How Zack Snyder and James Gunn Reinvented Dawn of the Dead
What happens when you take a beloved independent horror film with razor-sharp satire about consumerism and remake it inside the machinery of a big Hollywood studio? What happens when you hire the guy who wrote the Scooby-Doo movie to write it, and tap a music-video director with zero feature film experience to direct? You get a movie that “gets down with the sickness” both literally and figuratively. You get running zombies, a zombie baby, one of the best opening sequences in horror history, and—somehow—a genuinely awesome entry in the weird, remake-obsessed mid-2000s horror landscape. This is what happened to Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (2004).
How the Remake Even Happened
2002 gave horror fans both 28 Days Later and the first Resident Evil movie, but producer Eric Newman wanted even more undead chaos. A lifelong fan of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, Newman wasn’t chasing a soulless cash grab. He wanted to honor the original, introduce its ideas to a new generation, and do it with real financial backing. Newman partnered with veteran producer Marc Abraham (Air Force One), whose reputation was crucial in convincing rights holder Richard Rubinstein to even consider the idea. Rubinstein had turned down plenty of offers before. He feared a studio remake would lose what made Romero’s version special, its independence from Hollywood meddling.
But Abraham’s track record helped seal the deal, and the remake got the green light.
Why They Didn’t Try a Shot-For-Shot Remake
The team wisely understood Romero’s film didn’t need to be recreated. It already lived rent-free on horror fans’ shelves. Instead, they wanted to do what Carpenter did with The Thing: evolve the original’s ideas for a new era.
But first, they needed the right writer.
Enter James Gunn. Yes, That James Gunn
Before Guardians of the Galaxy and before he was co-running the DC Universe, James Gunn was mostly known for Troma films, some uncredited work on Thirteen Ghosts, and… the Scooby-Doo script. But Gunn campaigned hard for the job. He was a longtime zombie fan and wanted a chance to write something more serious. His script impressed Universal enough to come aboard and take the production to the next level.
Time to find a director.
Zack Snyder’s First Big Swing
Hard to believe now, but when Dawn landed on Zack Snyder’s desk, he had never directed a feature film, only music videos and cinematography work. But he loved the original, immediately storyboarded the entire movie, and attacked the project with infectious enthusiasm. That excitement helped attract cast members who might otherwise have passed on a mid-2000s zombie remake.
It also explains why so many shots feel straight out of a graphic novel—in the best way.
Casting: When the Movie Is the Star
Producers insisted the true “star” of the film was the title itself, freeing them up to cast based on fit rather than celebrity.
Sarah Polley (Ana)
Polley was shocked to receive the offer—she’d never even been in a movie that required her to run. Her grounded, everyday-person performance becomes the audience’s anchor while everything around her slides into apocalypse.
Ving Rhames (Kenneth)
A force of nature playing a force of nature. Rhames brings old-school physicality and genuine emotional weight. Fun fact: both Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead released in 2004, and both feature major Mission: Impossible cast members.
Jake Weber (Michael)
Weber didn’t go macho in his audition. He played the role like a normal guy who steps up when the world collapses, a refreshing take that won the role. The kind of guy who has never had to knock on wood…
Mekhi Phifer (Andre)
Fresh off 8 Mile, Phifer plays a man with a shady past trying to protect his pregnant wife. Too bad that leads to… the zombie baby moment. The kind of “What would you do?” ethical crisis great zombie films thrive on.
Ty Burrell (Steve)
Before he became America’s favorite goofball dad on Modern Family, Burrell played an absolute top-tier jerk here. Zombie Steve even weirdly resembles Jim Carrey in The Cable Guy.
Michael Kelly + Horror Royalty Cameos
Michael Kelly plays one of cinema’s great security-guard jerks. The film also features cameos from Tom Savini and Ken Foree. Even A Nightmare on Elm Street legend Heather Langenkamp worked behind the scenes on FX thanks to her husband, Oscar-winner David LeRoy Anderson.
The Zombies: Practical, Fast, and Filthy
Thankfully, Snyder kept close-up zombies practical, building on 28 Days Later’s fast-infected trend. The makeup team researched real crime-scene photography to make decomposition more scientifically accurate; zombies get nastier as the film progresses. By the end: blackened blood, exposed bone, rotting flesh.
The FX crew used so much blood they invented a “cart-o-blood” to transport it between sets. Over 50 makeup artists created around 3,000 zombie applications, with VFX studio Mr. X Inc. handling digital crowd enhancements.
Finding the Mall
They wanted to shoot in Pittsburgh but it was too expensive. Instead, they used a soon-to-be-demolished mall in Toronto and had eight weeks to build a functional shopping center.
The contrast between the grimy back-areas and the pristine fountains and coffee shops makes the film feel grounded and weirdly familiar. Production designer Andrew Neskoromny, cinematographer Matthew F. Leonetti, and Snyder’s energy carried the aesthetic through.
The Music
When you think Dawn of the Dead, you probably think of Richard Cheese’s cover of “Down With the Sickness” playing over the end credits, or Johnny Cash’s chilling opening song. Composer Tyler Bates, scoring his first horror film, intentionally avoided the original Goblin style to match Snyder’s vision.
Many of the musical cues were hand-picked by Snyder and often required convincing the studio they would actually work. (They did.)
Release, Reception, and Legacy
Dawn of the Dead premiered March 19, 2004 with a $26 million budget, going up against Taking Lives, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and even The Passion of the Christ, which was still dominating the box office. And yet, the zombies won. Dawn opened at $27.3 million, making its budget back instantly, and earned over $100 million total.
It remains Snyder’s highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes at 77% Fresh.
George Romero wasn’t a fan (he felt it was more of a video game than a horror film, and he disliked the running zombies) but Dawn remains one of the few Snyder films almost everyone agrees on. It even inspired a spiritual successor: Snyder’s Army of the Dead (2021).
And that is what happened to Dawn of the Dead (2004).
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