John Rezas

Who I'd like to meet:

Below is a list of my favorite filmmakers. They are not listed in any special order. All of them are an inspiration and have made films that I like. Each made an impact on me in some way. As a screenwriter, these are the types of filmmakers that make the types of movies that I would want to make. My focus here is on actors, directors, producers, and screenwriters.

Actors: Robert DeNiro, Paul Giamatti, Daniel Day-Lewis, Simon Pegg, Steve Buscemi, Sean Connery, Ken Foree, Hugo Weaving, Bruce Campbell, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, William H. Macy, Liam Neeson, Matt Damon.



Filmmakers: Stanley Kubrick, Bryan Singer, Robert Rodriguez, David Mammet, Quentin Tarantino, Stephen Speilberg, George A. Romero, Oliver Stone, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Tony Gilroy, Joss Whedon, Peter Hyams, Ridley Scott, Dan O'Bannon, Sam Raimi, J.J. Abrams, Peter Jackson, Darren Aronofsky, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Martin Scorsese, Kevin Smith.



My dream in life always involved becoming a storyteller. As a child, I loved watching movies much like any other red-blooded American in the 1970s and 1980s. The stories in the movies, like with most movies fans, created worlds and characters that played on my sense of wanting to be involved in an epic hero's journey. All types of movie genres deal with the hero's journey in ways that I really like, such as zombie movies, super-hero films, science-fiction epics, and suspenseful horror flicks.





Over the years, I have collected various comic books and graphic novels. In the last decade, comic book super-heroes have become popular on both the big screen and the small screen. The rise of super-hero fiction in comic books began over 70 years ago. The rise of super-hero movies began in the late 20th century. Movies like "Superman" (1978) and "Batman" (1989) became the standout icons.

The Bryan Singer adaptation of the "X-Men" (2000) helped to reinvent the genre, but still fell short of the hit films yet to come. When "Spider-Man" (2002) hit the theaters, then that opened up the market for a whole host of new super-hero film adaptations as well as a successful trilogy of films for the legendary wall-crawler. "Spider-Man 2" (2004) and "Spider-Man 3" (2007) each did very well in theaters. However, I do prefer the first film and The Green Goblin villain over the sequels.



Television shows followed along with the silver screen in the super-hero sub-genre of science-fiction. The classic super-hero TV shows really captured my interest at a young age. Shows that I loved included the 1960s TV "Batman" (1966-1969) and "The Green Hornet" (1966-1967) on ABC. I also enjoy watching modern shows like "Smallville" (2001) on the WB Television Network and "Heroes" (2006) on NBC from creator Tim Kring.

Ben Affleck played the blind lawyer Matt Murdock in the dark and moody "Daredevil" (2003). Eric Bana played the super-scientist Doctor Bruce Banner in the Ang Lee directed Hulk (2003). "The Incredible Hulk" (2008) followed the earlier version with Edward Norton as Banner. Both films based on the raging green juggernaut did fairly well. Daredevil and The Hulk are two of my favorite comic book characters. But, I think that the film adaptations of them have not lived up to their fullest potential.

Speaking of Marvel Studios super-failures, three film versions of The Punisher failed to find an audience in "The Punisher" (1989) with Dolph Lundgren, "The Punisher" (2004) with Thomas Jane, and "Punisher: War Zone" (2008) with Ray Stevenson. Each of these three films failed to do well at the box office. But, Marvel Studios keeps trying to rejuvenate the franchise. They need to figure out the problem and fix it. Otherwise, put an end to The Punisher movie franchise.



Bryan Singer followed up X-Men (2000) and "X-Men 2" (2003) with a new version of Superman in "Superman Returns" (2006). Christopher Nolan (screenwriter, director) and Christian Bale (actor) redefined Batman in the origin film "Batman Begins" (2005) and the sequel "The Dark Knight" (2008). Suddenly, Superman and Batman became cool once again. The World's Finest had joined together once again to do battle against evil.

Marvel Studios released the "Fantastic Four" (2005) movie and followed it up with a promising sequel with an unwieldy title "4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (2007). The first film was great. I liked it. The second film had a lot of promise. But, just like "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006) the year before, the end of the second Fantastic Four film was anticlimactic. Once again, Marvel Studios could not muster a big winner. Any third film in the Fantastic Four trilogy needs to fix what went wrong in the second film.

"Iron Man" (2008) had director John Favreau with Robert Downey, Jr. in the role of Tony Stark, but it became eclipsed by the astronomical success of "The Dark Knight" released that same year. Despite that over-shadowing, however, the Iron Man comic book character now had an excellent origin film. With the introduction of SHIELD, can "The Avengers" movie be far behind? I think that films featuring groups of super-heroes will become more and more popular. Marvel needs three good Avengers films.



In March of 2009, a new epic R-rated super-hero film was released titled "Watchmen" (2009). This film adaptation of the graphic novel from the 1980s was hailed as a great movie by many critics. Rotten Tomatoes described the film as "Gritty and visually striking..." But, they went on to say that the "...complex narrative structure may make it difficult for it to appeal to viewers..." This film represents steps in the new vision of DC Comics super-hero movies being made by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. This may lead to more ambitious super-hero films.

I hope that Marvel Comics and DC Comics make some Golden Age super-hero movies in the near future. A wide variety of retro super-hero films could be made. Movies set in the 1950s or the 1970s featuring Superman and Batman would be interesting. I would love to see Marvel revive Captain America, Bucky, the original Human Torch, Prince Namor (The Sub-Mariner), and the other Invaders. The bad guys would, of course, have to be super-powered Nazis.





The list below includes many of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the United States military that I have studied over the years. Most of them lived during the era of World War Two. That period in history holds a great fascination for me. I plan to write several historical fiction screenplays set in the World War Two era. That time was an epic period in world history. I never get tired of studying that era and the people that lived through it.

WW2 - The Best: First Lieutenant Audie Murphy (the most decorated combat soldier of WW2), General George S. Patton ("Old Blood and Guts" from the United States Army), Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (Black Sheep Squadron, USMC), Major Richard Ira "Dick" Bong (#1 Flying Ace in WW2 with 40 confirmed kills).



WW2 - Medal of Honor: Private Carlton W. Barrett (D-Day), Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (D-Day), Sergeant Francis S. Currey (Battle of the Bulge), Master Sergeant Paul Luther Bolden (Battle of the Bulge), Captain Robert Hugo Dunlap (Iwo Jima), Lieutenant Commander Rufus Geddie Herring (Iwo Jima).



I love watching movies set in that period of time. Among my favorite World War Two films are "Patton" (1970), "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), "The Thin Red Line" (1998), and "Midway" (1976). I enjoyed watching the ten-part HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers" (2001). That series became an epic TV event. The show followed the story of the real life Major Richard Winters and his 101st Airborne Easy Company after D-Day.

I like fantasy films that use the World War Two setting. Epic movies like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and horror films like "The Keep" (1983) demonstrated how World War Two could be used as a background setting to tell a good story. There are still many more great stories that could be told in this highly specialized genre. I would love to see an expanded live action adaptation of the "B-17" story from "Heavy Metal" (1981).





Several movies combine my love of World War Two history with my love of the zombie horror genre. "Shock Waves" (1977) became a cult classic zombie film that featured Peter Cushing as an aging SS Commander in charge of a squad of Nazi zombies on a remote isolated island. Another such film from Norway is scheduled for release as "Død Snø" (2009) at the annual Sundance Film Festival. Død Snø means "Dead Snow" in Norwegian.

Quite a few zombie films have been made by foreign filmmakers. The Spanish film "[REC]" (2007), remade as "Quarantine" (2008), made an impact with zombie fans. "[REC] 2" is in production. Danny Boyle (director) and Alex Garland (screenwriter) added to the English zombie movie scene with "28 Days Later" (2002). The sequel "28 Weeks Later" (2007) did well in theaters and added to the survival horror genre. Discussion on the Internet centers on whether or not the Rage Virus infected are zombies.



George A. Romero kicked off the modern wave of survival horror zombie films with his groundbreaking film titled "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968. Romero released the original "Dawn of the Dead" in 1978. That film captured my imagination and focused my interest for over thirty years. Romero's "Day of the Dead" was released in 1985. That film is a masterpiece in the zombie genre. The original Dead Trilogy remains the best in classic zombie horror movies.

George A. Romero remade "Night of the Living Dead" (1990). The remake surpassed the achievements of the original. Tom Savini directed the film with Romero as the screenwriter and executive producer. I think of the period from 1968 to 1990 as .."The Golden Age".. of zombie horror film history. The decade of the 1990s did not produce any top of the line classic zombie movies. For ten years, it seemed as if the zombie genre had simply died off once and for all.



Since the year 2000, however, filmmakers have taken on the challenge of making zombie movies. Some of those films did well. Others were complete failures. One of the best of these new zombie films rose up out of England from filmmakers Edgar Wright (director, co-writer) and Simon Pegg (actor, co-writer) in a romantic comedy called "Shaun of the Dead" (2004). That film emerged as a new icon of dark comedy horror films.

Released the same month as "Shaun of the Dead" came the Zack Snyder (director) and James Gunn (screenwriter) remake of "Dawn of the Dead" (2004). That film made a really good showing in theaters. I enjoyed the remake as much as the original. A year later, Romero released his fourth film in the Dead series titled "Land of the Dead" (2005). All three of these films have become iconic in the zombie genre.



George A. Romero made a fifth film in the Dead series titled "Diary of the Dead" (2007). I liked that movie. But, it did seem to fly in under the radar with many zombie movie fans. On some fan websites, "Diary of the Dead" has been compared to "The Blair Witch Project" (1999) and "Cloverfield" (2008). "Day of the Dead: The Need To Feed" (2008) was remade by screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick and director Steve Miner. But, that film did not follow the original story nor did it gain high acclaim from Romero fans or film critics. The film violated too many zombie-isms.

Romero has a zombie film in production due to be released this Fall under the title "...of the Dead" (2009). The zombie master also produced a remake of "The Crazies" (2009) scheduled for release in December. Breck Eisner directed the remake. Eisner will direct two more remakes of classic films in "Flash Gordon" (2010) and "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (2011). More zombie films loom on the horizon with "Autumn" (2009), based on the novel by David Moody, and "World War Z" (2010), based on the novel by humor and historical fiction writer Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks).