The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) inspired Romero to become a director.
Dawn of the Dead (2004), the remake of his movie Dawn of the Dead (1978), was released before the fourth part of his Zombie-series, Land of the Dead (2005), was even filmed.
A big fan of The Archers' (aka the British team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger) movie The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), based on Jacques Offenbach's operetta. He is interviewed at length about his love for the film and especially its artistic direction, use of color, and use of fantasy/horror themes in a special feature included on the Criterion Collection's 2005 DVD release of the film. Before video tape and DVD versions of the film were available, Romero would frequently rent a 16-millimeter film copy--as would Martin Scorsese, he subsequently learned, from the very same New York City rental company. Alas, Romero reported that the two fans have not yet become aware of each other.
According to Romero's former producing partner Richard P. Rubinstein on the DVD commentary of Dawn of the Dead (1978) (The Extended Cut Version), that he had offered Romero to make his fourth zombie in the early 90's. Rubinstein offered Romero $3 million and he can go make the film however he wanted it. However, Romero was at the time developing the scripts for The Mummy for Universal and the ghost story "Before I Wake" for MGM. Romero decided that he wanted to pursue those projects instead of his fourth zombie film. In the end however, "Before I Wake" ended up in development hell and Universal decided to scrap his version and went with Stephen Sommers' version. However, Romero finally made his fourth zombie film, Land of the Dead (2005).
Among the scripts that Romero was developing in the 90's that went into development hell was a ghost story called "Before I Wake" for MGM. At the same time, he was also developing the script for The Mummy for Universal before they eventually went with Stephen Sommers' version of The Mummy (1999).
At age 19, he worked briefly as a page-boy on the set of North by Northwest (1959). He later said he was unimpressed by Alfred Hitchcock's directing style while there, saying that it seemed mechanical and passionless.
Became a Canadian citizen in 2009 and resides in Toronto, Ontario.
Began making movies at the age of 14 with an 8mm camera.
Education: Carnegie-Mellon Institute (art, theatre, design).
Father of Tina Romero and G. Cameron Romero.
Frequently casts African-Americans as the heroes of his films, although the parts aren't usually written specifically for any particular race, going against the stereotype of the Black character dying early in horror films.
He has two children, a son and a daughter (who will be attending Tisch, NYU in the Fall 2006 to study film-making).
He is known for his affability and remaining good friends with former collaborators with whom he has ceased collaboration due to creative or financial reasons.
His favorite of his own films, saying its closest to the vision he had for it, is Martin (1976). He spent much of the time since his smash directorial debut, Night of the Living Dead (1968), trying to distance himself from the horror genre but has said the satisfying experience of creating 'Martin' energized him to make Dawn of the Dead (1978), which would become his greatest financial and critical success.
In 1968, he reinvented the horror genre with his Night of the Living Dead (1968), a cult classic that made its way onto the prestigious National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Is good friends with stuntman/special-effects artist/actor/director Tom Savini. The two have worked together on many films.
Of Cuban and Lithuanian descent.
Originally set to direct Pet Sematary (1989), but when filming was delayed, he dropped out and Tom Savini was given the opportunity to direct the film but passed. Finally, Mary Lambert stepped in.
Prior to Night of the Living Dead (1968), he was better known as an industrial film-maker, who created TV commercials, promotional featurettes and industrial training films. One of his assignments was to shoot short films that were used in the TV show "MisteRogers' Neighborhood".
Spent the years between The Dark Half (1993) and Bruiser (2000) working on several projects which never escaped from development hell.