‘Zombieland’ Writers Already Hungry for a Sequel

Published by Jeff Leins on: October 6th, 2009

After a successful weekend at the box office and a critic score on RottenTomatoes in the high 80’s, it’s no surprise the team behind Zombieland is already thinking sequel.  With a $25 million opening, the flesh-eating horror-comedy has already made back its meager budget and pleased the higher-ups at Sony.

Which is why the screenwriters were so open to talk follow-up with MTV.  “We would love it, and everyone involved creatively wants to do another one,” said Paul Wernick, one of the screenwriters. “Woody [Harrelson] came up to us after the final cut of the last scene and gave us a hug and said, ‘I’ve never wanted to do a sequel in the previous movies I’ve done until this one.’ “

The return would likely include Harrelson, along with star Jesse Eisenberg and on-screen sisters Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.  Plus first-time director Ruben Fleischer would be back, if he’s not being demanded too highly by the rest of the Hollywood studios.

Wernick and his writing partner Rhett Reese said they originally developed the idea as a pilot, so they’ve been adding to a brainstorm list of new zombie directions since its inception in 2005.  This leaves plenty of material for another undead-killing road trip, though they haven’t started on a sequel script until they get the go ahead from Sony.  I expect it’s on the way.

Spoiler alert: Unfortunately Bill Murray won’t be back for another hilarious celebrity cameo.  He bit the bullet after stealing the show and uttered one of the best dying lines ever captured on film.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the role was originally written for the late Patrick Swayze to play a zombie version of himself.  When he was diagnosed with cancer, the production shifted to “six or seven other actors” including Sylvester Stallone.  Ultimately, an actor dropped out at the last minute and Harrelson had to call his buddy and Kingpin co-star to fill in.  Murray agreed to play the part about 48-hours before he was due on set, so most of his lines ended up being improvised.