Sounds like the live-action movie adaptation of the Dylan Dog comic book, called Dead Of Night, will have a supernatural world that's as realistic as possible - including providing the zombie citizens with their own flesh Gap.
We talked to Brandon Routh, Sam Huntington, and Anita Briem at the Wrath of Con Comic Con fiesta and they had a few things to say about their favorite undead buddies in Dead Of Night.
Sam Huntington (Marcus)
What's different about him [Marcus] in the movie?
Yeah, I mean, there's literally no similarity. The only thing that's similar is that they're both the comic relief. In the comic, Marcus is literally Groucho Marx, or an actor that played Groucho Marx and he got kind of stuck in that character. In the movie, he's this 25-year-old guy trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life.
So what's been your favorite supernatural creature to deal with in filming?
Zombies. I think it's a really original take on zombie in this movie. I think it's unlike anything you've ever seen before.
Why?
Because they're just normal people, it's like they've died, but they're just trying to live their own lives. It's not like they're walking around like Frankenstein, mindless, they're actual people ... but they decay. It's really interesting, I think you're really gonna like it - I don't want to divulge too much.
How truthful is it to the comic? The car is there, the clothes are there ...
There's a lot. It pays plenty of homage to the comic. And a lot of things have been updated, but ... I think fans of the comic are really going to like it.
Anita Briem (Elizabeth)
Well I play Elizabeth. Elizabeth is like this feisty, young girl who comes and tracks down Dylan Dog, who is the detective of the Underworld, and drags him back into the Underworld. He's been out of it, he's like, 'I'm sick of dealing with those vampires and zombies and werewolves.'
The really fun thing about it is that it's really a movie about all of the people of different cultures and different worlds, but a lot of them are just trying to get along. The zombies are just trying to get on with their lives, you know what I mean?
So he's sick of them; he's gone out of the business. And so I drag him back in order to solve a mystery for me. So we have this very feisty relationship where he's kind of met his match in Elizabeth and they both have a foul temper but share beliefs on that there should be some rules that the Underworld has to abide by. And obviously not everybody agrees with that.
What are some of the rules people should abide by in the Underworld?
That people should not kill each other. Well, you know, it's hard because the vampires have their own thing. The vampires obviously only live at night. The zombies, they have to constantly maintain themselves because they are deteriorating every second of the day.
So ... they have like a Gap for zombies where they can buy new skin and new eyeballs and so you get to see a little bit of the vanity of the zombies. The zombies are very cool. And the zombies are actually, probably the sweetest kind of the Underworld.
Brandon Routh (Dylan Dog)
What can we expect to see as a tribute to the original work?
Yes, you can expect to see the bug. You can expect to see Dylan in his routine customary outfit, all the way down to the clarks. Maybe people will have a problem with the color of the shirt, the color of the jeans. But it's all there. I think Dylan himself is staying very close to how I perceive the character to be, an ... well, not an anti-hero but he's a begrudging hero, much like Han Solo and Indiana Jones.
What's your favorite supernatural being?
The zombies, because we show really clearly how they exist in the world. Like Men In Black, we see how the aliens lived amongst us. Here we see how the zombies, the werewolves and vampires as well, but we see more how the zombies co-habitat with us, we just don't know that they exist.
So what do they do with their "lives"?
They're like the people who work at the DMV, who pick up the trash probably - the jobs that we don't generally want to do.
Dead Of Night will be in theaters sometime in 2009.
Video and additional reporting by Caitlin Petrakovitz.