We all get what’s coming to us in the end. Play your cards right and you’ll make it to a grand old age and die smiling. Enjoy running around a zombie-infested shopping mall playing tag with the undead? You’re SWAT officer Roger DeMarco and your number’s up, sunshine - Tom Savinistyle. As memorably played by actor Scott Reiniger, Roger was the confident protector of the group who pushed his luck a bit too far. The nascent zombie genre took note, but Roger was the definite article. We cocked our rifle, clenched our privates and took a slide down the memory escalator to 1978 with the man himself…
STARBURST: How did you come to play Roger DeMarco?
Scott Reiniger: Christine Forrest, George Romero’s girlfriend [later his wife], called me from New York and said she wanted me to come and audition for it. I said ‘sure, send me the script’. It was about 225 pages and was the most violent thing I’d ever read [laughs]. This was quite a piece of work. So, I auditioned for George, he was very relaxed, very open, and very secure with himself. I did two or three scenes and he smiled and said, ‘yeah, I really like what you’re doing’. I could tell there was something, some subtext behind his voice. He called me back for a second audition and said, ‘you know, this is not really what I was thinking about for this character but I really like what you’re doing’. I said to him, ‘George, what’s the ‘but’ in your voice?’ and he said, ‘well, I already cast this guy Ken Foree who you’ll be playing opposite on screen, and he’s twice your size’. I found out subsequently that George was thinking of a big, burly Nick Nolte-type for Roger.
Scott Reiniger: Roger ‘Trooper’ DeMarco
This story is from the December 2020 edition of Starburst Magazine.
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This story is from the December 2020 edition of Starburst Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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