George Romero’s Legacy Through The Eyes Of His Crew

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.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene At The Mall
• 0:49 Joining Romero’s World
• 2:05 Spontaneity On Dawn Of The Dead
• 3:18 Night Shoots And Mall Mayhem
• 4:18 Creepshow Pranks With Leslie Nielsen
• 6:19 Comedy Timing And Police Squad
• 7:25 Current Work And Memoirs
• 7:40 Playful Closing With The “AI”

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

I think we're rolling. Yes. I'm very excited because uh this is probably the first in the history of podcasts that you are looking and hearing at a Michael Gornick, AI.

SPEAKER_01: 0:14

Oh look pretty damn good. How do I sound? Right, right. You sound great.

SPEAKER_02: 0:18

Tom is I am AI.

SPEAKER_01: 0:21

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 for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. You're welcome. Awesome. Obviously, we're at Living Dead Weekend 2024 here at the Monrobo Mall. Tell us some George Ramiro stories. What was it like working on Dawn the Dead and obviously Creep Show 2? And you know, the and any any any stories you you could tell people.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04

Yeah, sure, sure, sure. I you know, I I think foremost is the fact that uh both Tom and I would agree that for years we we kind of idolized George because he was the maestro of horror in our minds, having made Nye the Living Dead. So when we could become part of what was a sequel done by the man, yeah, we were absolutely honored and very, very excited. 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 Living Dead, and we're part of that, and we're happy to do that. So he made it a joy as we worked. He was a fun-loving guy, never took anything terribly seriously. And it's it was probably next to Martin, which Tom and I also worked on just prior, it was probably the most satisfying experience that I've ever had.

SPEAKER_00: 1:57

Tom, what do you think? He what amazed me is even though we had a script, he was always thinking. And then if he saw something, he would always incorporate it into the thing. We were shooting at the police stock, and while we were waiting for something, the lights on the Westinghouse building started going off uh floor by floor, and he saw that and goes, Oh, when did that happen? And we went back, we had to go back and shoot. We timed it so we could have the helicopter leave just as the lights were going off. And even in the mall, we were waiting for zombies or something, and we were being near the the blood pressure machine. And George was thinking, gee, wouldn't it be wouldn't it be imagine a guy like having getting his blood pressure and zombies come and pull him in his arm off and go, yeah, that's really funny. Well, a few days later, Tony Blue Butt getting his arm off.

SPEAKER_02: 2:40

That's right, yeah. It was always pretty exciting because, as Tom says, he was aware of his environment, even while shooting. And he would accept lines from actors that came out of nowhere. I mean, there's the infamous Joe Pilato pus fuck that that came on scene, is not scripted per se, but you know, George loved it, used it, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 3:01

Yeah, very spontaneous. It's like, well, we couldn't really break anything. He said, We should break something. So the art department build a little makeup display that we could just trash or something. Where he said, you know, is there another way we can kill the brain without shooting? And that's where the screwdriver in the ear came from. Right. You know, it's like there was always coming up with something while even though we were shooting and and limited to the time we had in the mall. You know, we could only come in and be out at by a certain amount of hours. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02: 3:29

Which we ignored quite often, but and we kept shooting and frightening the uh joggers in the early morning who were here with their cardiac run. But uh and we get a different kind of a cardiac experience, but cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest.

SPEAKER_00: 3:45

I remember many a time, like we knew what time the music was coming on, so it'd be like four, it was like at seven o'clock, so quarter of seven. It's like, well, can we shoot this before it comes on, or should we just wait, or should we shoot something that we don't need sound? And it'll be all these discussions, it's like, well, we're eating up time, but like it's we knew at seven no more sound. You know, Tony would start wrapping up because he didn't need it.

SPEAKER_02: 4:05

Yeah, and it was just and George would announce oh boo how boo, man.

SPEAKER_00: 4:11

Yeah, we try and cram it in before seven, and the music I'm like, oh boo. It's like, well, we didn't make it, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 4:16

So awesome. Any creep show two stories?

SPEAKER_02: 4:23

Yeah, sure, sure. I mean, there's one that I always love. Leslie Nielsen was a total jokester, great actor, fun on set, always prepared, but a total jokester. I remember the day that a local television station came out to interview he and Ted Danson, who happened to be on set that day. Very important interview, and they're setting up their shot, and the reporter's about to ask the first question. And Leslie had a little gag device which was a whooping push cushion. And he had it in his hand, and he uh just before uh Ted Danson began to speak, he would let off a couple of gas passes, and of course the reporter took a gulp and uh Leslie mumbled Ted Ted Ted Ted Ted. Pretty hilarious. I don't know, I don't know if that made the air or not.

SPEAKER_00: 5:12

I I never saw the interview. He would do that before every take and after every take, and everybody laughed at first, and after a while it wasn't fun anymore, but he still kept doing it. So then it became like we were anticipating it. You know, it's like you see the you see the banana peel and you know Lauren Hardy are gonna do it. So you just knew it was gonna happen. So then it became funny again, but he was consistently doing it. And we just wanted to see what it 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, short ones, 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 grab it or something.

SPEAKER_01: 5:47

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 time is in those movies, like you just can't remember.

SPEAKER_00: 6:02

Well, actually, when we were we were editing sound effects for Creep Show, that's when Police Squad started airing. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01: 6:08

So yeah, I don't know when exactly he did those, but I I knew police I was too young to see police squad because I was born in '88. Uh-huh. But I I I knew about it from the past, like, like just you know, the history of you know Leslie Nelson's career. But I'm seeing like the movies as a kid, and they've actually been uh replaying the whole trilogy on HBO right now, and I I'm going back, I'm watching them as you know, an adult, and I'm laughing like ten times harder because I I get all the jokes that I was too young, you know, to understand as a kid. But yeah, that that's that's that's very very funny, very interesting. Yeah. Awesome. Any upcoming projects, any anything in the works, or I'm pretty much retired.

SPEAKER_02: 7:00

Uh Tom's staying very active. He has a lot of projects with Tony Booba.

SPEAKER_00: 7:03

Yeah, I'm working with Tony Booba on a couple of documentaries that he's working on. They shoot off and on, and we're we're working together, so I'm still working working with him, editing documentaries just to stay sane, as I'm in semi-retirement. I I'm doing my memoirs, which are almost ready. Yeah, I'm doing two.

SPEAKER_01: 7:22

Awesome, awesome. Tom, Michael, thank you so much for taking the time to ball with me.

SPEAKER_02: 7:29

You're welcome, you're welcome. How was the AI? Pretty good, right? I know.

SPEAKER_01: 7:34

See, he's here. I'm not really here, he's not really here. But Tom is.

SPEAKER_02: 7:39

And sometimes the voice of good strength.

SPEAKER_01: 7:42

Awesome, thank you so much.