The zombies in SHAUN OF THE DEAD are true to George Romero’s zombies in his seminal zombie trilogy – 'Night of the Living Dead', Dawn of the Dead' and ‘Day of the Dead' from which Edgar and Simon draw their inspiration. Slow, clumsy, and self-replicating, as their numbers increase the zombies become harder to avoid. The only way to kill them is by destroying their brains.

Open auditions were held in London to cast the zombies. An offer made on the ‘Spaced’ website invited zombie wanabees to take part in the audition process. The filmmakers also saw professional extras and circus performers though at least 70% of the final 800 zombie extras are ‘Spaced’ fans.

Once the zombies had been chosen, choreographer Litza Bikler worked with them to ensure their physical movement was entirely in keeping with Edgar’s vision. Dressed by costume designer Annie Hardinge in muted shades of grays and blues, the zombie army
really got into character on set. Several times during shooting, it was difficult to hear the actors dialogue above the moaning and groaning coming from the zombies.