The Scott Thomas Interview: Stunt Man and
Zombie Maker?
Scott
Thomas, writer and director of Flight of the Living
Dead, has had an interesting career making movies and
television shows, but FOTLD is his first entry to
the horror genre. Not just a horror movie, but a zombie movie. Talk
about hardcore.
Written
by The Horror Czar, BHM Editor Don
Sumner October 2, 2007
Scott Thomas, Director and Co-Writer of Flight
of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane has been a
horror movie fan for many years. “I’ve loved horror
since I was a kid”, said Thomas,
“’Invaders from Mars’, Sci-Fi horror
really. I worked on ‘Nightman’ and ‘The
X-men’ on television. Romero and Fuchi, I love
them”.
Why is it then, after working in television and film since 1984
(Thomas’ credits include producing television series and
movies as well as directing at least six feature films prior), that
horror has finally made it to the forefront? “Horror was next
in line” explains Thomas, “it took 2 ½
years to get it off the ground”.
I love a good zombie film, and my next question to Scott was
“why zombies?” Scott Thomas sounded a bit puzzled.
“A Traditional zombie has origins in Voodoo” says
Thomas, “I hadn’t thought of what we did (or Romero
and Fuchi’s creations) as a zombie film, but I guess it
is.”
Writing a script for a horror film is a process that is different for
every writer. How did Scott Thomas go about writing Flight of
the Living Dead? “It really started with thinking
of particular gags and scenarios, and I thought it would be cool if we
put them in”. Start with the kill scenes and build a movie
around them? I hadn’t thought of that.
“We started with the conventions (of a film about the undead)
and then bent them a little” explained Thomas.
“FOTLD started as an alien parasite infection but we moved to
a virus.”
The
sets for Flight of the Living Dead are fantastic
– especially some of the dark corners in the underbelly of
the 747. “We had access to a couple of 747s in the desert for
filming” said Thomas, “but do you know how hot it
gets in a 747 with no air conditioning? We ended up cannibalizing one
of the jets and rebuilding it on stage. There is one scene where
survivors are crawling through an area of the body of the plane, and
that is really what it looks like. We used all the same colors and foil
wrapping”.
“Also, we’ve gotten some flack about guns being
fired in the plane” continued Scott, “we checked
with the DP of the film, who is also a pilot for American Airlines, and
you can fire a gun on a plane if it is flying low enough. We made sure
it was clear that the altitude was low so that we were
accurate”.
Aside from his most current project, Scott Thomas has had an
interesting career with no shortage of harrowing experiences.
“We were working on motorcycle stunts for American
Ninja 5 and one of the stunt men talked me into jumping off a
building into some boxes we were using to break the fall. I
didn’t roll on my back but instead went feet first
– right through 20 boxes”. Beyond this
“bonehead move” Thomas also recalled a time when he
was working as a camera man on a helicopter in Chicago. “The
helo lost hydraulics and the pilot said that they had to gain
altitude.” When Scott asked ‘why’ the
pilot told him “we have to get high enough so that if the
engine dies we have some extra time to recover the fall”. The
whole time Scott was thinking “Great, my first gig and
I’m gonna die”.
Oh, and Scott Thomas also did some driving for the title stunts in Knight
Rider…very cool.
Thomas’ future projects include a TV series he conceived of
several years ago called The Strangers, some book
options and a feature film using one of the dozens of scripts he has
now for consideration. Thomas said “give me a year and I will
know for sure what my next project will be”.
“Look”, said Thomas, “my philosophy in
making movies is that, okay, I’m not going to make
‘Shindler’s List’. I just want to
entertain”. That philosophy works for me…unless
the next important work of cinematic artistry has zombies in it.
Scott Thomas is a good guy that has made one hell of a zombie flick.
Still, even though he has shared his professional career and
embarrassing moments, I wanted the BHM trademark
exclusive. “Well,” said Thomas, “one of
the cast members from FOTLD is pregnant.”
He paused for a beat and then added, “Unfortunately not by
me”. I guess there are limits to a Director’s
perks. Questions
or comments about Scott Thomas? Contact us!
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Aside from his most current project, Scott Thomas has had an
interesting career with no shortage of harrowing experiences.
“We were working on motorcycle stunts for American
Ninja 5 and one of the stunt men talked me into jumping off a
building into some boxes we were using to break the fall. I
didn’t roll on my back but instead went feet first
– right through 20 boxes”. Beyond this
“bonehead move” Thomas also recalled a time when he
was working as a camera man on a helicopter in Chicago. “The
helo lost hydraulics and the pilot said that they had to gain
altitude.” When Scott asked ‘why’ the
pilot told him “we have to get high enough so that if the
engine dies we have some extra time to recover the fall”. The
whole time Scott was thinking “Great, my first gig and
I’m gonna die”. 
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