Zombieland: Double Tap
TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE UNDEAD – SFX CATCHES UP WITH DIRECTOR RUBEN FLEISCHER AND LEADING MAN JESSE EISENBERG TO FIND OUT THE LAY OF THE LAND IN ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP
Has it really been 10 years since the now classic post-apocalyptic zombie film Zombieland was released? no one is more surprised by how fast the years have gone by than the film’s director, ruben Fleischer, and cast members Jesse eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, emma stone and abigail breslin, who never imagined that it would take them so long to reunite for a sequel. “We all became friends during the making of the first film, and we had so much fun together that we wanted to get back together for a sequel as soon as possible, right after Zombieland was released in 2009,” says Fleischer. “We talked about different sequel ideas, and it was something that we were all passionate about doing. but we just couldn’t make it work. then the years just started to roll by.” the camaraderie that developed between Fleischer and the cast during the making of Zombieland developed into an enduring bond of friendship. However, following Zombieland, each of their careers moved in separate directions, while they waited for the perfect sequel script to magically appear. “We always stayed in touch with one another, but our careers took us away from each other and the sequel,” says Fleischer. “i was lucky to have been able to work with most of the cast during this period. i did 30 Minutes Or Less with Jesse, and emma was in Gangster Squad, and then, most recently, i worked with Woody on Venom. emma and Jesse have become major stars since
Zombieland, which was another complicating factor in terms of getting everyone back together. Finally, about three or four years ago, someone, maybe emma, said something like, ‘Why don’t we just do this?’” the long-awaited sequel, Zombieland:
Double Tap, was also inspired by the large following that Zombieland has garnered over the past decade. While Zombieland was both a commercial and critical success at the time of its theatrical release, the film has achieved a degree of immortality during its afterlife. “it’s very flattering, obviously, to see the following
that Zombieland has gained over the past decade,” says Fleischer. “as a filmmaker, i’ve always dreamed of making a film that becomes a cult classic, like one of my favourite films,
Blues Brothers, which is shown on television countless times and just never dies. With
Zombieland, audiences seem to have developed an emotional bond with the characters, which also reflects the great chemistry that the cast members had with one another when we made the film.” Zombieland: Double
Tap takes place 10 years after the events of the first movie and follows zombieslayers columbus (eisenberg), tallahassee (Harrelson), Wichita (stone) and little rock (breslin) as they roam america’s heartland, searching for signs of human life while grappling with the dysfunctional nature of their makeshift family. “as the film opens, the main characters are moving into the White House,” says Fleischer. “although this is funny, it also reflects the worsening circumstances that they encounter in this film. the world of this film is much more degraded than it was in the first film. nature has come back. buildings are falling apart. More real places, like the White House, are completely abandoned. the scale of this film is much broader. the action sequences are bigger, and the zombie battles are bigger. the group’s goal in this film, as it was in the first film, is to find other human survivors.”
Zombie evoluTion
the zombies are much more evolved here than they were previously. the sequel introduces new forms of them, which are described by columbus, the film’s main protagonist and narrator, who, once again, serves as the audience’s morbidly-humorous guide to the zombie apocalypse. “the world of this movie is similar to the first one except that the threat of the zombies has shifted a bit,” says eisenberg. “there are new breeds, which are aggressive and crafty. the movie cleverly introduces the new zombies and our nicknames for each of the different species. My character explains that there are new breeds of zombies, and we’ve named them based on their personalities and threat level. certain zombies, for example, pose no threat, and we ignore them. Others are so dangerous that it requires a complicated plan to account for them. it’s a really original and funny addition to this world.”
While each of the four central characters have, to varying degrees, changed over the past decade, the most dramatic change is with little rock, who was 12 years old in Zombieland and is now a grown woman. “she’s a completely different person, a beautiful, intelligent woman, and she wants to leave the family, leave the nest, so to speak, and set off on her own,” says Fleischer. “she wants to find other people and form new human relationships. the others, especially Wichita, are like worried parents who are afraid of letting their child, their daughter, leave them – especially in a world that’s completely overrun by zombies.”
eisenberg says that the biggest difference for columbus has to do with his relationship with the beautiful Wichita, which has become more serious since their kiss at the end of the first film. “in the first movie, columbus is introduced as a terrified loner and a nomad, surviving only because he follows a strict code,” says eisenberg. “in this movie, columbus is living with Wichita in the White House and has become a kind of comfortable homebody. He’s confident in his relationship and annoyingly clingy to Wichita. He’s an irritatingly perfect boyfriend.”
eisenberg agrees with Fleischer that much of Zombieland’s enduring popularity owes to the personal connection that the audiences, and the cast members, feel toward the
The scale of this film is broader. The action sequences and zombie attacks are bigger
characters. “the first movie is not only a popular movie, it is also beloved,” he says. “When we thought of doing a sequel, we knew the bar was high, and we would’ve made it much earlier but were waiting for the right script to come along. Over the past decade, we’ve discussed various story ideas, and several scripts were written. but when we read this one, we knew that there was finally a good reason to do it. i think that the first movie was so good, in part, because there is such a nice chemistry among us. in doing this new one, we didn’t have to develop it over the course of a shooting schedule. We immediately understood how to help each other excel.”
eisenberg describes the sequel as a great mix of action and comedy and earnestness, which is also how he describes the first film. “it
[Zombieland] isn’t a plot-driven movie as much as it is a specific character-driven comedy masquerading as a zombie film,” he explains. “because it’s not really a plot-driven movie, the satisfaction doesn’t end after one viewing. it’s a great ensemble movie, which means that you like being with the characters, irrespective of their situation. the second movie continues with that style but adds in all of these great new elements.”
besides chemistry, humour was a key component of the first film’s success, and eisenberg says the sequel thrives on the interplay between high-brow and low-brow humour. “it never shies away from cleverness – whether it be in the form of wordplay or sophisticated, obscure references – but it also feels accessible at all times,” he says. “the sequel introduces strong new characters, and, by virtue of that, the humour shifts a bit. there are some strong comic characters in this new one who alter the satire in really funny ways.”
eisenberg says that the biggest challenge he faced in playing columbus for the second time was to make the character’s emotional journey seem impactful. “if his storyline seems like the second episode of a long tV series, it’s not strong enough,” he explains. “His story needs to feel life-changing in order for it to be worthy of a movie. in this movie, the character’s life drastically changes based on the new circumstances of the story.”
the filming of Zombieland: Double Tap began in January of 2019, in atlanta, Georgia, and Fleischer says that it felt as if the cast and crew had never been apart. “When i look back on filming the sequel, years later, i think that my most lasting memory will be the absolute joy i felt on the set, every day, just being around this wonderful cast,” says Fleischer. “i think the passage of time, the 10-year gap, only made the experience more poignant. Maybe we should wait 10 years before we do a third film. emma suggested that we should make a new
Zombieland film every 10 years, sort of like what richard linklater did with the Before
Sunrise film series and Boyhood.” eisenberg says that he wouldn’t have wanted to make a sequel without Fleischer, whose sensibilities as a filmmaker are, in his opinion, perfectly-suited to the Zombieland universe. “For starters, ruben has a strong visual imagination and understands how to create scope,” eisenberg explains. “this is not always the norm with comedies. the movie feels exciting, and there is a real aesthetic to it that makes it feel broad and epic. but he also loves humour more than anyone i know. He’s willing to do a thousand takes of a scene if an actor wants to try different takes. i can’t exaggerate how much time i wasted on set doing dumb jokes that have absolutely no place in the movie because ruben allowed me to keep digging until we stumbled on something good. He has the patience of Job, if Job was a comedy director.”
Zombieland: Double Tap is in cinemas from 18 October.