The Craziesis an interesting choice of project.

What was the appeal?

Multiple things, one of which being that it was one of his lesser-known movies!

That was an odd one to remake…!

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It was an odd one, I have to admit.

And there have been a few odd ones.

I think that really successful remakes, usually theyre more successful when theyre a reimagining.

Why remake this one?

It was definitely a movie that Id seen as a kid, but only had vague memories of.

Under the shadow of Iraq and Afghanistan.

A world under the control of the military machine.

The other significant thing for me was that there were real limitations that Romero had when making the movie.

Although we were a low budget movie, we had more than the 200 grand he had.

Its worthy of the story thats theres enough to show the scale of the military.

Conversely with that, you had more money, but you focussed the perspective of the story more.

Its a singular perspective this time?

Absolutely, that was one of the things for me that I wanted to do with this movie.

Obviously, you have to be responsible to the original youre doing it for a reason.

The movie is not that youre holding a golden chalice and you cant tarnish it.

The reality is that you picked it for a reason.

AlthoughThe Craziesmay have been one of those!

We definitely did that with this one.

Was George Romero involved at any point?

I have subsequently shown him the movie and talked to him about it afterwards.

Hes seen the final cut and was quite happy with it.

That must have been insanely nerve-wracking?

[Laughs] Yes, it was!

Were you sat next to him?

I couldnt, because he was in Toronto, and Im in Los Angeles.

So we did the screening for him, although we had someone from the studio there.

They sat with him.

[Laughs] I was definitely nervous!

I was more nervous calling him than I was about him watching the movie.

When I called him I said, Im quite nervous calling you.

I dont know why!

How do you get your cast to approach a project such as this?

Do you get them to steer clear of whats gone before?

The cast, theyre all new characters.

The actual characters in the movie, none of them appeared in the original.

Its not like they could watch the original and say Im this guy, Im that guy.

Every design of character was different, even though the archetypes were similar.

So, it wasnt a problem of them emulating the original.

And truth be told, the performances in the original were not its strongest point.

Some were stronger than others, but a lot of them were not really actors.

It sounds terrible to call it a happy accident?

Yes, a happy accident, but not truly.

The parallels were uncanny.

They held the plane up and wouldnt let them leave.

It was a really first hand scary reality that we were unintentionally emulating.

Oh, I absolutely love shooting the real deal.

Theres not a lot of visual effects in this movie.

Do you strive for that sort of ethos on your film set?

Thats not the reality of the movie world.

Theres something really wonderful and special about having that freedom.

The reality of movies in the end is that its a business.

Its all about money, the limited funds you have to make it work.

Planning, knowing exactly what youre going to shoot.

Presumably, horror is great for this.

You really do see it there and then?

Yeah, you do.

Theres only one significant CG sequence, and thats at the end of the movie.

It was impossible to do without the assistance of a computer.

Everything else we did for real.

Its often more complicated, and more frustrating, but you know that you have it in a moment.

Its certainly helpful for the actors, that its really tangible and immediate.

All that said, I think that computers are a wonderful tool for filmmaking.

Its just use it right.

Youre not in 3D either.

No, were not a 3D movie.

Can I be the first to say thank goodness for that?

And horror is at the front of the 3D push.

It was a conscious decision.

We shot 35mm film, using a level of grit in the movie itself.

Its really dark and gritty and natural.

Its not about a gimmick, about blood flying towards the camera.

Its more sophisticated than that.

Its not a movie we wanted to do in 3D.

Finally, Im intrigued by your proposed film ofFlash Gordon.

Obviously, to many of us in Britain,Flash Gordonis all about the likes of Brian Blessed.

Are you still pressing ahead with your take on it, and what state is the project at?

Its not camp in any way.

And itll be fun and cool.

Is that your next project?

Its a big one, so theres a lot of work to get the machinery working!

Breck Eisner, thank you very much.

The Crazies is out on Friday26thFebruary.