Swayze Considered Hilarious Zombie Cameo
By WENNTuesday, September 22, 2009
PATRICK SWAYZE was considering poking fun at his two greatest movie roles as a zombie in a TV project that has become a much-hyped new film.
The Dirty Dancing star was approached to play a member of the undead in horror comedy Zombieland, but had to turn the cameo down when he became ill.
Film writer Rhett Reese tells ShockTillYouDrop.com that Swayze, who died last week (14Sep09), was interested in a cameo when the Woody Harrelson movie was a TV pilot - and the writers planned to lampoon classic scenes in Ghost and Dirty Dancing.
He says, “It was many years ago, before he got sick. It was going to be a Patrick Swayze zombie. The stars get attacked by him, zombified and we had these wonderful moments, where they find a potter’s wheel and there’s (character) Columbus on the wheel and these other hands come up behind him and it’s Patrick Swayze, the zombie.
“Ultimately, they fight and Patrick bull rushes (character) Tallahassee who grabs him and lifts him into the air, a la Jennifer Grey (in Dirty Dancing), and smashes him into a pillar.”
Reese admits Swayze wasn’t the only star they approached to cameo as the undead in the zombie project - Sylvester Stallone, Joe Pesci, Kevin Bacon and Matthew McConaughey were also considered, but none of them worked out.
The TV pilot became a much-anticipated movie project, starring Harrelson, Abigail Breslin and Jesse Eisenberg. The film opens in America on 2 October (09).