There are few directors who have influenced me as a screenwriter more than George A. Romero, the father of modern horror and the creator of the flesh-eating zombie. Consequently, it’s hard to explain how fantastically humbling it was to sit down with the man for half an hour to talk about his movies, from the original Night of the Living Dead to his latest, Diary of the Dead (a low-budget modern reimagining of the zombie plague's origins). All I can say is, it happened and I’m still grinning over it.

It’s safe to say much of your career has been built on the Dead series and the social commentary you’ve weaved through them. Still, have you ever regretted becoming the zombie king?

George A. Romero: No, I cannot say I wish I had taken another path. I can honestly say I would’ve liked to have made a couple of other films. There are several that I wrote, even under contract, that I would’ve liked to have made. They didn’t have, though, because people only really want one thing from me. So of course there’s some frustration in that. But at the same time, I have this niche. I’m able to say what I think, throw in a little bit of social satire, a little slapstick, and have fun inside a genre. But it doesn’t feel like a jail cell. If they blow up Philadelphia next week, I’ll call up and say, ‘I’ll glue zombies on that,’ and I’ll get a movie deal.

Shooting Diary, with its low budget and, I’m imagining, guerilla-filmmaking style, had to feel a lot like it did when you made Night four decades ago.

GAR: It was exactly like it. It was nostalgia time. The characters reminded me of back then, the theme (of the dangers of emerging media) reminded me of back then. The way we were doing it reminded us of back then. This is the first time I’ve had unqualified control since Night. I was just thrilled.

You also got to throw a few cinematic jabs at directors who would have their zombies run rather than stagger, which was a nice bit of self-conscious filmmaking.

GAR: It was just having some fun. Basically, I wanted to slap down the slow-moving zombies. I was pissed off about the Dawn of the Dead remake. In 28 Days Later, it’s okay; they’re not dead, they’re human, so they can run. But dead guys can’t run. Dead guys can’t jump. When I first saw Dawn, you see these guys running around the corner. I said, ‘What did they do? The moment they sat up, they took a membership out at the gym?’ I didn’t get it. They’re dead. They’re supposed to be stiff!

You’ve also yet again left yourself open to a sequel, even though none of the other movies in the series carried characters over.

GAR: The ending has nothing to do with that. In Night of the Living Dead, everybody died. When I set out to make Dawn, in my original script, everybody died. I decided halfway through the shoot on that film [that] I can still leave the world upset, I don’t have to restore order, but I can save some of these characters. I’ve always done that since. People always say, ‘Oh, it’s wide open for a sequel.’ The reason isn’t so there can be a sequel. I just wanted to save a couple of those (characters).

That said, Diary of the Dead is expected to have a sequel, and one that features, for the first time, returning characters. Your producer, Art Spiegel, unofficially told me it’ll be shooting this summer. Can you confirm that?

GAR: Yeah. We’re talking about it. I think there’s a very good chance it will happen. I’ve already started to write it. I have a lot more I want to say on this new media.

Is there a name yet?

GAR: Nope. Any ideas?

I was thinking about that. Maybe Reign of the Dead?

GAR: I like that. And it has to have ‘dead’ in the title.

I’ll want credit, of course.

Romero laughs at that. But you heard it here first, folks. If Diary of the Dead’s sequel carries the moniker, Reign of the Dead, yours truly is responsible.

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