George A. Romero's 1978 horror film, *Dawn of the Dead*, is widely regarded as a landmark in the zombie genre, but its creation was a journey marked by serendipitous inspiration, international collaboration, and significant logistical hurdles. The film's unique setting and the practicalities of shooting in an active commercial space during a busy season presented a distinct set of challenges that shaped its production. From its initial spark of an idea
to the final wrap of principal photography, the making of *Dawn of the Dead* offers a fascinating look into independent filmmaking.
From Mall Visit to Screenplay Inspiration
The history of *Dawn of the Dead* began in 1974, when George A. Romero was invited by a friend, Mark Mason of Oxford Development Company, to visit the Monroeville Mall. Mason, whom Romero knew through an acquaintance at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon, managed the mall. During this visit, Mason showed Romero hidden parts of the mall, and Romero observed the apparent bliss of the consumers. Mason jokingly suggested that someone could survive in the mall if an emergency ever occurred. This casual remark served as the direct inspiration for Romero to begin writing the screenplay for the film, envisioning a scenario where a shopping mall became both a refuge and a prison during a zombie apocalypse.
Romero and his producer, Richard P. Rubinstein, initially faced difficulties in securing domestic investors for this new project. However, word of the sequel to *Night of the Living Dead* reached Italian horror director Dario Argento. Argento, a fan and early critical proponent of Romero's previous work, was eager to help the classic receive a sequel. He met with Romero and Rubinstein, playing a crucial role in securing financing for the film in exchange for international distribution rights. Argento also invited Romero to Rome, offering a change of scenery and an opportunity for the two to discuss plot developments while Romero worked on the screenplay.
Navigating the Realities of On-Location Filming
With financing secured and the screenplay in progress, Romero was able to leverage his connections with the mall's owners at Oxford Development to secure the availability of the Monroeville Mall as a primary filming location, along with additional financing. Once casting was completed, principal shooting for the film, then operating under the working title *Dawn of the Living Dead*, was scheduled to commence in Pennsylvania on November 13, 1977. The decision to use an actual, operational shopping mall, especially during the bustling Christmas shopping season, introduced numerous time constraints and logistical complexities for the production crew.
Filming could only begin nightly once the mall closed, typically starting at 11 PM and concluding at 7 AM, precisely when automated music would begin playing. As December approached, the production team made a significant decision: they opted against the time-consuming task of repeatedly removing and replacing the mall's extensive Christmas decorations. This led to a shutdown in filming for the last three weeks of the year to avoid potential continuity issues and lost shooting time. Production resumed on January 3, 1978. During this break, Romero utilized the opportunity to begin editing the footage that had already been captured, a testament to the adaptive nature of the filmmaking process.
Diverse Locations and Post-Production Craft
While the Monroeville Mall served as the central backdrop, other scenes required different locations. The airfield sequences were shot at the Harold W. Brown Memorial Airfield, located approximately two miles from the mall in Monroeville. The scenes depicting the group's hideout at the top of the mall were not filmed within the mall itself but on a specially constructed set at Romero's then-production company, The Latent Image. This set also housed the elevator shaft, as no such area existed within the actual mall. Similarly, the gun store featured in the film was not located in the mall; the crew utilized Firearms Unlimited, a shop that was present in the East Liberty district of Pittsburgh at the time.
The police dock scene was filmed in downtown Pittsburgh, directly next to the Monongahela River at 1 S. 6th Street. The building, landing pad, and pumps that were once there are now gone, with the location transformed into an outdoor art gallery known as The Color Park. The truck yard scene was shot at the B&P Motor Express Co., which has since become a First Student school bus company in Irwin, Pennsylvania, about 22 minutes from the Monroeville Mall. Principal photography for *Dawn of the Dead* concluded in February 1978, after which Romero embarked on the extensive editing process. His approach involved shooting numerous angles, providing him with a wide array of possibilities during editing. This allowed him to reassemble sequences in various ways, dictating different viewer responses simply by altering an angle or adjusting the length of scenes. The abundance of footage is evident in the multiple international cuts of the film, which sometimes resulted in variations in the regional versions' tone and flow.
