Zack Snyder has opened up about a joke he had to cut from his forthcoming zombie thriller, Army of the Dead, regarding a male stripper-turned-zombie. In a unique spin on the horror genre, the story will center on a group of mercenaries as they plot to conduct a heist from a Las Vegas casino amid a zombie outbreak. The ensemble roster for the pic includes Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Tig Notaro and Matthias Schweighöfer.
Snyder spent the better part of a decade attempting to get the project off the ground, with the film first announced in 2007 and set to be co-produced by Universal Pictures. Then with Warner Bros. Entertainment, which would act as Snyder's primary studio for over a decade as he kickstarted its DC Extended Universe. Proper development didn't finally get underway until January 2019, when Netflix acquired the rights to the project with Snyder set to direct and co-write with Shay Hatten on a story treatment from him and Joby Harold. The film saw a brief hiccup in its post-production process when a wave of sexual misconduct allegations came out against star Chris D'Elia in June 2020, resulting in Notaro being cast to replace him. Snyder reshot her scenes while productions struggled against the global pandemic. Her scenes were accomplished by reshooting scenes opposite an acting partner and digitally compositing her into others.
In an interview with The Sunday Times (via CinemaBlend), Snyder revealed he and his creative team came up with a joke that would see a male stripper-turned-zombie exposed below the waist with his private area missing a chunk due to a bite from a hungry walker. However, upon reflection, they all concluded the joke might be a step too far for the film and its viewers.
"We had a sequence where one of the male strippers had a huge penis with a bite taken out of it. We thought that was too much."
The modern viewer is certainly not averse to nudity on camera in films and television, with some even calling for more from men to better balance it with the excess of female nudity and eliminate the double standard of which is too gratuitous and which isn't. That being said, however, taking a step back and cutting this joke from the film was probably the best step as that level of nudity is perhaps a bit too far even for a movie as tongue-in-cheek as Army of the Dead appears to be. Plus, given Snyder's story previously featured some very rapey zombies, taking a somewhat low-key approach to the sex-based material in the film is a better path to not alienating the audience but keeping them glued to the scene.
Undead genitals aside, Snyder's zombie heist pic certainly looks to be a promising and unique installment to the crowded zombie subgenre. From Ghosts of Mars-esque zombie behaviors to a diverse ensemble cast and a director well-known for his visual flair, especially with action sequences, it's got many promising and exciting elements for audiences. With just a week left until Army of the Dead hits theaters, followed by Netflix on May 21, the wait is almost over.
Source: The Sunday Times (Via CinemaBlend)
