VALDOSTA — It’s the most talked about secret in town.
Shooting for the movie “Zombieland” has been underway for the past couple weeks at Wild Adventures and the old Crackin’ Good Bakers Inc. site on North Forrest Street. “ZLP” signs, presumably “Zombieland Parking” — or maybe “Zombieland Productions” or “Zombieland People” or even “Zooropa Lemming Pendleton” for all anybody who might know will say — sit curbside along the North Forrest Street site.
Movie star Woody Harrelson has reportedly been spotted playing basketball at Valdosta State University, playing soccer with kids, hanging out in restaurants like Charley O’Corley’s and Flip Flops in Remerton. Reports of Woody Harrelson sightings have been rampant — almost all of these reports have the added commentary that he’s a great guy, very open and friendly. He’s more like Woody from “Cheers,” in terms of his friendliness, thankfully, rather than Mickey Knox from “Natural Born Killers.”
Numerous local folks are working on “Zombieland” as extras and behind the scenes. A casting call last month attracted hundreds of folks wishing to be zombies.
Many of these local folks tell everyone they meet that they are working on the movie — only to add that they can’t talk about working on the movie. So, they talk about how they can’t talk about the movie.
They will say they signed confidentiality forms stating they cannot talk about the film: A full disclosure about their inability to disclose anything.
In addition to most of the local zombies and crew keeping mum, “Zombieland” is a closed set. This means information on the movie is sporadic and could be as much rumor as truth. Some reports claim weather delayed filming, while other reports claim filming in Valdosta wraps by the end of this week. Considering Wild Adventures re-opens for the season in two weeks, the movie will have to end soon.
One Wild Adventures employee, not officially speaking for comment, recently said the movie folks have “taken over the park” the past couple weeks. Wild Adventures has made no official comment about the filming of “Zombieland” at the park.
Yet, the park has apparently accommodated its facilities for the movie. Walking in production areas of the park on an afternoon, you can see people preparing items for filming. A wardrobe person works with what appears to be “bloodied,” tattered zombie clothes hanging from racks outside the back door of a park theatre. There are reports that a car lands in a pond at the park. Since it is a zombie movie, most scenes are reportedly filmed at night.
Based on reports at the time of the January casting call, producers chose Valdosta because of Wild Adventures.
“Zombieland” is reportedly a comedy zombie movie. The Internet Movie Database (imbd.com) provides a brief “Zombieland” synopsis: “In a world overrun by zombies, a guy described as ‘the most frightened person on Earth’ looks to find refuge for a band of people to safety.” Internet traffic on the movie also mentions “an old funeral home that is turned into a morbid attraction called Zombieland.”
“Zombieland” is even described as a “buddy picture,” about a “mismatched pair of survivors who find friendship and redemption in a world overrun by zombies,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will reportedly be released either late this year or in 2010.
Ruben Fleischer is the reported director. Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese wrote the screenplay. Their past credentials have spurred additional rumors that “Zombieland” isn’t an actual zombie movie but a movie about a town (Valdosta) that thinks it is making a zombie movie.
Fleischer’s credits include working with the movie “Borat” and with reality shows.
Wernick and Reese’s past credits include “Invasion Iowa,” a reality TV show where Riverside, Iowa, the Midwestern birthplace of “Star Trek’s” fictional Captain James T. Kirk, is led to believe William Shatner is filming a major motion picture there. Producers “punked” the entire town into believing they were filming a movie when, in reality, the whole show was about the town’s reaction to being part of a movie.
Several Valdosta folks involved with the movie say this rumor appears to be untrue. “Zombieland,” they say, appears to be an actual movie about zombies instead of a movie about Valdostans who think they are playing zombies in a zombie movie.
There are several definitions of a zombie. One is “a supernatural power or force that supposedly makes the dead move and act.” Another definition, according to ye olde World Book Dictionary, claims a zombie is “a very stupid, lethargic person.”
Only time will tell which definition will fit Valdosta and “Zombieland.”
Local News
Related Photos
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A “ZLP” sign can be found attached to a utility poll at the entrance of the old Crackin’ Good Bakers Inc. site Wednesday. Perhaps the sign means that zombies are nearby.
Discussion
Zombieland
Psst! There’s a movie in town
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