Vicariously attend Zombie Bootcamp for The Walking Dead Universal with Greg Nicotero
By Susie Graham
With The Walking Dead Attraction opening soon at Universal Studios in Hollywood, you can get an idea of what it feels like to attend zombie school with Greg Nicotero.
You’ve said it or you’ve heard somebody say it–I want to be a zombie on The Walking Dead. The actors who actually take the next step and do the work to be the zombies first go to Zombie School with Greg Nicotero.
The cast for The Walking Dead Attraction at Universal Studios in Hollywood is going through a Zombie Boot camp and then 2 weeks of rehearsals to get their proper walker skills down.
Thanks to YouTube, you can feel like you’re attending just a little bit of Zombie Boot camp with that cast. It’s interesting to hear the advice Greg Nicotero gives and to watch the different walks the actors do.
Full 17 minute version:
Shorter 4 minute version:
One thing I remember walkers saying at a Q and A panel that squares with what I saw in the video is that Greg doesn’t give many specific directions as to what he wants you to do as much as he tells you what not to do.
Related Story: Memorable Walkers
He did that quite a bit in subtle ways in his instructions as the walkers were wandering. He told them to dial down there movements by about 30%. He told them not to look around so much. Not to lock their joints or keep on one place too long.
Joe Giles was at the class to be an example, but they never gave a sample walk because they want individuality in the zombie walks. You’ll remember Joe as the walker outside the tank and the bus in Atlanta that everyone said looked like Jim Carrey.
The amazing thing about Joe in the clip is that he maintained his walker character the entire 17 minutes of that clip.
Hopefully, even from just that short time at boot camp, the physical nature of the walkers and the wordless acting ability was evident. It looked really hard to me. It’s subtle. There were a few actors there that were great and a few that need practice toning it down.
The other thing Greg mentioned that people forget about is taking direction. It was demonstrated a bit in that clip with the walkers going for food, but there are marks and cues and beats they have to hit with the lines and movements of other actors.
It gives a better appreciation of walker acting skills. If you still think you’d be a great walker with a good zombie work ethic, go for it! Now you have Atlanta and Hollywood!