Memoirs Of The Dead

It’s over 40 years since George A. Romero’s seminal zombie sequel DAWN OF THE DEAD first terrorised the planet, forever changing our demeanour when visiting the local shopping mall. On the eve of its latest disinterment - this time in 4K - we spoke to two actors who lived to tell the tale…

- Michael Coldwell

We all get what’s coming to us in the end. Play your cards right and you’ll make it to a grand old age and die smiling. Enjoy running around a zombie-infested shopping mall playing tag with the undead? You’re SWAT officer Roger DeMarco and your number’s up, sunshine - Tom Savinistyle. As memorably played by actor Scott Reiniger, Roger was the confident protector of the group who pushed his luck a bit too far. The nascent zombie genre took note, but Roger was the definite article. We cocked our rifle, clenched our privates and took a slide down the memory escalator to 1978 with the man himself…

STARBURST: How did you come to play Roger DeMarco?

Scott Reiniger: Christine Forrest, George Romero’s girlfriend [later his wife], called me from New York and said she wanted me to come and audition for it. I said ‘sure, send me the script’. It was about 225 pages and was the most violent thing I’d ever read [laughs]. This was quite a piece of work. So, I auditioned for George, he was very relaxed, very open, and very secure with himself. I did two or three scenes and he smiled and said, ‘yeah, I really like what you’re doing’. I could tell there was something, some subtext behind his voice. He called me back for a second audition and said, ‘you know, this is not really what I was thinking about for this character but I really like what you’re doing’. I said to him, ‘George, what’s the ‘but’ in your voice?’ and he said, ‘well, I already cast this guy Ken Foree who you’ll be playing opposite on screen, and he’s twice your size’. I found out subsequently that George was thinking of a big, burly Nick Nolte-type for Roger.

Scott Reiniger: Roger ‘Trooper’ DeMarco