well as the director are all signed on for a sequel but the film’s writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, have yet to begin work on the script. Many thought that Zombieland 2 would be Fleisher’s next film after completing 30 Minutes, but with much of his original cast tied up on other projects, the director has instead opted to helm Gangster Squad with Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine), Sean Penn (Milk), and Josh Brolin (Jonah Hex) next.

So the question still remains: When will Zombieland 2 begin production? Today I had the pleasure of speaking with director Ruben Fleisher on the phone while he was in New York promoting 30 Minutes or Less, which opens in theaters August 12th. While we were chatting about his new film, I took the opportunity to ask Fleisher what exactly is the current status of Zombieland 2 and unfortunately for fans of his first film, he did not seem optimistic that the sequel would be happening anytime soon.

“With Zombieland 2 it seems like as much as everyone would like to see that happen, it’s not happening anytime soon,” answered Fleisher. “At least not for me because I’m spoken for, for at least the next year. And I know Emma has Spider-Man commitments and whatnot so I think we all want to (do it) in theory but as each day passes it seems less and less possible.” I followed up by asking him if the delay also had to do with the script not being completed yet. “I think if we had a script that we all loved and we were ready to go make it, it would have been made,” Fleisher explained.

“I’m actually in pre production now on Gangster Squad and we start shooting in September,” he continued. I finished my conversation withFleisher by asking him to briefly describe his vision as a director forGangster Squad. “For me it is a huge opportunity because it’s not a comedy,” he said. “It’s a period piece. I guess it’s an action movie but it’s a classic gangster movie up there with The Untouchables, L.A. Confidential, and Chinatown. Its really just one of those iconic movies and I think for me its hugely exciting to get to work with those actors. To get to make a movie that is … if you think of like The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, and all those other movies I mentioned that are gangster films, so for me to get to make one is a pretty unique and awesome opportunity.”

30 Minutes or Less opens in theaters everywhere on August 12th.

Source

But, as he oversaw some wacky pyrotechnic displays at the junkyard, he was thinking about the direction for “Zombieland 2″ and shared some of his thoughts with us.

First off, Fleischer confirmed he’ll shoot the sequel with 3-D cameras, rather than use a controversial post-production process. “When it comes to 3-D, I feel pretty strongly that you should shoot it in camera,” he said. “I feel like it just looks so much better. If you’re going to make a 3-D movie, go ahead and make a 3-D movie. I would definitely, if we do ‘Zombieland 2,’ make it in 3-D and want to shoot it in 3-D.”

While no stars yet have deals in place, Fleischer said “all the cast is excited to return,” including Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Jesse Eisenberg, who also stars in “30 Minutes.” Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are currently at work on the script, and Fleischer said they’re exploring multiple scenarios, from a plot that picks up shortly after the conclusion of the first film to one that begins further into the future. Regardless, though, “Zombieland 2″ will likely explore pre-zombie days as well.

“One of the fun things about ‘Zombieland’ is it jumps all over the place in terms of the storyline,” Fleischer said. “It’ll go to before zombies to after zombies and all around those worlds. What’s fun about the sequel is we have freedom and flexibility to show different periods. We might have scenes before the zombies, or we might have some months after, or potentially stuff further down the road. Through the voice-over and the way the movie is structured, we can really explore all different sides of it.”

“Zombieland 2″ was announced as a 3-D film back in December, when the heady glow of “Avatar” began to consume all of Hollywood. In the months since, many 3-D films have failed to connect with audiences and a sort of 3-D fatigue has set in among many moviegoers. Yet, Fleischer is not worried about backlash, nor does he agree with what James Cameron said recently about how “Piranha 3-D,” a new horror movie, “cheapen[s] the medium.”

“I love 3-D” Fleischer said. “I have a hard time saying when it’s not done well, because I have almost a childlike experience watching 3-D. It’s just so cool to me when stuff comes out of the screen. That may sound naïve, but I really do like the way it looks.”

“Obviously, animation works terrific in 3-D,” he continued. “I thought ‘Avatar’ was a complete revolution. But I even love ‘My Bloody Valentine 3-D’ — the schlockier movies that are in 3-D. I think it’s cool to see stuff fly at your face. The idea of zombies splattering into the lens is exciting for me. I understand Mr. Cameron’s point as far as not overdoing it and not making it gimmicky. I still go for that stuff. That’s the part I’m excited about.”

Source

“Zombieland” is now for sale everywhere – so make sure you go and buy a copy (or two)!

Special Features are to Include:
* Commentary with Actors Woody Harrelson & Jesse Eisenberg, Director Ruben Fleischer, Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick
* “In Search of Zombieland” featurette
* “Zombieland is Your Land” featurette
* Deleted scenes
* Visual Effects Progression Scenes
* Woke Up Dead Episode “Up and At ‘Em”
* Trailers

The Blu-ray version will include all of the special features above, but also a “Beyond the Graveyard” Behind the Scenes Picture-in-Picture Track, and a digital copy of the film.

“Whenever we crack it”, says Fleischer referring to the storyline for the next Zombieland outing, although Woody Harrelson has hinted he’d love either a Paris or Broadway backdrop. Fleischer also reveals that he’d like it to be in 3D because “the genre really lends itself to [3-D]“, especially with the advances in the technology over the course of the last few years.

You can read our interview with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick right here where they talk about preliminary ideas to continue their story.

Meanwhile the first Zombieland will hit DVD shelves on February 2nd.

From Shock Till You Drop

The top five nominees in each category will be revealed at the People’s Choice Awards annual press conference on November 10, 2009. Only those announced on November 10th have the chance to win a People’s Choice Award on January 6th, 2010.

You can vote at: peopleschoice.com/pca/nominations/vote.jsp?pollId=300002

We recently caught up with a few of the last remaining humans on Earth to get some secrets on what was going on between the takes we saw this weekend. And they were eager to spill the brains — er, beans — on Quentin Tarantino’s influence, deleted kills that might make it onto the DVD and which zombie-hunter is most like President Obama.

People Die, Politics Lives Forever: Much of the humor in “Zombieland” is powered by the friendship between Woody’s Tallahassee and Jesse’s Columbus, a dynamic that they claim reminds them of our president and a certain high-profile heckler. “My character is like Obama,” Eiesenberg explained. “And he’s like the Joe Wilson of Zombieland.” Harrelson, however, disagreed. “I’m not sure I like that analogy,” he shot back. “Why can’t I be Obama?” Commenting on his character’s reluctance to directly confront his heckler, however, Eisenberg said that both Tallahassee and Wilson need to learn their lesson. “Obama knows to just sit it out,” he reasoned. “And my character knows: sit it out! [Tallahassee and Wilson] will be rebuked!” Conceded Harrelson: “I haven’t heard that word ‘rebuke’ in decades. I don’t get rebuked enough.”

More Kills to Come: Leaving “Zombieland,” you may have been marveling over the banjo scene or the rollercoaster kills — but according to the stars, they filmed plenty more that might be restored for the DVD. “[My favorite was] the butter knife to the jugular,” Woody offered. “Oh, I’m sorry. That’s not in there. They cut that. What else? The leaf blower! Oh no, they didn’t use that either, did they?”

The Bride of Zombieland: When it came time to kick ass, Emma Stone turned to a worthy mentor: Uma Thurman. “I’ve gotta be honest with you: I watched ‘Kill Bill,’ ” she said of her preparation before the film’s action scenes. “That was a big one.” Laughing, she added, “Ruben, the director, made this list that he e-mailed to me early on that was like, ‘You should watch “Terminator” and watch “Alien.” ‘ And I watched zero of them.”

What’s Better Than Splat?: There’s something viscerally satisfying about squashing a bug; according to Stone, the same feeling applies to murder after a zombie apocalypse. “My favorite kill is the part where we’re up on this ride,” she said of the film’s big finale, set on one of those rapidly dropping carnival rides. “Zombies are [climbing it], and I butt one in the head with the back of my shotgun. He falls 80 feet and splats on the ground!” Grinning, she added, “Shooting is one thing, but to really hit someone and they fall and splat? That’s a pretty satisfying crunch.”

From MTV

How did you hook up with Zombieland?

Emma Stone: I read the script and told my agent I loved it and then I auditioned with a lot of other very cool actresses who probably would have been way better for the part than me. I auditioned with Jesse — we did some improv together. I knew he was going to be amazing in the movie.
Did you find anything challenging about it?

ES: I had never done any action before and I’m not very good at running so that was hard. I kept injuring myself. Other than that, it was just fun — learning how to shoot guns and pretending to be a bad-ass.
What was your favourite part?

ES: I got to shoot a lot of zombies but my favourite thing was to watch Abigail shooting them. She is way more bad-ass than any 12-year-old I’ve ever met. Needless to say, there were nights that it was incredibly scary and you’re being chased by 30 ravenous extras dressed as zombies.
Come on. You weren’t really scared, were you?

ES: Yeah! On the second day, Abbie and I had to be chased by something like 30 zombies and it was two o’clock in the morning and I was really overtired. I started getting these paranoid thoughts that one of them was really crazy. I was like, How do you know you can trust these people?! So we’re running from these people and shooting at them and in my mind I’m thinking, What if one of them snaps and attacks me? I got myself into a paranoid tizzy about it.

Abigail Breslin’s only 12. Did you start that young?

ES: No, I moved out to LA when I was 15 and I didn’t get my first role until I was almost 18 so I was lucky to have most of my teenage years off camera. Not to say I haven’t had breakout acne explosions since on camera! That’s been nice.
How did your move to LA come about?

ES: I had a revelation in history class, sixth period. I was 14 and in my freshman year, and that night I made a presentation to my parents to move to Los Angeles. Two months later, my mom came with me. I auditioned for three years and nothing happened and finally I got Superbad.
What was the revelation?

ES: It was this feeling that overtook me… it was like a voice and it’s happened a couple times throughout my life, and all it said was, “You have to move to LA right now.” And I hated LA — I’d been to LA before, I still can’t stand it. In fact I’m moving to New York I hate it so much.

Is that all it said?

ES: Well, I was like, “Why?” And it said, “Because if you don’t, you’re going to regret it.” I don’t know why I had to do it right then but I can tell you those three years of rejection completely built me into having the guts to keep going. I was having breakdowns — “What am I doing? I’m 15 years old! I have no friends! I’m not in school — why did I need to do this?” But I kept pushing through it, and I’m so glad I got rejected for so long because things fall into your lap when you least expect it. Superbad was my first movie and I made that in what would have been my senior year of high school. So follow your gut. Your gut will tell exactly what to do when you need to do it.
Did you always want to get into comedy?

ES: Yeah. My mom loved Saturday Night Live and Gilda Radner. She would do Gilda Radner impressions and she showed me old Saturday Night Live when I was about seven. The first movie I ever saw was The Jerk. By the time I turned nine, I knew The Jerk and Animal House and Planes, Trains and Automobiles by heart. I watched them on a loop. I think I just connected laughter to love and immediately that was what I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to be on Saturday Night Live. Gilda Radner was my hero. And Diane Keaton and Ruth Gordon…
Which of your comedy hero’s careers would you most like to have?

ES: Diane Keaton’s. She can do anything. Everyone references Meryl Streep and Meryl’s untouchable — but Diane’s really untouchable too.

Ever met her?

ES: No, but I met Cameron Crowe – he’s one of my favourite directors – and ever since I’ve been too afraid to meet Diane. He was waiting for me at the top of the stairs at a premiere. He said, “Emma?” and put his hand out and goes, “Cameron Crowe.” And I shook his hand and I started crying. I went [voice breaking], “Hi…” I cried in front of Cameron Crowe and it was so embarrassing. So I could never meet Diane! I’d get way too emotional. She would think I was a nutcase.
What are you doing next?

ES: I don’t know yet. It’s a great feeling. It’s fun to be scared again. God, I hope I get work!
Is there a House Bunny sequel on the cards?

ES: [laughs] Oh God, no! No, I can promise you that will not be happening. It was a fun movie though.
What are you going to do when you turn 21?

ES: Buy my first bottle of Pinot Grigio. I’ll be legal drinking age — yeah!

From Rotten Tomatoes

Estimated Top 10 North America October 2-4 2009
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (-) Zombieland (Sony) SPRI $25m –

2 (1) Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (Sony) SPRI $16.7m $82.4m

3 (-) Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D) (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $12.5m –

4 (-) The Invention Of Lying (Warner Bros) UPI $7.35m –

5 (2) Surrogates (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $7.34m $26.4m

= 6 (-) Whip It (Fox Searchlight) Mandate Int’l $4.85m –

= 6 (31) Capitalism: A Love Story (Overture) Paramount Vantage Int’l $4.85m $5.3m

8 (3) Fame (MGM) Lakeshore Entertainment $4.8m $16.6m

9 (4) The Informant! (Warner Bros) WBPI $3.8m $26.6m

10 (7) Love Happens (Universal) UPI $2.8m $18.9m

Harrelson had just been in No Country For Old Men, the 2007 Academy Award Best Picture, which looked pretty good on his already hefty résumé. True, since then he had co-starred in Surfer, Dude,but still, could his career have collapsed so fast?

“I was like, ‘Zombies, man? Has it come to that?’ ”

Harrelson and his Zombieland co-star, Jesse Eisenberg (Roger Dodger), both laugh loudly at that, but the actor is not kidding about his Zombieland hesitation.

“I didn’t read the script for a long time. My agent kept pressuring me, ‘Woody, read the friggin’ script.’ I thought there’s no way this could be anything but stupid.”

Not that stupid hasn’t worked wonders for plenty of zombie movies, but in Zombieland the emphasis is on comedy. A plaguelike disease has turned 99.99 percent of humanity into hungry droolers with a taste for — need we say? — human flesh.

See, you’re laughing already.

Most horror comedies are slapstick or broad parody, but Zombieland goes for an unusual mix of ghoulishly homicidal dark humor — lots of splattering zombies in imaginative ways — and unexpectedly sentimental character comedy. There’s even a sweet story of young love thrown in for anyone not into zombie smashing.

“I wanted it to not be too broad,” Harrelson says. “Although generally I do go over the top in anything, admittedly.”

We’re sitting on the mezzanine balcony of the Driskill Hotel, just hours before a Zombieland screening at Austin’s Fantastic Fest film festival. Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer and co-star Emma Stone are here, too. It’s a pleasant day, and Harrelson prefers the outside air to air conditioning. The zombies on the street below don’t realize we’re up here.

(It doesn’t have anything to do with zombies, but even before we sat down, Texas-born Harrelson bursts out with, “My first job was delivering papers for the Houston Chronicle. That would have been around 1970-1972.”)

In the film, Eisenberg plays Columbus, a lovable nerd who is one of the world’s last uninfected humans. Columbus stumbles on another survivor, Tallahassee (Harrelson), obsessed with finding the world’s last remaining Twinkies. That’s not a euphemism; he really craves those spongy, cream-filled cakes. He also lives to destroy zombies. It’s not a perfect partnership, but in Zombieland you can’t be picky about your friends.

“They needed someone to augment Jesse’s character because obviously Columbus is more nervous about things, a very sensitive character.” Harrelson says. “It kind of helps to have someone more bombastic. Tallahassee is a bad-ass dude who likes to kill zombies.”

Columbus and Tallahassee — everyone in the movie is named for their favorite town — meet up with two smart con-gal sisters, Wichita (Stone of Superbad and The House Bunny) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine). Soon they are all on the road together, trying to avoid zombies in their search for Twinkies and a better place to live.

“The zombies are really secondary,” Eisenberg says. “The movie is more about Zombieland, this crazy world where occasionally dead people come out and chase you. So, like, it made an environment you could do a lot of fun things with.”

Actually, Eisenberg has slightly misspoken. In most zombie movies the ghoulish creatures are dead people reanimated by various devices such as voodoo (I Walked With A Zombie) or radiation (the original Night of the Living Dead) or a plague (Dawn of the Dead).

“Our zombies aren’t dead, they’re alive,” Stone says. “It’s a disease that’s spread and made them cannibalistic.”

Dead or alive, they are pretty disgusting, from a stripper chasing customers down the block to little girls at a birthday party going after Mama, teeth gnashing.

Stone sees Zombieland’s nasty denizens as pretty relevant to real modern fears. “This new version is so possible, it’s something that could actually occur,” she says. “There is the idea that a plague could sweep the world and kill us all off. I think that’s why this zombie zeitgeist is coming back.”

Zombie zeitgeist? Really? Ah, but Stone is laughing. Thank goodness, she was pulling my leg.

If this zombie movie seems a little different from the million or so zombie movies that have come before, maybe it’s because none of these actors, or the director, were fans of the genre before. Director Fleischer says he watched every zombie movie he could to prepare, and he got the main ingredients: really disgusting makeup. But he’s still not sure how he got the job.

“I think somebody screwed up,” he says. “I’d done a bunch of, like, short films and music videos but certainly nothing on this scale, nothing with zombies, certainly nothing with guns in it.

“Originally the movie was conceived as a TV pilot. They decided to do a TV movie (but) it was prohibitively expensive ($21 million) so the producer decided, ‘Why don’t we make it as a film?’ I think I talked my way into this movie by coming up with an ending.”

Since it was essentially a road movie, Fleischer’s idea was to have the characters head for a destination, an amusement park, where there would be a giant confrontation with the relentlessly pursuing zombies.

“I had it be like Pacific Playland, which supposedly doesn’t have any zombies. I also thought it would be like a cool backdrop for a huge climactic zombie battle, a beautifully lit amusement park at night with zombies and rides. That would be a fun place to stage a battle.”

One thing left over from when the movie was going to be a TV pilot is an open ending, so a sequel is possible.

“There is certainly room for it,” Eisenberg says. “It’s not like the ship sank. You can do a million things.”

Fleischer is certainly up for it, even if it means doing another zombie movie. “We’d all be immensely thrilled to do a sequel,” Fleischer says. “It all depends if audiences turn out for it.”

From CHRON

And, like many 14-year-olds growing up in Scottsdale, she desperately wanted to get out of Scottsdale.

In her case, she wanted to move to Los Angeles to be closer to the entertainment industry. She had appeared in numerous school plays and local theater productions, and wanted to try to start a movie career.

Unlike most 14-year-olds, however, she made her case to her parents without the usual whining, crying and temper tantrums. She made a PowerPoint presentation. Apparently, it was a really good presentation because she and her mother immediately took up residence in California and, after three years of frustrating auditions, she was cast in the hit comedy “Superbad.” She followed it with roles in “The Rocker,” “The House Bunny” and “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.” She also stars in “Paperman,” which debuted at the recent L.A. Film Festival.

Her sixth film, the horror-comedy “Zombieland,” opens Friday.

Stone plays the older sister of Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”), two survivors of a deadly virus that has turned most of the world’s population into flesh-eating zombies. Hey, it could happen.

The sisters join forces with two other survivors, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, for a road trip to California, vanquishing an army of zombies along the way.

Although only 20, Stone has a sexy, throaty voice reminiscent of an early Lauren Bacall, and she is still young enough to talk freely without a hint of self-censorship. In this interview, which took place on the Santa Monica Pier within the shadow of the giant Ferris wheel, the young actress explained the PowerPoint presentation, where she got that voice and how she rates her zombies against more traditional zombies.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: I apologize for asking a question that you’ve probably been answering all day but …

EMMA STONE: My favorite zombie kill?

Q. Not even close.

A. Oh, because that’s what everybody’s been asking.

Q. No, I want to know about the PowerPoint presentation.

A. Why are so many people fascinated by that?

Q. It’s not every day that we run into a 14-year-old girl who tries to convince her parents to let her move to Hollywood with a PowerPoint presentation. Besides, there isn’t a lot of information about you on the Web, except for that story.

A. Yeah, I know. That’s pretty cool that there aren’t a billion rumors about me on the Internet.

Q. That’s true; I haven’t heard of a single scandal about you.

A. Hooray. That’s the goal.

Q. I think the fascination also stems from the fact that it sounds like a very brave thing to do for a 14-year-old.

A. It didn’t seem that brave. I knew how to use PowerPoint and I figured it was the best way to make my point. I gave them some popcorn, sat them down in my room and I made my case.

Q. What was the argument you presented?

A. Just that I wanted to move to L.A. to pursue acting. I had done 16 plays, and I was washed over with this overpowering feeling that I had to go. I never even liked L.A. that much, but I felt I had to go there. It had to be right then, or it would never happen.

Q. Was it an intellectual decision, or a gut decision?

A. Totally gut. I don’t know why I had to do it, but I did.

Q. How did your parents react to your presentation?

A. They were OK with it. My mom and I moved right away. My parents later bought a house in Newport Beach and my dad, who is a CEO of a general contracting company, opened an office there. It’s a pretty cool place.

Q. How did it go after the move to L.A.?

A. After three years of rejections, I had gone on enough auditions to meet a lot of casting directors. One of them later hired me for “Superbad.”

Q. Looking back, do you believe that the decision to move to L.A. when you were 14 was a good one?

A. I got the role in “Superbad” when I would have been a senior in high school, so the early start was definitely a good move.

Q. What did “Superbad” do for you?

A. It was like standing in the middle of an empty field, hitting an ax into the ground and having oil pop out. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. It was like the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

Q. Why “Zombieland” at this point in your career?

A. I was at the Newport house when I read the script. I saw the name “Zombieland” and was skeptical. But I started laughing on page one. How often does that happen? How often do you find something so original? It seems like all the movies they’re making now are lousy remakes of lousy movies. It’s sad. We could be feeding children in other countries, but let’s throw a lot of money at making lousy movies.

Q. Did you have to research zombie movies, or were you already a zombie aficionado?

A. I know all about the fast-versus-slow zombie controversy.

Q. You do?

A. I know that our zombies are not technically zombies, but infected humans. Zombies are slow-moving people who have risen from the dead. That’s a real zombie.

Q. Modern zombies do move too fast.

A. They move like velociraptors.

Q. Are you criticizing your own zombies?

A. No, I think our version of zombies is terrifying because it’s conceivable. A plague could spread and people could be infected. Vampires have become so romanticized that no one is scared of them anymore. They’re sexy. And werewolves aren’t real. But infected humans could happen.

Q. Is filming a funny zombie fun or scary?

A. If the actors look like they’re having fun, then they usually had fun making the movie. And that usually translates to the audience as a fun movie. Except for “Oceans 12,” which looked like a lot of fun to make but wasn’t much fun to watch.

Q. That’s a perfect example.

A. It looked like an excuse for them to hang out in Italy for two months.

Q. Did you watch any old zombie movies?

A. No, and I feel really bad about that, especially for the real zombie fans out there. Here I am in a zombie movie and I haven’t even seen “Shaun of the Dead” or “Night of the Living Dead.”

Q. So how do you know so much about the fast-versus-slow zombie controversy?

A. From you journalists. I can’t tell you how many journalists have given me a hard time because our zombies move too fast. Some of them get really mad. Particularly the zombie journalists at Comic-Con. They’re very passionate about zombies.

Q. Speaking of Comic-Con, what was it like to be in a hall with thousands of guys you’d never go out with?

A. Passion of any kind is the sexiest thing in the world to me. Who says I wouldn’t go out with any of those guys?

Q. I do.

A. You’d be surprised.

Q. I would because you’d never go out with a guy who’d go to Comic-Con.

A. That’s bull … (laughs).

Q. I want names.

A. Never.

Q. Where did you get this voice?

A. It used to be even lower (laughs). I was like five, and I’d be going: “Hey, mom” and sound like a grown man. It was so bad that it gave me nodules by the time I was 11, and I had to go to speech therapy. They taught me to speak higher, but I was screaming last night so this is exactly how I sounded when I was a kid.

From the OC Register

Warning: Read no further if you’ve not yet seen Zombieland and don’t want to spoil some of the surprises it has in store for you.

Zombieland is such a fun and sweet horror comedy that it reminds me a little of Ghostbusters. Without giving too much away, there’s a great little Ghostbusters homage in this film. Were you a fan? Because your part, in particular, in this homage can be best appreciated by the hardcore Ghostbusters fan.

It’s hard for me to talk about because I can’t really talk about that particular moment. These are my father’s heroes, ever since I was seven. I’ve been watching these movies and I was in absolute heaven. It was really not too shabby. It was, like, the coolest two days of my life.

Were you also a zombie fan?

I didn’t know too much about the zombie genre. I’m such a wuss. I’m bad with horror. I’m always covering my eyes and jumping. And it’s funny because in our movie, I was in it, I was there. I saw the prosthetics and the fake broken bones, so even when I watch it in a comedy sense I’m so squeamish. I feel very it very strongly. So it’s hard for me to watch things like that. What drew me to this movie was the comedy aspect of it, not really the zombies. The zombies felt like the perfume of the movie.

The garnish.

The garnish. It didn’t feel like it was a zombie movie. It was like the salad with the main course. Of course, the zombie kills are so badass, and the actual preparation of reacting to zombies… Ruben Fleischer, the director, gave us each baskets of movies. He gave me, Kill Bill – bad ass females; I love Kill Bill. And he gave me the Dawn of the Dead remake. I finally saw that, which was amazing, and 28 Weeks Later and Paper Moon.

Paper Moon?

Because they’re con artists.

That was pretty smart.

Yeah. That was the way I practiced. With those kinds of movies.

This film offers the possibility of a sequel.

Oh, I dream.

Anything in particular you’d like to see your character do in said potential sequel? Any direction you’d like her to take?

I don’t even know. I would love to see what they think of, where we would be. Where we were going. It would be fascinating to see New York City. I think that’s been done before in zombie movies; I think London has been done before. But you know, those empty worlds, it’s just such a striking image – Hollywood Boulevard empty, Beverly Hills. To see Los Angeles is really cool, but to see somewhere else would be fascinating too. Maybe there are more survivors. That would be really cool to see.

Are there any scenes that you guys shot that didn’t make this cut? Scenes that look forward to seeing on a DVD?

Yeah, there is a lot of fun additional stuff from our celebrity cameo, really fun stuff that didn’t make it into the movie. More vignettes, some more references that are really hilarious and hopefully will be on the DVD, just extended parts of scenes that got taken out. It would be interesting to see what they put on there.

Is there more backstory to your character?

There’s a little bit in the sense that when Abby [Breslin]‘s character originally gets into the car after the first con, the flashback con, we say, “We are going to California as far away from Dad as possible.” The idea is that they were in a very shitty home situation and they’ve been on the run since before zombies even attacked, so you know, a 20-something-year-old and a 12-year-old on the run from their home and then zombies… Zombieland is kind of an intense version of their lives. They’ve always had trust issues, they’ve always been con artists, and use the new world to the best of their advantages.

One of the interesting things about your character is that she’s a kind of badass but at the same time she has an affinity for someone who’s less so.

Yeah.

But you kind of believe it. It doesn’t come off as a male fantasy. There’s a truthful note in this ridiculous scenario.

Yeah. Jesse [Eisenberg] is totally crushable. He is so great. He is so smart. He is so funny and cool. That’s my type – cool people. And he is a cool person. It always makes sense to me. It makes more sense than falling for some good-looking brainless guy. It’s the same thing with good-looking brainless girls. It’s like, “Yeah, right.” That’s a funny question when people ask that. In Superbad too. It makes total sense to me. Why wouldn’t she fall for him? He seems like a great guy and he’s got it all going for him. I get it.

Can you talk about what’s next for you? What are you looking at right now?

I did a movie called Easy A, right after Zombieland. And I just moved to New York and I’m just kind of enjoying the new city and figuring out what I want to do.

So maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to set a sequel in New York.

That would be so cool. That’d be great. To get to a taxi to work instead of a plane!

So I hear you just moved to New York? Whereabouts?
The Village

I was in the Village the other day and the whole thing was shut off because Obama was there.
Oh, I know. You couldn’t walk anywhere. It was insane. I had to get a taxi that day to go uptown, and I was like, “Fuck!” It took an hour, it was horrible.

It’s been a goal of yours to get to Hollywood and be in the movies since you were a young girl. Now that you’re actually doing it, does it feel like you’re literally living the dream?
Well, it’s kind of funny, because the dream was not actually movies since I was young—it was sketch-comedy. I wanted to do comedy, and then I thought I wanted to do theater, so I wanted to do musical theater, and then I took voice lessons for like eight years, and I sucked at singing, so I was like, “Alright, nevermind.”

You don’t sing now, because on your Wikipedia page it says you do?
Oh, well, I’m releasing my third album next week, so like, whatever, I do sort of sing. No really, I’m not tone deaf but I’m not a singer by any stretch. But, I did just have to sing in something so I don’t know what I’m saying.

In Easy A?
In Easy A. Oh my god, like, what? You know everything!

I did my research for about 30 minutes this morning.
So yeah, one day I just really was like, “I think I have to go to L.A.”

And did you actually make a Power Point presentation to convince your parents to let you move?
Yes, I did.

What was on it?
Oh God. It was so silly. I was like fourteen. It had the Madonna song “Hollywood.” It was ridiculous, like, I used alliteration.

Were you trying to prove a point to them?
A power-point? I was trying to prove the point that I needed to move to Hollywood and be an actor in movies. Yeah, I guess it is pretty crazy that I’m actually able to do that now.

Did you beat out a lot of actresses for this role? Because I interviewed Jesse a few weeks ago for the magazine—he gets to be in the magazine by the way, you’re only online.
Unbelievable.

He said that it came down to him and somebody else.
Oh, I’ve got a little story, but I can’t divulge.

Is this a role you desperately wanted?
I really wanted it, but there were people much cooler than me that might have gotten it.

So how happy were you when you got it?
I was incredibly happy, I couldn’t believe it was happening. I was shocked that they decided to go that way—to go this way. My hair looked like—I look like I can’t even lift a gun. I don’t know what they were thinking.

You said you usually played girls, and this is the first time you’ve played woman. What makes her woman?
Well, she’s not in high school, which is a big leap. I don’t know how people can pass me off as sixteen and seventeen year-olds still. I conceivably do not—like with the way I live my life, I’m like, “How the fuck am I playing in high school still?” I went back to high school for my next film Easy A, so I’ll milk that as long as I can. I have like no goal, is that weird? Other than SNL, I have absolutely no goal.

You want to do SNL?
Don’t start me on that. It’s a dream, it’s a dream of life.

Why don’t you make that happen?
I don’t know, it’s not gonna happen. Whatever, it’s fine. It’s fine, its nothing. It’s just, no, it’s not even like—it’s like, if that ever happened then I wouldn’t have anything to dream about, and then it would all be pointless.

Why don’t you quit movies and try and become a cast member on SNL? Would you rather do that than movies?
Stop it. That’s my dream. I would rather do that than anything in the world.

Wow, I had no idea.
Yeah, I mean I’m insanely crazy about Kristen Wiig and I’m so jealous of Abby Elliott its not even funny. She’s the youngest woman that’s ever been on SNL. She’s twenty one, so we’re like the same age.

Do you like watching yourself on screen?
Oh my God, my eyes fill up with tears. It’s weird, especially when I hear my voice, because in my head it’s so much higher that it is. It sounds like this in my head, and its like a man voice in real life, it’s horrible.

I’m the same way.
You totally have a man voice.

Yeah, but I’m not a man so it sucks.
It sucks, right?

I read in an interview that making Zombieland didn’t feel like a chore. Has anything you’ve made felt like a chore? Does this feel like a chore? Being forced to talk to people?
No, you’re fun to talk to. This is tough because I’ve never really considered myself that good at interviews. Any interviews I’ve seen that I’ve done, I’m like, “Oh my God I’m such a fucking idiot”,

I watched you on the Jimmy Kimmel Show this morning, and you were very natural and personable.
So dumb, no it’s just dumb, it’s always felt dumb. And this is totally understandable. I’m not one of those people that’s like, “Why do we have to do this?” It makes sense why you have to do this, because you want people to go see the movie. But I’m probably not drawing anybody to the theatre when I’m doing this, so I don’t know if I’m cut out for it.

Are there aspects about actual movie-making where you’re like, “I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to get out of my trailer.”
No, I love love love it. It’s just that I’m really hard on myself, I kinda beat myself up all the time. So there’s been an experience where I had a really, really, tough time.

House Bunny?
No, no.

Superbad?
No, not Superbad. Definitely not Superbad. Superbad was awesome. There’s definitely times where you’re like, it’s weird because in a lot of jobs you’re tired and you still have to really pull through, and it’s weird having to pull through on camera.

Now that you’ve done a few movies, were you are more comfortable on the set of Zombieland than say, Superbad, which was your first film?
Yes, I didn’t even know what was happening. I was like, “So this is what movies are like, alright! Superbad was like the most laid-back set, to this day, that I’ve ever been on. It’s basically like Seth’s asleep on the couch and then they’re like, “Okay, you gotta wake up,” and he’s like, “Yeah, right, okay, let’s rewrite this line, cool” and, you know, he’s back to sleep.
Everybody said, “You’re never gonna be on a set this cool ever again, so get ready,” and I didn’t realize what they meant until later on.

Do you ever have down time between your movies?
That’s what I’m doing right now. I moved to New York two weeks ago, and I’m just trying to hold off as long as humanly possible. I’m trying to walk around as much as I can and soak it up until I find the next thing. By way of Los Angeles, this is heaven. I keep saying I feel like I’m home for the first time, I really do. Arizona never felt like home, except for my family, and L.A. never felt like home except for my friends. And here, feels like the place I was always meant to live.

What was wrong with L.A.?
Nothing’s wrong with L.A. because my friends are so amazing and the people I know there are so amazing, but if I wanna go to CVS, I gotta get in my car and drive a block, then pay for parking and get it validated. Now I go downstairs to Duane Reade and I’m done, it’s fucking awesome”

Have you found any good restaurants in New York?
If I say it are you going to put it in the magazine and everybody’s going to show up there?

I’m going to put it on the website.
Oh yeah, not the magazine, Jesse’s in the magazine, and I’m on the website. I don’t want to say it because it always seems kind of empty when I go there.

Tell me.
Have you been to Burrito Loco on West 4th? I love Mexican, I’m on a Mexican food kick. There’s actually a truck parked on 14th Street and 8th Avenue, close to your place and it’s great.
Oh my God, I am there.

From BlackBook

The post-apocalyptic zombie comedy is about a lone band of survivors fighting the living dead while they cross the nation. America has been struck by a zombie plague and the group stop by an abandoned amusement park, where they believe they will be safe. Stone’s co-stars include Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Abigail Breslin.

A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, Stone got her big break as Violet Trimble on the TV series Drive, which lead to her role as Jules in the smash hit Superbad. Her other acting credits include The Rocker, The House Bunny and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Zombieland opens October 2. For more information, visit www.zombieland.com

From WPIX

-”Zombieland” star Emma Stone on why zombies frighten her more than vampires — and which ones she believes in more. The 20-year-old actress (“Superbad,” “The House Bunny”) stars alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin in the new splatter comedy opening tomorrow (Friday). “Zombieland” also features one of the greatest cameos of all time (a cameo that was supposed to go to the late Patrick Swayze) and lots of “Shaun of the Dead”-esque horror comedy. It’s a busy month for Stone, who is not only opening “Zombieland” this week but also has the comedy “Paper Man” (which also stars Jeff Daniels and Ryan Reynolds) coming to the Hamptons International Film Festival next week.

From MTV

The Pacific Park amusement park at L.A.’s Santa Monica Pier was the perfect location for our interview since “Zombieland” unfurls like a giant, freewheeling amusement park ride. It’s a wildly funny, violent, and even romantic cross-country road movie that takes us from the Heartland to Hollywood, then pulls in for a climatic finish at a local amusement park.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, “Zombieland” is refreshingly different — a delicate balance of genres that’s elevated by a terrific cast including a killer cameo in full zombie make-up by an Academy Award winning actor who just happened to be working on location in Georgia while “Zombieland” was filming.

Survival in “Zombieland” requires killer instincts, a good aim, fast wheels, and a perverse sense of humor. In short, you need to be prepared for anything — and these characters are.

Emma plays a hot looking, car stealing con artist named Wichita who teams up with her kid sister, Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). The two have learned how to survive entirely by their wits and they know how to use the post-apocalyptic zombie world to their best advantage.

Woody plays an AK-toting badass named Tallahassee who’s a bit of a loner. He’s gone through a lot of heartbreak in life, but he’s determined to get the last Twinkie on earth before he succumbs to the zombie onslaught.

Tallahassee joins forces with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a compulsive-obsessive wuss with a set of 47 rules for survival and a bottle of Purell that’s become essential survival gear since the zombies took over. When the unlikely duo bumps into Wichita and Little Rock, they join forces to combat major zombie mayhem.

Emma Stone, Wood Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg are fantastic in “Zombieland” and we really appreciated their time. Here’s what they had to tell us about their zombie killing adventures:

Q: Woody, did you have any input into your character’s wardrobe?

Woody: I’ve never worked so hard on the outfit before. That’s the stuff I usually don’t put so much time into, but there were so many fittings and attempts to get that right. Ruben and I almost endlessly went back and forth on how much color to put in this or that, and I liked the way it turned out.

Q: Was it your idea to have the Willie Nelson reference in the film, or was that already in the script?

Woody: That Willie Nelson section was pretty much the last day and (director) Ruben [Fleischer] was like, “You guys sit in the car and just improvise stuff.” So, that was a cool, lucky section. And, also, that stuff about Hannah Montana was improvised. This was a wonderful script, but that particular section was improvised.

Q: Jesse, you get to play the mild-mannered guy that gets to kick some serious ass. Was that what attracted you to the script?

Jesse: No. I prefer the mind-mannered parts of the script. They usually have another guy in my clothing do all the stuff that’s exciting looking. I prefer the scenes that are quiet and talking and the action stuff was okay. It keeps you in shape I guess but otherwise, it’s really just exhausting.

Q: For all of you, what was your favorite zombie kill in the film?

Emma: I like when I get to butt a zombie in the back of the head with my shotgun. It also has the added effect of being in slow motion in the movie. He really got hurt, but I never saw him bleed.

Woody: My favorite kill was the one with the butter knife to the jugular.

Jesse: This script was endless violence. All the kills were so creative. I guess my favorite was the top of the toilet. What do you call that part? They called it the porcelain lid but the 15-year-old demo isn’t going to appreciate that so we called it the killer toilet.

Q: How did Bill Murray end up in the movie?

Emma: No comment. Right?

Jesse: Are we allowed?

Emma: We’re not allowed.

Woody: I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about it. I never felt more censured. (Laughs)

Q: Emma, did you think about your character’s backstory at all? Why were Wichita and Little Rock already doing cons, before Zombieland happened?

Emma: We’re both very smart characters. The whole backstory didn’t really make it into the movie, but there was an issue with our father, so we’d been away from home for awhile, before Zombieland even occurred. We needed to find a way to make money, and we both happen to be pretty smart girls, and there’s not much a 12-year-old can do for work, but if she’s as cool as Abigail is, then she can con. So, I think we started, just trying to survive on our own. We had survival instincts kicking in, even before Zombieland.

Q: Can you talk about working with Abigail?

Woody: Not only did she summon the tears, every time we shot that scene, but when the camera wasn’t on her, she still did it. When the camera was on us, she was still summoning tears. It was really amazing.

Emma: We went by Emma-gail. It was just amazing. You couldn’t ask for anybody better to play your little sister. We got along so well. I felt really, really lucky. She’s not just a cool kid. She’s a really cool person. She’s like a small person. She’s incredibly developed, but she also really likes Twilight and the Jonas Brothers, so she’s still normal. Every chance I got to hang out with her was so much fun. It was a blast. I was incredibly lucky.

Q: Jesse, during your opening voiceover, you mention a virus which seems very timely given what’s been in the news lately. Was that something that was planned?

Jesse: We actually planned the swine flu to coincide with the movie. You know, there’s some collateral damage but ultimately we’ll have a big opening weekend.

Q: Woody, do you have a fondness for Twinkies yourself, or was that just in the script?

Woody: That was my biggest acting challenge. I’m not a big Twinkie lover. So, they made up a bunch of Twinkies that were actually edible for a guy like me, meaning without dairy and sugar, and all that nonsense. They were cornmeal. They were really delicious, good Twinkies. There is the possibility that Hostess could do a healthy Twinkie. It’s a thought. Maybe this movie could spark a revolution.

Q: If a zombie attack happened right now and you had to sacrifice somebody, who would it be?

Jesse: Well, there are two writers.

Woody: We’ve gotta keep Ruben. We have to protect him at all cost. I think I might be more scared than my character was.

Q: Emma, were you attracted to this because of all the action you got to do in the film? Was that aspect of it fun?

Emma: I’m terrible at action. I really am. I’m just bad at action movies. But, it was definitely interesting. It was something I had never done before. I loved the character, but I just can’t run to save my life, literally. I did not limber up, or do cardio. I hurt my muscle. I had to do some ultrasound physical therapy while we were shooting. After every take, I was crying and in so much pain, and it was nice of Ruben to be like, “You’re not cut out for this! That looked horrible!” But, it’s true that I’m horrible at it.

Q: If you were to do a sequel, where would you like to see your characters go? Is there anything you’d like to see them do?

Jesse: If God wills a sequel, I say we go to New York.

Emma: Let’s go to New York!

Jesse: It’s such a short trip.

Woody: Or, maybe Paris or something.

Emma: Let’s go international! Let’s take this overseas.

Jesse: The producer wants the Caribbean because it’s there. Haiti. That’s where it began. Zombieism.

Woody: The point is to get to a place where there aren’t going to be zombies. Then, maybe they show up on a boat or something. It’s all in the casting. Zombies singing on Broadway.

Q: Jesse, what can you tell us about your character, Mark Zuckerberg, in The Social Network? In preparing for that, what have you learned about the whole Facebook revolution?

Jesse: I’m learning more about the creation of it than about the site itself because I haven’t been on it yet. But, the story is really remarkable – like the creation of the website and the legal aftermath. It’s a really fascinating story. I supposed if I say anything else, I’ll be sued probably by the movie company and the internet company. There’s a book that was written about it, if people are interested, called The Accidental Billionaires that details the story pretty thoroughly.

Q: Woody, what made you want to do this for your first horror film?

Woody: I guess it took Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to write it and Ruben Fleischer to ask. That had never happened before.

Q: So, you didn’t have any prejudice against the genre?

Woody: No, I wouldn’t say I was prejudiced. I had no prejudice.

Q: Natural Born Killers was kind of a horror movie. Was there any of Mickey Knox in Tallahassee?

Woody: I disagree. I think Natural Born Killers was more of a misunderstood romantic comedy.

Q: Woody, who do you play in 2012?

Woody: In 2012, my character is a radio DJ who believes that the world is gonna come to an end, and he has an attitude about how it’s gonna happen. Of course, a lot of people think he’s nuts, but he turns out to be not so far off.

Q: How much fun was it for you guys to smash up the tourist shop?

Woody: I think all of us can attest to the fact that it was really cathartic to come in and just smash the shit out of that place. With respect and reverence to all the items in there, I thought it was helpful for all of us, emotionally, to just get that out.

Q: Jesse, what rule would you add if you could add your own rule to Columbus’ list?

Jesse: I did add a few because I was filling out my prop notebook. We had some good ones like tie your shoes with double knots.

Q: Woody, can you talk about your friendship with Paul McCartney? Does he want to see this movie?

Woody: I don’t know how psyched he is about seeing the movie. I haven’t asked him. Naturally, I’ve sent him trailers and one-sheets. No. But, I did actually take Emma over for dinner with him, one night. That was fun.

Emma: Yes, it was. It was fucking awesome!

Q: Do you guys ever listen to music to get into character and, if so, what’s on your playlists?

Emma: A lot of Paul McCartney.

Woody: The new Paul McCartney album. To get fired up for something, there’s almost no better album to listen to than U2′s Pop. That’s probably their least popular album, but to me, it’s their best and most under-rated album. It just rocks! I think that’s a good one.

Q: Emma, how did you identify with this character?

Emma: I felt more like I was living vicariously through her. I just tried to key into that one part of me that feels brave and like a bad-ass, in a situation where you feel out-of-control, and do that constantly, instead of just as a fleeting feeling in me. There were also parts of her that were vulnerable and scared and human. She wasn’t brave, all the time. There was a lot about her that I could relate to, just as a human being.

Q: Woody, was there a certain degree of playing in the backyard as a kid, with Tallahassee’s last stand in the film?

Woody: Well, I really didn’t kill anybody, honestly. That was more just fiction. But, it was fun. I remember thinking about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid during all those cool shots. I wanted to go back and look at that, but naturally being lazy, I didn’t. But, it was a fun thing to get to do that.

Q: Did you enjoy reloading the two guns on the counter?

Woody: I think that was already in the script like that. That is a really hard thing to do, which is why my stunt double did it.

Q: How was it to shoot the guns while you were going down the roller coaster?

Woody: That was a lot of fun. We had to do the roller coaster ride quite a bit, and shoot one person after the other. It was good times! It was cathartic.

Q: Woody and Emma, which scene was the toughest for you do to with a straight face?

Emma: Woody always keeps a straight face. I never keep a straight face, ever. I constantly break, all the time. I should not be in comedies, or action movies. I just shouldn’t be doing movies. Anytime anybody does improv, I laugh. Anytime a joke is funny, I laugh. I’m like an audience. You should just bounce it off of me. If it’s gonna be funny, I will laugh. Woody doesn’t break.

Woody: No, I did. During our mysterious celebrity cameo, it was real hard to keep it together. In fact, I think we probably lost some good jokes of his because he was framed with us in it, and they couldn’t use it because we were laughing so hard, which was really unprofessional, but understandable.

Q: Woody, your character is very particular about his car in this movie. How are you about that, in real life?

Woody: I’m particular, in the sense that I either ride a motorcycle, or electric or bio-diesel vehicles, pretty much exclusively.

“Zombieland” opens in theaters on October 2nd.

From Movies Online

Zombieland opens this Friday, October 2.

“I play a little girl named Wichita who was a con artist before the apocalypse happened, and is really using the zombie world to the best of her advantage in continuing the con,” Stone said. “Stealing cars and weapons from these boys.”

Wichita’s mind is sharp, but when the undead approach, it’s time to get physical. “I got to butt a zombie in the head with the back of my shotgun. He falls eighty feet to his death.”

Director Ruben Fleischer revealed that Stone actually gave the stunt zombie a gaping head wound. That was news to the actor. “We’re going to talk about that later because I didn’t know that. Oh god. Yeah, so I really butted this guy in the head.”

Perhaps she couldn’t help getting into character. “Well, I think any time you’re holding a weapon, and they tell you to pretend you’re shooting a zombie, it’s cathartic. How often do you get to point a gun at a human being and have it not actually hurt them, but still have the effect of it? I guess it’s horrifying that I said that. Horrifying and terrible. Weird insight into my psyche.”

Stone went to the gun range to prepare for the film. “I hadn’t shot a gun before this movie, before I went to the gun range and learned how to shoot guns. That was pretty interesting, getting to shoot all the different guns and learn the safety of weapons.”

Zombieland opens to theaters on October 2nd.

From CanMag

Check them out and enter at http://www.ibeatyou.com/zombieland!

Ever wonder what you’re good at?
Maybe, it’s killin’ zombies!
To celebrate the release of Sony Pictures’, “Zombieland”, ibeatyou wants to see your best zombie look, zombie attack, and much more!
Participants could receive some cool Zombieland stuff.

Keep it fun.

But savvy Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has concocted a foolproof guide to surviving in the post-apocalyptic world and he’s willing to share it with badass con artist Wichita. Probably because she’s played by Emma Stone, an actress who’s proven she can be both amusing and alluring in “Superbad,” “The House Bunny” and “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.”

We sat down with Stone—who shed the kohl eyeliner and tight jeans of “Zombieland” for red lipstick and a “Mad Men”-era look—to discuss her own strategies for surviving a world gone mad, learning how to be more badass and locking lips with a nauseous zombie.

Wichita is a really cool character, what was your favorite part of stepping into her shoes?
It was fun to play a grown up. Also, in my life, I don’t feel like I’ve gotten in touch with the badass side of myself. That’s the fun part about acting. I can act like that and then go back to my falling down ridiculous self.

Did that make you want to be more badass in real life?
She did inspire me to be a little bit to be a little braver and a little more unapologetic. When you’re in your twenties, you’re still adjusting to not apologizing for what you need and what you want. She doesn’t. She takes no prisoners. She’s just out to protect her sister [played by Abigail Breslin] and will steal guns and cars to do it.

Did you pick up any tips for surviving a zombie apocalypse?
Like Jesse’s character, I would have to have a big list of rules and follow a specific set of guidelines because I’m too flighty and would not see it coming. I already find ways to hurt myself or spill hot coffee on myself and in a zombified world the last thing you’d want to be is clumsy.

I heard you injured yourself a couple times on set.
I tore a muscle and had to have a physical therapist for two weeks and ultrasound therapy. They wrapped up my leg every day before I was able to run. Then I hurt my hand and got a rash all over my face. Ruben [Fleisher, the director] calls me his delicate flower. I felt like crap being such a pain in the ass.

Jesse’s number one rule for survival is “Be aerobic.” Did you build up your own endurance for all the running you had to do?
I should have! Did I? Not so much. Did I make Kraft macaroni and cheese every night? Yes I did. It was much more delicious than running.

And probably tastier than eating brains. Were you a fan of zombie films before you started filming?
No. I had seen “28 Days Later” and I thought it was a cool movie. But when I read this, I thought of it [more] as a comedy. The heart of it is funny and sweet. It just happens to be set in a world filled with zombies. Ruben did give me “Dawn of the Dead,” the Zack Snyder version, and that’s a badass movie.

What’s the scariest part of working with zombies?
At one point when the zombies were chasing after us I got overwhelmed by this inexplicable fear that one of them was actually crazy. I was like, “What if someone got in the zombie makeup and they just snapped, right now and killed someone?” Ruben thought it was hilarious. He’s like, “Get the crazy ones up front!” [He thought] they’ll be much more zombielike if they’re legitimately nuts.

Was there anything they left on the cutting room floor that you wish was in the movie?
We did a thing that was possibly for the end credits where we were hanging out with this zombie that keeps throwing up. They made me make out with him. He wins me a stuffed animal and I’m like “Oh!” and we kiss, then he turns his head and pukes and kisses me again. We had to do it three times and it didn’t even end up in the movie! Hopefully it’ll end up on the DVD, otherwise it’ll be a waste of making out with a puking zombie.

From Metromix

Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) is a man ready to slay any zombie that comes between him and the planet’s last remaining Twinkie, while Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a young man who is afraid of just about everything and who has an ever-growing list of rules to surviving the zombies. On a road trip that also includes con-artists Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), the foursome make their way across the country in the hopes of finding a zombie-free zone.

At the film’s press day, co-stars Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone talked about the appeal of making a zombie comedy/action film.

Q: Woody, did you have any input into your character’s wardrobe?

Woody: I’ve never worked so hard on the outfit before. That’s the stuff I usually don’t put so much time into, but there were so many fittings and attempts to get that right. Ruben and I almost endlessly went back and forth on how much color to put in this or that, and I liked the way it turned out.

Q: Was it your idea to have the Willie Nelson reference in the film, or was that already in the script?

Woody: That Willie Nelson section was pretty much the last day and Ruben was like, “You guys sit in the car and just improvise stuff.” So, that was a cool, lucky section. And, also, that stuff about Hannah Montana was improvised. This was a wonderful script, but that particular section was improvised.

Q: Emma, were you attracted to this because of all the action you got to do in the film? Was that aspect of it fun?

Emma: I’m terrible at action. I really am. I’m just bad at action movies. But, it was definitely interesting. It was something I had never done before. I loved the character, but I just can’t run to save my life, literally. I did not limber up, or do cardio. I hurt my muscle. I had to do some ultrasound physical therapy while we were shooting. After every take, I was crying and in so much pain, and it was nice of Ruben to be like, “You’re not cut out for this! That looked horrible!” But, it’s true that I’m horrible at it.

Q: How did you identify with this character?

Emma: I felt more like I was living vicariously through her. I just tried to key into that one part of me that feels brave and like a bad-ass, in a situation where you feel out-of-control, and do that constantly, instead of just as a fleeting feeling in me. There were also parts of her that were vulnerable and scared and human. She wasn’t brave, all the time. There was a lot about her that I could relate to, just as a human being.

Q: Did you think about your character’s backstory at all? Why were Wichita and Little Rock already doing cons, before Zombieland happened?

Emma: We’re both very smart characters. The whole backstory didn’t really make it into the movie, but there was an issue with our father, so we’d been away from home for awhile, before Zombieland even occurred. We needed to find a way to make money, and we both happen to be pretty smart girls, and there’s not much a 12-year-old can do for work, but if she’s as cool as Abigail is, then she can con. So, I think we started, just trying to survive on our own. We had survival instincts kicking in, even before Zombieland.

Q: Can you talk about working with Abigail?

Woody: Not only did she summon the tears, every time we shot that scene, but when the camera wasn’t on her, she still did it. When the camera was on us, she was still summoning tears. It was really amazing.

Emma: We went by Emma-gail. It was just amazing. You couldn’t ask for anybody better to play your little sister. We got along so well. I felt really, really lucky. She’s not just a cool kid. She’s a really cool person. She’s like a small person. She’s incredibly developed, but she also really likes Twilight and the Jonas Brothers, so she’s still normal. Every chance I got to hang out with her was so much fun. It was a blast. I was incredibly lucky.

Q: Woody, do you have a fondness for Twinkies yourself, or was that just in the script?

Woody: That was my biggest acting challenge. I’m not a big Twinkie lover. So, they made up a bunch of Twinkies that were actually edible for a guy like me, meaning without dairy and sugar, and all that nonsense. They were cornmeal. They were really delicious, good Twinkies. There is the possibility that Hostess could do a healthy Twinkie. It’s a thought. Maybe this movie could spark a revolution.

Q: How much fun was it for you guys to smash up the tourist shop?

Woody: I think all of us can attest to the fact that it was really cathartic to come in and just smash the shit out of that place. With respect and reverence to all the items in there, I thought it was helpful for all of us, emotionally, to just get that out.

Q: Woody, your character is very particular about his car in this movie. How are you about that, in real life?

Woody: I’m particular, in the sense that I either ride a motorcycle, or electric or bio-diesel vehicles, pretty much exclusively.

Q: Woody and Emma, which scene was the toughest for you do to with a straight face?

Emma: Woody always keeps a straight face. I never keep a straight face, ever. I constantly break, all the time. I should not be in comedies, or action movies. I just shouldn’t be doing movies. Anytime anybody does improv, I laugh. Anytime a joke is funny, I laugh. I’m like an audience. You should just bounce it off of me. If it’s gonna be funny, I will laugh. Woody doesn’t break.

Woody: No, I did. During our mysterious celebrity cameo, it was real hard to keep it together. In fact, I think we probably lost some good jokes of his because he was framed with us in it, and they couldn’t use it because we were laughing so hard, which was really unprofessional, but understandable.

Q: For both of you, what was your favorite zombie kill in the film?

Emma: I like when I get to butt a zombie in the back of the head with my shotgun. It also has the added effect of being in slow motion in the movie. He really got hurt, but I never saw him bleed.

Woody: My favorite kill was the one with the butter knife to the jugular.

Q: If a zombie attack happened right now and you had to sacrifice somebody, who would it be?

Woody: We’ve gotta keep Ruben. We have to protect him at all cost. I think I might be more scared than my character was.

Q: Woody, was there a certain degree of playing in the backyard as a kid, with Tallahassee’s last stand in the film?

Woody: Well, I really didn’t kill anybody, honestly. That was more just fiction. But, it was fun. I remember thinking about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid during all those cool shots. I wanted to go back and look at that, but naturally being lazy, I didn’t. But, it was a fun thing to get to do that.

Q: Did you enjoy reloading the two guns on the counter?

Woody: I think that was already in the script like that. That is a really hard thing to do, which is why my stunt double did it.

Q: How was it to shoot the guns while you were going down the roller coaster?

Woody: That was a lot of fun. We had to do the roller coaster ride quite a bit, and shoot one person after the other. It was good times! It was cathartic.

Q: What made you want to do this for your first horror film?

Woody: I guess it took Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to write it and Ruben Fleischer to ask. That had never happened before.

Q: So, you didn’t have any prejudice against the genre?

Woody: No, I wouldn’t say I was prejudiced. I had no prejudice.

Q: Natural Born Killers was kind of a horror movie. Was there any of Mickey Knox in Tallahassee?

Woody: I disagree. I think Natural Born Killers was more of a misunderstood romantic comedy.

Q: Woody, can you talk about your friendship with Paul McCartney? Does he want to see this movie?

Woody: I don’t know how psyched he is about seeing the movie. I haven’t asked him. Naturally, I’ve sent him trailers and one-sheets. No. But, I did actually take Emma over for dinner with him, one night. That was fun.

Emma: Yes, it was. It was fucking awesome!

Q: Do you guys ever listen to music to get into character and, if so, what’s on your playlists?

Emma: A lot of Paul McCartney.

Woody: The new Paul McCartney album. To get fired up for something, there’s almost no better album to listen to than U2′s Pop. That’s probably their least popular album, but to me, it’s their best and most under-rated album. It just rocks! I think that’s a good one.

Q: Woody, who do you play in 2012?

Woody: In 2012, my character is a radio DJ who believes that the world is gonna come to an end, and he has an attitude about how it’s gonna happen. Of course, a lot of people think he’s nuts, but he turns out to be not so far off.

Q: If you were to do a sequel, where would you like to see your characters go? Is there anything you’d like to see them do?

Emma: Let’s go to New York!

Woody: Or, maybe Paris or something.

Emma: Let’s go international! Let’s take this overseas.

Woody: The point is to get to a place where there aren’t going to be zombie. Then, maybe they show up on a boat, or something.

ZOMBIELAND opens on October 2nd

From IESB

With Shutter Island vacating its October 2 release date for February of 2010, Zombieland has stepped in and will now open a week earlier than previously planned. The move will keep the zombie comedy from competing with Couples Retreat, the newest comedy from Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. Instead, Zombieland will face off against the female roller blade comedy Whip It, which also opens October 2.

Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.

From Reelz Channel

The post-apocalyptic zombie comedy, which opens in theaters on Oct. 9, follows a lone band of survivors who fight the living dead. Scenes from the movie were shot at Wild Adventures theme park in Georgia.

In addition to Harrelson, who plays a zombie killer, the film stars Jesse Eisenberg (”Adventureland”), Emma Stone (”Superbad”) and Abigail Breslin (”Little Miss Sunshine”).

Zombieland will take over a new scare zone location in the Buena Park theme park near the Silver Bullet roller coaster entrance.

The 37th annual Knott’s Scary Farm will take place on Wednesday through Sunday nights from Sept. 24 through Oct. 31, 2009.

From the Los Angeles Times

At Comic Con, Stone explained why the zombies in Zombieland fall into the latter category: “Our zombies are very fast-moving. They’re like velociraptors and they’re alive. They just have this disease so they’re not your traditional like walking dead zombie. I got to tell you, just from experience, the only experience I’ve had are these fast-moving ones and man they are scary. They are. When there’s like 30 people dressed as bloody, horrifying zombies going like this [jerking around] and running after you, it’s terrifying.”

From About.com

Is Zombieland a horror movie?

Ruben Fleischer – Tonally I think it’s more comedic than a lot of other zombie movies. Shaun of the Dead is really funny and I guess that’s its closest kindred spirit as far as its approach to the zombie apocalypse but I guess this is a more grounded American version of that. I would say it’s more of a comedy than a horror zombie movie. It’s really about these characters and their unique experiences and the zombies are somewhat of a backdrop for it all.

What kind of impromptu weapons are used against the zombies?

Woody Harrelson – Chainsaw, skillet, toaster.

Jesse Eisenberg – Baseball bat.

Is the film gory?

Ruben Fleischer – There is a fair bit of gore, I would say it doesn’t distance you from the movie because it is so gory. There’s a sequence of rules that introduce you to the film, the rules that Jesse’s character has learned to live by in this zombie apocalypse and there is some gore for sure, in that sequence.

What are some of your favorite zombie kills in the movie?

Jesse Eisenberg – Woody has the most interesting kills but the most enjoyable one to film was where I’m being chased by a zombie and [another zombie] has a baseball bat and I slide underneath his bat as he’s swinging in order to kill the zombie that’s chasing me. Well, it was fun to shoot because I like sliding on floors.

Emma Stone – I get to butt a zombie in the head with the back of my shotgun and he falls 80 feet to his death.

Woody Harrelson – I like the skillet.

What does the fake blood taste like?

Jesse Eisenberg – We all had fake puke in our mouth at one point which was delicious. It was like saltines and honey.

Why fast zombies?

Rhett Rees – Well 28 Days Later, I think, reinvented the zombie genre and added a real threat to the violence, which inspired us, and the new Dawn of the Dead did the same and the zombies just seemed scarier and to us that was crucial. Interestingly what we envisioned more than anything was an escapist fantasy that this post apocalyptic landscape, that while we all dread it, in some ways it would be fun. It would be fun to not have any traffic on the freeway and to be able to walk in the White House and swing from the chandeliers in the Lincoln Bedroom, to be able to kill without consequences. To us it seemed fun.

Ruben Fleischer – Slow vs. fast? It’s scarier and more modern but also Shaun of the Dead did slow zombies so in order to distinguish ourselves it’s good that we have fast zombies. The fast zombies are scary and ferocious. There’s snot and puss and vomit coming out of them as they race towards you, it’s truly frightening.

Why do you think that post apocalyptic films are so popular now?

Ruben Fleischer – I think now more than ever the post apocalypse is something we all have on our mind given the recent economic recession as well as ecological, environmental issues, bioterrorism, that could have some bad effects on the world we live in. With 2012, The Book of Eli, there’s a bunch of these post apocalyptic movies coming out but ours is definitely the funniest.

From Fear Net

So, what does it take to survive an offbeat version of the zombie apocalypse? Detachment from your fellow survivors, for one thing. Emma Stone, who plays a survivor called Wichita, explains that the characters call each other by the names of the cities where they’re from, so they won’t develop warm fuzzy feelings for one another and hesitate to deliver the brain-bashing blow when one of them is bitten.

You’ve also got to be fast on your feet and use whatever is at your disposal to effect zombie slaughter. Each member of the panel share their favorite zombie-killing method:

Woody Harrelson:

Chainsaw.

Emma Stone:

There’s a part in the movie where I butted a zombie in the back of the head with my shotgun, and he fell 80 feet to his death.

Jesse Eisenberg:

The end of the movie takes place in this theme park where I ran past this ride that’s like this huge swing, knowing that if I pass it at a certain speed and time, the zombies that were chasing me would get hit by it, and it’s awesome.

Director Ruben Fleischer:

My favorite was in the first trailer where we did the “Zombie Kill of the Week” and we dropped a piano on a zombie’s head

Click “Read More” to read in-depth about the two clips from “Zombieland” that were shown at Comic-Con… CONTAINS SPOILERS

And, in the first two clips from Zombieland, we get a foretaste of Eisenberg and Harrelson’s zombie-killing prowess:

We’re in Columbus’ apartment, where there’s a frantic knocking at his door. “Please open up,” a girl’s voice pleads on the other side. “It’s an emergency.”

Columbus, in voiceover, muses that it’s a miracle. The voice belongs to his hot neighbor in apartment 406.

He opens the door and she runs in, inordinately grateful. She sits on his couch while he pours her a mug of liquid.

She takes a sip, then looks confused. “Mountain Dew.”

He’s sitting next to her, visibly trying to look and sound as casual as possible. He nods. “Code Red.” Looking to prolong this unexpected social contact with a pretty girl, he asks her what happened.

She explains that she was coming home from the bar when a raving homeless man suddenly ran out of the darkness and attacked her. Columbus is appropriately sympathetic. “I haven’t even told you the worst part,” she says. “He tried to bite me.” She is scared and embarrassed and Columbus assures her that what she’s feeling is normal, “That’s the right kind of fear.” She snuggles up to him and closes her eyes. “You know,” he thinks, “set aside the feverish homeless cannibal, and I was living the dream.”

But Columbus is in for a nasty shock when he wakes the next morning. The girl is still there, but she’s no longer the vision of unattainable hotness he passed in the hallways. Instead, she’s a sore-covered, blank-eyed, mouth-foaming zombie. And, as he discovers when he runs away from her hungry bite, she’s the fast kind of zombie.

Columbus races into the bathroom, but the zombie girl literally manages to get her foot in the door when he tries to close it. The door crushes her ankle with a sickening crunch. “I am so sorry,” he tells her, as if she’s a living girl and he’s just spilled beer down her shirt. He lets go of the door and as she rushes in, he pulls down a clear plastic shower curtain and holds it over her face. It’s a shame zombies don’t breathe, because soon enough, she’s pierced the plastic with her black, oozing tongue, looking like she’s going for a grotesque kiss. Once Columbus realizes the shower curtain is a bust, he grabs he lid from the back of his toilet and uses it to smack her across the face.

She’s momentarily stunned, and Columbus uses the opportunity to run back into the apartment, shutting the bathroom door behind him. But Zombie Girl has motor skills. She turns the door knob and is soon hot on his trail again, dragging her broken foot behind her. When she reaches Columbus, he hits her again, this time so hard that her neck twists to an unnatural degree. The scene freezes, and Columbus remarks, in voiceover, “That’s got to hurt.”

In the next scene, Columbus and Tallahassee are about to enter an undead-infested convenience store so Tallahassee can satisfy his Twinkie cravings. Before they go in, Tallahassee turns to Columbus and tells him, “It’s time to nut up or shut up.”

Columbus asks why they have to steal their stuff, why the four of them can’t just pool their resources. “You made the mistake of trusting us,” Wichita tells them. “We won’t make the mistake of trusting you.”

From io9