How do they do that? ... a column that investigates and reveals the secrets of TV shows.
Revealed today: the truth about how to keep zombies fresh and ripe on The Walking Dead.
Their skin and flesh
rips and
peels off in a soggy pulp when they're slaughtered on TV but this can only happen when the cameras are rolling.
When they're behind-the-scenes the zombies need to stay in one piece so that they look perfectly intact for each scene. How does the show do it? ...
They store the zombie actors in homemade fridges. More specifically, they're sardined into giant busses with
major air conditioning. When I
interviewed Sarah Wayne Callies about her role as Lori last year she split the specifics of how the show handles the zombie actors.
Because they wear such heavy duty make-up and prosthetics they're kept apart from the rest of the actors throughout the shoot so that their make-up doesn't melt off. It's extremely hot in the show's location so they constantly have to fight off the heat.
The zombie cast consists of about 200 zombies and they're literally stored in air conditioned busses that look like tour busses. They're supplied with water, drinks, snacks etc and are only let out to act, ha!
Since I heard I always picture the set-up ... when they start swarming as they do, I do a rewind in my mind to where they were just before. I also wonder what they talk about when they're on ice.