Kat Williams once said, “(In Atlanta) you could have all your dreams come true or you could get killed at a stoplight.” You could ALSO get napalmed during the apocalypse and have your undead corpse forever scorched into the pavement. Punchlines aside Season 5 showed us an even bleaker side of Atlanta during Beth’s rescue mission.
Creating a post-apocalyptic scene rich with scalded walker actors and dummies proved to be a unique challenge. For example, make-up and effect teams used holes to hide actor’s legs to create a burnt torso look. Despite being burned, the walkers were still fleshy and pink enough to contrast the dark tones of the city. “It was like a horrendous sort of scene from Vietnam,” actor Andrew Lincoln said. The burned walkers were so real that some of the cast even had trouble distinguishing between them and the dummies. Daryl actor Norman Reedus commented, “You’re always weary of stepping on zombie bodies ’cause you can’t sometimes tell what’s alive and what’s not alive.”
Watch the video below to get a closer look at the effect process and how Executive Producers Greg Nicotero and Denise Huth’s visions (literally) came alive. Catch more videos like this in The Walking Dead Season 5 Blu-Ray/DVD pack coming August 25th.
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