Maybe you thought it was impossible for locally shot AMC hit “The Walking Dead” to become more popular. That’s before we let you in on a little secret. Zombies are made of bacon. That’s right. Bacon.
Actress Meyrick Murphy, who played sweet Meghan Chambler on the show, was among the local notables who attended Monday night's loud and lively red-carpet screening of "Rio II" at the Regal Cinemas Atlantic Station theater. Since we had a few minutes before the animated feature starring the voices of Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, Andy Garcia, Bruno Mars, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Mann and others — with a jumping soundtrack starring Atlanta's Janelle Monae — we decided to talk about, what else? Zombies.
“I’m not one to usually get scared,” Meyrick, 10, told us. Still, the makeup folks spent time with her before her scenes showing her the fake gore that she would encounter on the set, just to make sure.
“I actually liked playing with the zombie guts and stuff,” she said. “It sounds disgusting, but it’s just raw bacon.”
Mmm. Bacon-zombies.
Director salutes SCAD
Speaking of "Rio II," which comes out Friday, we got a few minutes with director Carlos Saldanha on Tuesday, following Monday night's packed screening.
“I want to make a movie where I also get entertained,” he said, referring to his goal of creating animated films both children and their parents will like. “If I take my kid to a movie, I need to enjoy it, too. It should be a family event.”
Known for his work on “Ice Age” and three spinoffs in addition to other animated films, the Brazilian director said he knew early on he wanted to work in the genre.
“When I moved to the U.S. in 1991 I was a computer science major, but I also liked to draw,” he said. “All I had access to at the time were VHS tapes. I saw animation shorts and thought, this is kind of cool. I can do my art and use my computer. The minute I sat on the computer and got the characters to move, I knew this is what I wanted to do.”
You know what else he’d like to do? Pair up with SCAD sometime. The Savannah College of Art and Design operates a campus and a digital media center in Atlanta but is headquartered on the coast.
“I love going to SCAD,” said Saldanha, who has enjoyed teaching master classes there in the past. “I always wanted to do something academically with SCAD.”
Hear that, SCAD? Have y’all’s people call his people.
Star sightings
Woody Harrelson, in town finishing up work on "Mockingjay" parts 1 and 2, was spotted at the Buckhead Whole Foods on Monday. Vince Vaughn, here for "Term Life," dined at Ecco on Tuesday night.
