While the headline may sound like a mad-libs for some, Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick assure you it’s all real.
Posting Twitter, Reese & Wernick revealed that Bill Murray wasn’t their first choice to make that infamous cameo in the 2009 zombie-comedy. The screenwriters originally planned to include Patrick Swayze, but the actor was battling pancreatic cancer at the time. Then they went to Sylvester Stallone, before settling on the wild idea of Mark Hamill.
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick never considered Bill Murray because “we never in our wildest imagination thought we could get him,” so the writers drafted a Zombieland script with Hamill in a cameo role. Similar to Murray’s scene in the first film, Hamill was set to be introduced after the four main characters — Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock — break into his home.
The scene even included a reference to The Empire Strikes Back as a duel breaks out between Tallahassee and Hamill that leaves the latter getting his hand cut off.
Wernick released the script pages for the original Hamill scene on social media over the weekend. You can read the entire scene here…
— Paul Wernick (@paulwernick) March 21, 2020
— Paul Wernick (@paulwernick) March 21, 2020
What do you think of Mark Hamill in the cameo role instead? Would you rather have seen Zombieland go a little Star Wars, or did you enjoy the Bill Murray moment? Share your feelings in the comments below.
