Interview with Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman

Prior to NOLD, I was president of Hardman Associates Inc. and Marilyn was Vice President and Creative Director. Our firm was deeply involved in the creation and production of industrial films. The majority of our industrial clients were multi-national corporations. In addition to filmwork, we also created and produced and presented exhibit shows all over the world. At the time of Nold, we had just ended a morning radio show which we broadcast from our own studios in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was a four hour, five day a week comedy show mixed with music, news, weather reports and lots of commercials. The show was successful but it was exhausting us. During this period, Hardman Associates employed 25 people. We had an art department, three audio recording studios, a photographic studio for commercial work, a color film processing lab for professional photographers and an educational division which produced materials for use in school systems throughout the US.

We had some friends who ran a small film production company by the name of The Latent Image. They produced commercials for TV. Those people were George Romero, Russell Streiner and John Russo. We had worked together on several film projects.

One day (shortly after we had ended the radio show), Marilyn received a phone call (I think it was from Russ), who said they would like to talk to us about an idea. She told him that we were very interested and the three of them came up to our studio and we sat and talked about the idea...a horror film...no title of course at that time,...and would we be interested in becoming part of a core group for the production of the film. Marilyn and I had just ended the radio show and we were ready for anything!!

That's how it all began. We became two of the ten core group. The core became Image Ten Inc. Today, along with Russ Streiner and John Russo, I am a trustee of Image Ten Inc., elected by the shareholders to oversee the ongoing affairs of the corporation.

Night of the Living Dead is generally considered a revolutionary film for its time. When you read the script what were your initial reactions to it?

When we read the script initially, the five of us agreed that it would take a goodly amount of work to make it really horrific. Georges' idea was excellent, we thought. John said that he would go to work on the screen play and the dialogue for Helen and Harry Cooper in the basement sequences would be written by Marilyn.

.....And so it began to evolve.

In regard to it being a revolutionary film....yes, it certainly was.....but that was accidental. We knew that we could not raise enough money to shoot a film on a par with the classic horror films with which we had all grown up. The best that we could do was to place our cast in a remote spot and then bring the horror to be visited on them in that spot. We had no idea that we would be creating a mutation of the horror film genre. Our goal: "make it as scary as we could".

There have been references that have said the script was being written by John Russo as the film was being made. Is this true and if so to what extent? Did you have any input?

The references to the script being written while we were shooting the film, came about largely, I believe, because of the lead actor, Duane Jones. The script had been written with the character Ben as a rather simple truck driver. His dialogue was that of a lower class/uneducated person. Duane Jones was a very well educated man. He was fluent in a number of languages and went on to hold a professorship at Vassar. Duane simply refused to do the role as it was written. As I recall, I believe that Duane himself upgraded his own dialogue to reflect how he felt the character should present himself.

In the making of many films, quite often there will be dialogue changes for a variety of reasons. This task fell to John...who handled it well. Marilyn made changes in our basement dialogue as those scenes were shot.

In addition to acting I believe you were involved in other aspects of the production of the film?

As to our roles in the production: I (Karl),chose the music for the film since Hardman Associates owned the Capital film music library. I chose a selection of music for each of the various scenes and then George made the final selections. I then, took those selections and augmented them electronically. Marilyn and I recorded all of the live sound effects used in the film (two 10 inch reels of edited tape). Marilyn was in charge of all makeup (she sure used a lot of morticians wax on the ghouls!). Wardrobe also fell to Marilyn.

NOTE: Of all the sound effects that we created, the one that still gives me goose bumps when I hear it, is Marilyn's screaming as she is killed by her daughter. Judy O'deas screaming is a close second. Both were looped in and out of echo over and over again.

Finally, all of the production stills for the film were shot by me and printed by me. A number of cast members formed a production line in the darkroom for developing, washing and drying of the prints as I made the exposures. As I recall, I shot over 1250 pictures during the production.

When the film was finally released many critics condemned it. What were your thoughts regarding the completed film?

When the film was finished and then condemned, we were hopeful that the condemnation would spark boxoffice activity. Frankly, we were all too close to the film to realize just how frightening it really was. It took months for us to accept the fact that it really did scare people!

Karl, a strange twist was that Harry was actually right, the cellar was the safest place. Does this get mentioned often?

Yes, Harry was correct regarding the basement. To this day, people come up to me and say, "I hated you in that movie.....but you were right about the basement".

In what way has Night of the Living Dead affected your lives?

NOLD has not had a tremendous effect on our lives. However,for the past thirty years, we have lived, almost daily, with reminders of the film....most often via mail from fans (mail seems to be increasing...notably from young people who have been captivated by the film), or from people we meet on the street. There are increasing requests from fans who want to know if we have anything to sell!?!? As a consequence, we have indeed begun to produce items for sale. T-Shirts as an example and copies of Marilyns Scrapbook of Night of the Living Dead which she has faithfully maintained through the years. It now weighs 5 pounds! Fans love it! It's a great 30 year history of the film.

Perhaps the most important effect the film has had for us...on us, is the profound feeling that the fans of NOLD have engendered in us. We are humbled by our fans!

......And, having said that, perhaps that feeling, in and of itself, is indeed a tremendous affect!?!?

There have been rumours that George Romero is planning on adding new footage to Night of the Living Dead with the aim of releasing a special edition in 1998. Have you heard anything regarding this?

Ah...the question of the re-issue!!! We do indeed know about this! Marilyn had the idea a few months ago, presented it to me and we discussed it at great length. It's a very exciting idea. The basic premise is to shoot new footage as an addition to the film but without damaging the web of the film as it exists. George is not involved as of now. He has too many irons in the fire...too many ongoing projects. It is not yet decided who will do what, but I believe it will happen. However, I don't think it will be for a 1998 release. Stay tuned!!