The filming of the zombie attack took four nights altogether. “Armed soldiers were trying to fight the zombies with their weaponry. The zombies fought back using anything they could get hold of”.
“I was playing the part of a Russian civilian and there were other industrial workers in the crowd. We were doing most of the fighting rather than the soldiers” said Bence. “Dead people littered the streets; there were burning cars, smoke and raging fires everywhere! There were many loud explosions which I’m sure must have been heard from far away”.
“Brad Pitt was also involved but, as I was standing in the middle of the crowd, I didn’t see his part in the battle. On one occasion I did come near to him and I saw an actor next to Pitt shot whilst trying to empty a zombie’s pocket.” Meanwhile the civilians were trying to fight the soldiers, who were herding the crowd into the front line facing the zombies. “Only the front three rows were fighting against the zombies, I and the rest were fighting the soldiers.”
In the film, the zombies preferred killing young people because they gained more power from them rather than the older ones. This meant that the younger generation had to be concealed in the middle of the crowd whilst the older people tried to prevent the zombies from reaching them. “We were also told that the zombies could be neutralized by cutting off their heads. I saw zombie’s head stuck on a pike during a break in the shooting”.
“During the film I saw actors who were dressed up as zombies. The Casting Director had particularly looked for boys and girls who were either bald or willing to crop their hair. Their face and head colour was made up to look like a zombie; they either didn’t have hair or had bald patches. Their faces were skeletal showing bone and muscle tissue.”
Bence only saw a few zombies but said that in the film there would be many more because of the use of CGI technology. Some of the civilians also appeared as zombies for the photo shoot to help multiply the numbers. The headcount was also increased by using puppets.
“Five or six dressed up actors were scattered in the crowd and shouted ‘rolling’ and ‘action’! If necessary they told us which way we had to run. The extras in the battle scene had to undergo several days of training. We were forbidden to swing the guns about because of the danger to other actors. Some of the actors tripped and fell over and I saw someone whose forehead was bleeding, but luckily it wasn’t serious. There was always a doctor and an ambulance on set.”
Bence saw a man with a close resemblance to Brad Pitt who acted as his stand-in used for rehearsing settings and lighting. In cold and rainy weather, Brad never came out; he only appeared for the main shooting.
However, all the extras had to wait outside in the night. “Once we had to wait more than 4 hours and it got really cold around 2-3 a.m. They served us with hot tea but I still got a cold. However, the film crew were very polite and told us every day that without our contribution the film would be incomplete. When we worked through the night, it sometimes lasted from 4 p.m. till 7 a.m. We each received 7000-7500 HUF for the night’s work”.
The biggest battle in the film will be shot on location this week, when more than 200 men and women will take part in the scene.