George Romero’s Legacy Through The Eyes Of His Crew

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Horror stays scary when the set stays alive, and few directors kept a set more awake than George Romero. We’re at Living Dead Weekend inside the Monroeville Mall with Michael Gornick and Tom Dubinsky, digging into the craft behind Dawn of the Dead, Martin, and Creepshow—where a passing idea could turn into the next unforgettable moment. From the Westinghouse lights shutting down floor by floor to a mall blood pressure machine that inspired a gnarly gag, you’ll hear how real-life details became on-screen legend through quick thinking and a crew ready to pivot.

Michael and Tom pull back the curtain on Romero’s process: open scripts, sharp eyes, and a willingness to fold in whatever the world offered that day. We talk timing a helicopter shot to a skyline, inventing non-gun zombie kills like the screwdriver to the ear, and navigating mall hours where the music cut them off at seven. The result is a practical playbook for indie and studio shooters alike—use your environment, embrace constraints, and let spontaneity guide the camera.

Creepshow brings a lighter twist with Leslie Nielsen’s notorious pocket whoopee cushion, a running bit that tested patience, then restored it with perfect comedic timing. We connect those pranks to Nielsen’s deadpan legacy in Police Squad and The Naked Gun, showing how performance, rhythm, and tone cross from horror to comedy with the same precision. We close with updates on Tom’s documentary work with Tony Buba and both guests’ memoirs, capturing lessons from decades of fearless filmmaking.

If you care about how iconic scenes are born—half planning, half lightning strike—this conversation will arm you with tools and stories you can use on your next shoot. Listen, subscribe, and share your favorite Romero moment with us. Your pick might inspire the next great set story.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
I think we're rolling.
Yes.
I'm very excited because uh thisis probably the first in the
history of podcasts that you arelooking and hearing at a Michael
Gornick, AI.

SPEAKER_01 (00:14):
Oh look pretty damn good.
How do I sound?
Right, right.
You sound great.

SPEAKER_02 (00:18):
Tom is I am AI.

SPEAKER_01 (00:21):
Awesome.
Sam fish the fish here.
Michael Gornick and Tom.
Dubinski.
Dubinski.
Yeah.
Awesome.
With a knee.
With the knee.
With the knee.
And a Y.
And a Y.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Thank you guys so much fortaking the time to swim in the
bowl with me.
You're welcome.

(00:42):
Awesome.
Obviously, we're at Living DeadWeekend 2024 here at the Monrobo
Mall.
Tell us some George Ramirostories.
What was it like working on Dawnthe Dead and obviously Creep
Show 2?
And you know, the and any anyany stories you you could tell

(01:04):
people.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04):
Yeah, sure, sure, sure.
I you know, I I think foremostis the fact that uh both Tom and
I would agree that for years wewe kind of idolized George
because he was the maestro ofhorror in our minds, having made
Nye the Living Dead.
So when we could become part ofwhat was a sequel done by the
man, yeah, we were absolutelyhonored and very, very excited.

(01:28):
So I mean, day to day, you know,we labored, but it was uh always
an anticipation of you know,let's produce something that is
a sequel to Nine of the LivingDead, and we're part of that,
and we're happy to do that.
So he made it a joy as weworked.
He was a fun-loving guy, nevertook anything terribly
seriously.

(01:49):
And it's it was probably next toMartin, which Tom and I also
worked on just prior, it wasprobably the most satisfying
experience that I've ever had.

SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Tom, what do you think?
He what amazed me is even thoughwe had a script, he was always
thinking.
And then if he saw something, hewould always incorporate it into
the thing.
We were shooting at the policestock, and while we were waiting
for something, the lights on theWestinghouse building started
going off uh floor by floor, andhe saw that and goes, Oh, when
did that happen?
And we went back, we had to goback and shoot.

(02:18):
We timed it so we could have thehelicopter leave just as the
lights were going off.
And even in the mall, we werewaiting for zombies or
something, and we were beingnear the the blood pressure
machine.
And George was thinking, gee,wouldn't it be wouldn't it be
imagine a guy like havinggetting his blood pressure and
zombies come and pull him in hisarm off and go, yeah, that's
really funny.
Well, a few days later, TonyBlue Butt getting his arm off.

SPEAKER_02 (02:40):
That's right, yeah.
It was always pretty excitingbecause, as Tom says, he was
aware of his environment, evenwhile shooting.
And he would accept lines fromactors that came out of nowhere.
I mean, there's the infamous JoePilato pus fuck that that came
on scene, is not scripted perse, but you know, George loved
it, used it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (03:01):
Yeah, very spontaneous.
It's like, well, we couldn'treally break anything.
He said, We should breaksomething.
So the art department build alittle makeup display that we
could just trash or something.
Where he said, you know, isthere another way we can kill
the brain without shooting?
And that's where the screwdriverin the ear came from.
Right.
You know, it's like there wasalways coming up with something
while even though we wereshooting and and limited to the

(03:22):
time we had in the mall.
You know, we could only come inand be out at by a certain
amount of hours.
Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (03:29):
Which we ignored quite often, but and we kept
shooting and frightening the uhjoggers in the early morning who
were here with their cardiacrun.
But uh and we get a differentkind of a cardiac experience,
but cardiac arrest.
Cardiac arrest.

SPEAKER_00 (03:45):
I remember many a time, like we knew what time the
music was coming on, so it'd belike four, it was like at seven
o'clock, so quarter of seven.
It's like, well, can we shootthis before it comes on, or
should we just wait, or shouldwe shoot something that we don't
need sound?
And it'll be all thesediscussions, it's like, well,
we're eating up time, but likeit's we knew at seven no more
sound.
You know, Tony would startwrapping up because he didn't
need it.

SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
Yeah, and it was just and George would announce
oh boo how boo, man.

SPEAKER_00 (04:11):
Yeah, we try and cram it in before seven, and the
music I'm like, oh boo.
It's like, well, we didn't makeit, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (04:16):
So awesome.
Any creep show two stories?

SPEAKER_02 (04:23):
Yeah, sure, sure.
I mean, there's one that Ialways love.
Leslie Nielsen was a totaljokester, great actor, fun on
set, always prepared, but atotal jokester.
I remember the day that a localtelevision station came out to
interview he and Ted Danson, whohappened to be on set that day.
Very important interview, andthey're setting up their shot,
and the reporter's about to askthe first question.

(04:46):
And Leslie had a little gagdevice which was a whooping push
cushion.
And he had it in his hand, andhe uh just before uh Ted Danson
began to speak, he would let offa couple of gas passes, and of
course the reporter took a gulpand uh Leslie mumbled Ted Ted

(05:06):
Ted Ted Ted.
Pretty hilarious.
I don't know, I don't know ifthat made the air or not.

SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
I I never saw the interview.
He would do that before everytake and after every take, and
everybody laughed at first, andafter a while it wasn't fun
anymore, but he still kept doingit.
So then it became like we wereanticipating it.
You know, it's like you see theyou see the banana peel and you
know Lauren Hardy are gonna doit.
So you just knew it was gonnahappen.
So then it became funny again,but he was consistently doing

(05:33):
it.
And we just wanted to see whatit looked like because he could
fit it in the palm of his hand,it was small enough, you know,
it was malleable enough.
You could do long ones, shortones, whatever, you know, you
can make them down differently.
He said, We just want to see it,but he wouldn't show it because
he was afraid someone might grabit or something.

SPEAKER_01 (05:47):
That that story makes it like even that much
better that he was, you know,cast in the naked gun movies.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely how his comedic timeis in those movies, like you
just can't remember.

SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
Well, actually, when we were we were editing sound
effects for Creep Show, that'swhen Police Squad started
airing.
Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 (06:08):
So yeah, I don't know when exactly he did those,
but I I knew police I was tooyoung to see police squad
because I was born in '88.
Uh-huh.
But I I I knew about it from thepast, like, like just you know,
the history of you know LeslieNelson's career.
But I'm seeing like the moviesas a kid, and they've actually

(06:28):
been uh replaying the wholetrilogy on HBO right now, and I
I'm going back, I'm watchingthem as you know, an adult, and
I'm laughing like ten timesharder because I I get all the
jokes that I was too young, youknow, to understand as a kid.
But yeah, that that's that'sthat's very very funny, very

(06:51):
interesting.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Any upcoming projects, anyanything in the works, or I'm
pretty much retired.

SPEAKER_02 (07:00):
Uh Tom's staying very active.
He has a lot of projects withTony Booba.

SPEAKER_00 (07:03):
Yeah, I'm working with Tony Booba on a couple of
documentaries that he's workingon.
They shoot off and on, and we'rewe're working together, so I'm
still working working with him,editing documentaries just to
stay sane, as I'm insemi-retirement.
I I'm doing my memoirs, whichare almost ready.
Yeah, I'm doing two.

SPEAKER_01 (07:22):
Awesome, awesome.
Tom, Michael, thank you so muchfor taking the time to ball with
me.

SPEAKER_02 (07:29):
You're welcome, you're welcome.
How was the AI?
Pretty good, right?
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
See, he's here.
I'm not really here, he's notreally here.
But Tom is.

SPEAKER_02 (07:39):
And sometimes the voice of good strength.

SPEAKER_01 (07:42):
Awesome, thank you so much.