At the beginning of the decade, the undead saw an unexpected burst of on-screen popularity, with the release of key zombie movies like “Zombieland,” “Warm Bodies,” and “World War Z.” At the same time, we had the television premiere of “The Walking Dead,” which may be the defining piece of zombie media of the last 10 years. Since then, movies featuring the living dead have largely died off. However, writer and director Jim Jarmusch is looking to resurrect the zombie film with his upcoming movie, “The Dead Don’t Die.”
Described as having “the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled,” “The Dead Don’t Die” sees Jarmusch going all out in the casting process. The movie is set to feature Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Selena Gomez, Tom Waits, and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, among many others. Most of these actors and actresses have worked alongside Jarmusch in previous films, but this is the first time that Jarmusch has worked with a talent pool of this size.
The sheer number of stars will likely act as a selling point for the movie, but whether the rest of the film will live up to its star power remains to be seen. Described by Murray as “hilarious,” it looks like “The Dead Don’t Die” will be geared as more of a comedy, in contrast to Jarmusch’s vampire drama “Only Lovers Left Alive.”
Given that Jarmusch has had 11 movies debut at the Cannes Film Festival, including two movies in 2016, it’s assumed that the French film festival will likely be where “The Dead Don’t Die” will premiere, though this has yet to be confirmed.
“The Dead Don’t Die” will stagger into theaters on June 14.