Zombieland came out in 2009 at the height of the post-apocalypse media fad and helped put actors like Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg on the map. The same is true of its director, Ruben Fleischer, who’s gone on to helm other action-comedies like *Venom*, *Uncharted*, and, as of this weekend, *Now You See Me: Now You Don’t*.
Talking to Deadline, Fleischer reminisced about the original *Zombieland*, whose script he initially dismissed. But once he realized it was a road trip movie—“*National Lampoon’s Vacation* meets zombies”—he got more on board with it.
Being his feature film debut, he admitted that he “truly had no idea what I was doing.” However, he believes this ended up working to his advantage. Fleischer speculates that the cast and crew appreciated his honesty about not knowing everything.
“My 1st AD, the DP, Woody [Harrelson] even, just were all very patient and helped me out,” Fleischer recalled. “A strength I have is that I think that a lot of young directors feel like they have to show that they know everything. And I was very happy to say, ‘I don’t know, and I need help.’”
If you still hold that first *Zombieland* in high regard, Fleischer is right there with you. He recently rewatched it and said he’s “pretty impressed” at how well it holds up. “This sounds arrogant, but it came off pretty good.”
With *Now You See Me* back in action, where does that leave *Zombieland*? Fleischer revealed he’s “starting to talk about” a third film with Sony. If things go well, the new installment could arrive in 2029.
“We kind of left [*Double Tap*] all saying, ‘We’ll see you in 10 years.’ That’s coming up now, so we’re starting to figure that out,” he explained.
At the moment, it’s not a firm confirmation since Fleischer has other projects he wants to tackle, including a “classic Western” with a vampire lead—“like *Unforgiven*, if Clint Eastwood was a vampire.”
Even with other things on his to-do list, Fleischer seems hopeful about bringing back his zombie-killing crew one last time.
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https://gizmodo.com/ruben-fleischer-still-loves-what-zombieland-became-2000686627