UNDEAD OR ALIVE

On DVD from Image Entertainment

2007-10-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Image Entertainment has acquired the rights to the film and changed the title back to plain old lovely UNDEAD OR ALIVE. James Denton, Chris Kattan, Navi Rawat and I recorded the DVD commentary a couple of weeks ago, and Image is cutting together a behind-the-scenes documentary from footage shot on the set. The DVD becomes available for sale and rental in December. The people at Image have been great (special thanks to Garrett Lee), and the cover art I've seen so far is a lot of fun.

Latest News plus New Title and Subhead!

2007-03-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

We just screened for the first time, at SXSW in Austin Texas. Thank you SXSW and thank you Texas comedy and horror fans for coming on out at midnight to see the movie! To anyone confused by entries lower in this journal that refer to the film as WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE, please note that the title of this film has been changed back to UNDEAD OR ALIVE, now with the subhead A ZOMBEDY. Bon appetit, and look for the official site soon at www.undeadoralive.com.

Thank you!

2006-10-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks everybody! Thanks cast, thanks crew, thanks editorial, thanks post, thanks Alie, and most of all thanks Odd Lot Entertainment for making it all possible. Thanks also to you, dear reader, for your interest in Wanted Undead or Alive.

My work on the movie is pretty much done. I handed in my cut a few weeks ago, and last week I approved the final scheduled effects shot (thanks Ulee!). Making this movie has been one of the more fun things I've had the privilege to do in a pretty fun-filled life, and there hasn't been enough love dished out to all the people who made it happen. One whole movie, and only two Dreamgineer Spotlights. But you know who you are, Dreamgineers—you're the best.

Screening and release plans will be posted here, but not much more in the way of a director's blog. But blogging was fun, so I'm going to keep doing it at my new and exciting personal blog address www.glasgowphillips.blogspot.com. Only one half-assed post there right now, but it'll come along. I've also started a MySpace page to stay in touch with new friends, many made in the course of this show. That's at www.myspace.com/glasgowphillips.

I'll put them both over in the links to the right. Vaya con Dios, amigos.

Sincerely,
Glasgow Phillips

Dreamgineer Spotlight Feature: Gary Jones

2006-09-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

Gary Jones served as the makeup effects supervisor and as a 2nd unit Director on our film. His many credits include directing SPIDERS, MOSQUITO, XENA, SHEENA, XENOPHOBIA, PLANET RAPTOR, and he was an FX artist on EVIL DEAD 2, ARMY OF DARKNESS, HARD TARGET and DUST TILL DAWN. (Gary pictured below with a Brian Posehn dummy)

Witnessing Gary's love and enthusiasm for both gore and movies, it wasn't surprising that his son, Bryan, followed in his footsteps and worked alongside him creating some awesome zombie gore. (Bryan pictured below with decapitated crew member)

Q&A WITH GARY JONES

Q: When did you first get into making gore or first start working in
the movie business?

A: I started way back in the 70's making severed body parts, monster make-ups and rigging gory squib hits using firecrackers. Family and friends were my victums (actors) and I would film them with my coolest x-mas gift, a super 8mm movie camera.

Q: What are your top 3 favorite horror films?

A: 1. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE ( 1974 version)
2. JAWS
3. The next horror film that I direct.

Q: What do you think is vital to creating a truly scary scene?

A: The set-up and then the sound FX. The scare can be a simple FX, or just an actor jumping out of the darkness. It's all in what you show the moviegoer before the scare and the sound FX that creeps them out.

Q: Can you share the ingredients for zombie blood?

A: I could but then I would have to eat your brains - Karo surp, food coloring, cake frosting and molasses.

Q: Bryan told me you've scared some past neighbors by carrying out
"bodies" and "body parts" from your home. Care to share any of those
stories?

A: That was a long time ago. You will have to ask Bryan and the neighbors.

Q: How many movies have you created effects for?

A: About 50.

Q: Was there a particular scene that was your favorite from this movie?

A: Claypool and Cletus turn on their Posse

Q: is it fun working with your son? Did you always think he would
follow in your footsteps to create gore?

A: It was way cool. I'm happy that he had a good time and got to splatter the actors with fake blood ( sometimes they get angry and yell at ya - better to let my son take the heat for a change). I always though he might like too. I just want him to be happy with what ever job he wants to do. You got to follow your dreams and do what ever it is that makes you get up in the morning.

Q: What do you love about movies?

A: Working with and meeting new people and getting to create a fanasty world we can play in. Making the movie is my adventure - the finished product is for the rest of the world.

Q: Any advice for someone trying to create a low budget horror film?

A: Stop talking about it and make it and don't bore the audiance.

Q: People on set thought you had awesome hair. Any tips?

A: Don't mess with it and let nature take it's course.

Q: Have you ever brought a decapitated head or a cut off arm to a bar
just for shits and giggles?

A: No, but it sounds like fun. Give me a call and we can go try it.

Costume Reference for Kate

2006-08-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

I know dudes aren't usually into clothes, but they do tend to like a lack thereof. So I thought I'd share this photo of an old school "lady of the night," which we used as a costume reference for Kate (played by the beautiful and talented Cristin Michele).

Dreamgineer Spotlight Feature: Delaney Marsh

2006-07-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

TITLE: Head Greensman

STATS

Number of tattoos:32 +/-
Number of children: 2
Names of kids' rock bands: fuck if i know
Number of fights you've been in in your life: between myself and i
Number of movies you've worked on: a few
Top 3 movies: fight club,on golden pond, roboninja
Top 3 horror films: all the muppets movies
Number of times arrested:148 or so
Favorite foods: wild game and pork rinds with bacon
Top 3 favorite bands: hank 3, fifteen, gg allin

Q: What is your full name?
A: Jonathan Delaney Marsh

Q: How did you become a greensman?
A: Shit I dont fuckin know maybe it was the love 4 nature.

Q: How would you describe your duties as a greensman for "Wanted:
Undead or Alive?"
A: Not always a gman more a factor there to help.

Q: What other jobs have you had besides being a greensman?
A: You name it, other than buttplug manager

Q: Are you a fan of zombie movies?
A: I don't like movies really, but dead things don't bitch.

Q:What would you do if you ran into a zombie in real life?
A: Buy 'm a drink

Q: We noticed you keep toilet paper, a rifle and gasoline in your car.
What else do you keep in your jeep at all times and why? Are you
preparing for the apocalypse?
A: 1st off dirtyass bad, shoot to kill no matter what, gas good

Q: Mac or PC?
A: PC cause to be pc u cant use the term fuckstick

Q: Have you ever listened to an Enya cd?
A: Once when i took acid with a friend that thought he was going to
help me ......he is dead now

Q: If you could kick one famous person's ass, who would it be and why?
A: Jesus, cause i feel he probably could have enjoy a piece of human
primal interaction, it is good 4 the soul to express aggression.

Q: Chocolate or vanilla?
A: Piss.

Q: What was it like working with Glasgow?
A: I feel he has greet vision, but only in time will his directive qualities truly be sharpend to the point where he can create the image that i know he sees in his mind.he rocks nonetheless.

Q: Describe Glasgow in 3 words.
A: Lose cock ring

Q: Do you think James Denton is dreamy?
A: Damn good actor, but i dont live on broke back fukin mountain.

Q: Anything else you'd like people to know? Or fun crazy stories?
A: To be as i am the scariest thing in this fucked world is the belief
i could be seen 2 u as something on the cutting edge, fuk your edge
this is me who the fuck are u?

We Invent the Dreamgineer Spotlight Feature

2006-07-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Everybody likes profiles of sexy actors, brilliant directors, powerful producers. But without the crew on set every day turning words into pictures, hot air into balloons, and dreams into gold, we actors, directors, and producers are but children playing make-believe in the sandbox of the imagination. Dreamgineer Spotlight Features will include brief interviews with the men and women of the crew. These are the people we call...Dreamgineers.

Leslie Jordan Nominated for an Emmy!

2006-07-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Leslie Jordan, our very own Padre, has been nominated for his work as Beverley Leslie on "Will and Grace." Raise your julep cup and drink a big toast to the funniest man ever to launch his laugh missile at Megan Mullally's comedy bunkers! After you polish off that julep, skitter on over to BrotherBoy, where you can book yourself a one-way ticket to Gigglesville. Leslie's acclaimed one-man show "Like a Dog on Linoleum" has been extended in San Francisco until July 30th!

Bad News for Britain

2006-07-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

It seems there's been an outbreak in England...please be careful out there.

Brian Posehn is adorable

2006-06-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

First we have the Zombie School Photo pose, and then the Casual Zombie pose.

Comic-Con

2006-06-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

We're trying to register professionally to go to Comic Con, where we plan to ROCK OUT SUPER HARD WITH YOU, OUR FELLOW NERDS! We don't know if we have a booth or what, but Odd Lot's DDP is on a panel about "The Spirit," and we're working on poster and t-shirt design and stuff. So maybe we'll have some swag to hand out. Sweet.

In case you haven't already looked up the plot summary on imdb...

2006-06-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

You already know, from the title of this blog, that this is the most important zombie western ever made. You also know that we have a hot AD department, some pretty sweet zombies and that there was a major bear attack on set. But in case you were wondering what the actual plot is, here's a quick description from our IMDB page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795505/):

Elmer Winslow (Denton) is a soldier on the run from the Union Army, and Luke Budd (Kattan) is a cowboy with a broken heart. When the two misfits rob the corrupt sheriff of an old west town, they have no idea that a plague of zombies is sweeping the country, or that Geronimo's sexy niece (Rawat) may be their only hope of survival.

We're Editing....

2006-06-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

And it's pretty awesomely hilarious! If I do say so myself. (This is Glasgow typing. We're still figuring our how two people can post to one blog and be two people, not one person who keeps switching identites.)

Larry the editor had pretty much the whole thing assembled by the time we came back from NM, so now it's just tightening up scenes, finding alternate takes, figuring out where we need FX shots, and thinking about music...we have eight more weeks to make it kick ass.

We leave you with this photo of our bad ass (not to mention SUPER TOTALLY HOTTT) AD department, me and Alie, and line producer, superstar, and general man-about-town Alton Walpole. Photo donated by Marcia W (on right, looking INSANE).

Bear Attack

2006-06-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

Our second AD, Sharon Swab, informed us that we had to watch out for scorpions, spiders and rattlesnakes. She neglected to inform us that a bear had been seen stalking cowboys at Bonanza Creek, possibly attracted by their large and shiny belt buckles. Luckily no one was hurt, but the bear passed right through set. We managed to get a few frames of video.

Matt Besser Tours the South

2006-06-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

Matt Besser (of the Upright Citizens Brigade) plays the very evil and very mean sheriff, Claypool, in "Wanted: Undead or Alive."

Besides intimidating our crew with his scary zombie look, Matt is also going to be on a comedy tour this month. He is hilarious and you should try to get your ass to any of the cities listed below:

BESSER TOUR

Fri. Jun 2 - Austin
Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek
13729 Research Blvd.
Tix:$10adv 7pm
Age:18+
http://www.drafthouse.com/lakecreek/frames.asp

Sat. Jun 3 - San Antonio
The Sanctuary
1818 N. Main
Tix: $10 9pm
All Ages
(210) 732-0313

Sun. Jun 4 - Houston
The Proletariat
903 Richmond 77006
(One block East of Montrose)
(713) 523-1199
www.theproletariathouston.com

Mon. Jun 5 - Little Rock
Vino’s
923 West 7th
Tix: $10 7pm
501/375-8468
www.vinosbrewpub.com

Tues. June 6 – Memphis
Hi Tone Cafe
w/ Dragoon
1913 Popular Ave.
901-278-8663
www.hitonememphis.com

Wed. June 7 – Nashville
Bongo Java Cafe
2007 Belmont Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37212
(615) 385-JAVA
www.bongojava.com

June 8-10 – Charleston
Piccolo Spoleto Festival
Theatre 99
280 Meeting St. (above the Bicycle Shoppe), Downtown Charleston
TICKETS $15
6/8 9:30PM - 10:30PM
6/9 10PM - 11PM
6/10 5PM - 6PM
http://www.piccolospoleto.com

June 17 - San Francisco
Eureka Theater
215 Jackson Street
8pm
$25 (General) / $20 (SFIC Frequent Players, TBA Members)
PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE VISIT: www.brownpapertickets.com

*Besser video interview to come...

Riley the Awesome Dog

2006-06-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

Watch Riley fetch

Zombie Couple

2006-05-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Video from a Location Scout

2006-05-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

Zack and Glasgow

2006-05-30T00:16:00.000-07:00

Zack from G4's "Attack of the Show" came to visit set on Friday.

ZOMBIE RULES

2006-05-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

TRANSMISSION
Bite or scratch.

SYMPTOMS IN ORDER OF ONSET
1. Hemorrhagic flu-like leaching of fluids from all orifices.
2. Vomiting black fluid.
3. Desire to eat humans, especially nerve (brain) tissue. This desire creates the transmission vector.
4. Death of physical body, leading to blackened blood and rapid bodily decay, like leprosy on fast-forward.
5. Complete decomposition of physical body, leaving the soul to wander in misery.

ZOMBIE BEHAVIOR IN ORDER OF DISEASE PROGRESSION
1. Disorientation as physical body dies. Like taking too much acid, it’s pleasurable for some and horrifying for others.
2. Normal (for individual) motivating drives and personality stay in place, but overwhelming instinct to gorge can override common sense.
3. Gradual loss of fine motor control as nervous system deteriorates.
4. Gradual loss of pain sensations as nervous system deteriorates.
5. Grandiosity resulting from inability to feel pain and (apparent) invincibility.
6. Summation: the “self” remains in place, but it’s housed in a steadily less cooperative, rapidly decomposing body driven by powerful cannibalistic urges.

KILLING ZOMBIES
The only way to kill a zombie is to destroy or completely remove the head!

GRAAAAAArrrRGH!

What do zombies snack on besides brains?

2006-05-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

The amazingly talented cast

2006-05-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone raves about their cast when making a movie, but we really do have such an amazingly talented cast. They are super funny, talented and make every day a lot of fun.

Main Cast (in alphabetical order)
Todd Anderson .... Kermit
Matt Besser .... Claypool
Chris Coppola .... Cletus
James Denton .... Elmer
Leslie Jordan .... Padre
Chris Kattan .... Luke
Cristin Michele .... Kate
T. Jay O'Brien .... Farlow
Brian Posehn .... Ben
Navi Rawat .... Sue

Back from the Dead

2006-05-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peek from Set:

Pictured: Claypool (Matt Besser) and Ben the not so smart zombie (Brian Posehn)

So we're back, or at least I'm here to let anyone who's still reading this blog know what's going on with the most important zombie western ever made. I'm Alie, Glasgow's old pal and assistant for the film. I'm pictured below trying to pretend I'm a real cowgirl while hanging at a turquoise mine we will be using as a location for the film.

You may be wondering where Glasgow has been. Did he go Hollywood and start hanging at clubs with Diddy and Ashton? No. Did he run away with a man named Francoise who wears tight shorts and and ray bans? Nope. He's just been really crazed and busy prepping for the film and then directing it and all that crap. We are in the midst of shooting at the moment and, in my humble but accurate opinion, it's going awesome.

Okay we're totally working on casting this fucker...

2006-01-20T01:18:00.000-08:00

...and that's why I haven't been updating. Linda McD is up at Sundance right now getting run over by assholes in SUVs, but most of us are still chilling here in the sunshine of lovely Los Angeles. She's going to come back with $100M and an eight-picture commitment (because there's going to be sequels, duh!) from the whole cast of "Ocean's Seventeen."

The Devil's Rejects

2005-12-06T02:11:00.000-08:00

I just watched “The Devil’s Rejects” on DVD. I’m actually not that into horror movies, generally speaking. When they’re bad, they’re so boring, and when they’re good, they’re too scary because I’m a wuss. But man, that thing was A-OK. It looked absolutely beautiful. The daytime parts had a golden 70s feeling that I’m hoping to get but don’t quite know how to articulate. The “TCM” remake had the look, in spades. (By the way: scared the crap out of me.) My visual vocabulary’s just not that developed, and I don’t know anything about film stocks and processing except that they matter. All I can do is point to things that I think look right, and say, “Like that...?”

It’s pretty weak. But I don’t feel too bad about it, because Matt Stone was telling me about working with a DP who had worked with [redacted], the director of [redacted, redacted, and redacted], and the DP was saying how nice it was to have someone making observations like, “Yeah, that’s close, but it would be good if we came in lower on shots like that,” and misc. other not too highly technical but still somewhat substantive comments while watching dailies. Matt was all like, “Why’s that nice?” to the DP, and the DP said that [redacted] would just look at them every day and yell, “It has to look cooler! More fucking cooler, okay?! I don’t know! Just make it more awesome! Fuck!”

Come to think of it, maybe I’ll take my cue from [redacted].

New Title and Splash Page

2005-12-03T02:08:00.000-08:00

We totally have a new title! The new title, WANTED: UNDEAD OR ALIVE, replaces our old title, UNDEAD OR ALIVE, and its subhead, A ZOMBIE WESTERN. Future scholars will understand this to be an important breakthrough in our title development process. The project began as plain old DEAD OR ALIVE with the subhead A ZOMBIE WESTERN; was improved by two letters (UN); and has now been further improved by the addition of WANTED, a colon, and the deletion of the subhead. An exclamation point at the end is under consideration. Write, revise, rewrite...it's not magic, people. It's work. And we do it. For you. Props for the latest improvement go out to Media 8 and Odd Lot's own Deborah Del Prete!

You may also have noticed our extremely sweet new splash page residing at our very own URL www.undeadoralive.com. Yay! We will continue to use Blogger's wonderful service for updates, but now it's much easier to tell people where to look for our site so they can enjoy those updates.

I've been sitting with Len Morganti this past week as he draws our storyboards. He's already produced about a thumb's thickness of quick, expressive drawings for our planning and your pleasure. Now all I have to do is scan a few for your delectation. With our new server space (thank you Odd Lot!), you can expect a more rich and varied Internet experience here at undeadoralive.com, one that includes photos and drawings, and if we just go hog wild, maybe even an animatic or two. Yeehaw!

Morganti

2005-11-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we kind of pooped the sheets at AFM. I think the rest of the Odd Lot slate did pretty well, but your favorite movie and mine did not do the kind of Rubles, Pesos, Francs, and Yen we were hoping for. The esteemed Linda McD, VP of Development and Production over there and the hot lady that put this catastrophe in motion, assures me it's nothing to get worked up about. The conventional wisdom is that comedy's hard to sell foreign until it's cast, so now we're going to meet with some casting agents and get some hot actor ass locked down.

Which is fun and all...but because I am a nerd, the thing I am most psyched about is that in a week or two I get to start working with a storyboard artist named Len Morganti. The dude is awesome. I had lunch with him a couple of weeks ago—that's right, bitches, we did lunch, because this is Hollywood, and that's how we roll—and I got to see his book, which was incredible. Plus we just kind of clicked, and he's comfortable working with the writer present, as opposed to taking the script and then coming back with some drawings. So we're going to kick it and crank out some hot boards. I'll post a few thumbnails when we get started.

One Sheet Action

2005-11-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow the American Film Market opens in Santa Monica. That's where everybody goes to pimp their projects to foreign buyers. This here hot new fantasy boxcover art is our main piece of sales material. Does it make you foreign buyers hungry for dead cowboy fingers or what?!

Media 8 is partnered with Oddlot to do global sales for the whole Oddlot slate. This one and three others that are branded together as "The Horror Chronicles" are coming from Oddlot's Darklot division. We're getting some gory press from The Horror Channel...

We Have Our First Fan

2005-10-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here. Cyberspace can eat my ass.

Location Scout

2005-10-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the New Mexico location scout was bitchen beyond my wildest imaginings. I took 150 pictures, and a few hot picks will go up here as soon as I work out image and website hosting, but the headline here is that the Bonanza Ranch, which is only about 15 minutes out of Santa Fe, has just about every location we need within its boundaries: a Western town including saloon, sheriff’s office, jail cells, stables, church, and graveyard, that was built by some Italian production company; a stockade-type fort built by Amblin or some other Spielberg-related entity for something called Into the West; a beautiful pond full of bass I plan to yank out of it in addition to using the pond to shoot a scene; and an actual hard rock tunnel that’s part of a functioning turquoise mine. (We thought we were going to have to make a fake tunnel.) There was even a coffin in the corner of one of the rooms of the town, complete with an animatronic dead guy left over from John Carpenter’s Vampires. When I get the photos up I’ll also tell you about Richard Jefferies, David Greathouse, and Steve Ecclesine, who are another (much more accomplished) writer/director, the producer, and the line producer of the movies we’re making. Ecclesine keeps trying to talk me into adding a musical number to the script. If he stays after me about it, I’ll be forced to enable comments on this thing, and you had better take my side on that (correct answer: no musical number) and other key creative issues like whether I should get a prosthetic beard to wear on set with a baseball hat (correct answer: totally).

Precinct Thirteen

2005-10-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

The producers just informed me that Precinct Thirteen Entertainment (link in the sidebar) is on board to do the VFX for this joint. This is going to put a serious crimp in my plans to make all the brains by putting oatmeal in bowls and letting them sit on the kitchen counter for a couple of days and then plopping them out upside down so then they look like brains. And to just nail the actors in the face with red paintballs when they need to get shot. Apparently, somebody has a problem with keeping it real. No, not really. We're all about keeping it real here. The top thing on the P13 project list is VFX for The Devil's Rejects, d. Rob Zombie. Rob Zombie! Rob Zombie! We are so, so keeping it real, people. Mood: Delighted.

Bonanza!

2005-10-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome, friends, to the Undead or Alive blog, an important documentary project that will chronicle the production and marketing of a film soon to be recognized as a landmark event in American cinema. Crass promotional vehicle? Of course. At some point we’ll even add a mailing list function, so you can be among the first in line for free cowboy hats or whatever. But it should also be a good time. Here’s where we are right now:

Oddlot Entertainment has offered to produce a screenplay I wrote based on a zombie Western concept proposed by Scott Pourroy. Moreover, Oddlot has offered to let me direct the movie, a decision we all hope they will not regret. This will be my first feature. We’re planning to shoot in spring 2006, about six months from now. Next week we’re going to New Mexico, where they have suitable landscapes and fantastic incentives, to scout locations. This is one of the sweet places we’re going: Bonanza Ranch