The Dead Don t Die is a 2019 American absurdist comedy horror film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It features an ensemble cast including Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Carol Kane, and Selena Gomez and follows a small town s police force as they combat a sudden zombie invasion.

The film had its world premiere as the opening film at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2019. It was theatrically released in North America on June 14, 2019 by Focus Features, and earned $15.3 million at the box office. It received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

In rural Centerville, police officers Cliff Robertson and Ronnie Peterson respond to a report from farmer Frank Miller regarding a missing chicken, and briefly interact with Hermit Bob, a bearded eccentric, in the woods. On their way back to the station, Cliff notices there is still daylight after 8pm and Ronnie s watch and cell phone stop working. Later, at a diner, hardware store owner Hank Thompson hears a radio report concerning polar fracking.

Two zombies reanimate when night falls and kill the two diner employees, Fern and Lily, who are discovered by Hank the next morning. Ronnie believes zombies killed the employees. Young travelers Zoe, Jack and Zack stop for gas and meet Bobby.

At the Centerville Juvenile Detention Center, Geronimo tells fellow inmates Olivia and Stella that polar fracking has altered the Earth s rotation.

Cliff and Ronnie find open graves at the cemetery, while Hermit Bob spies on them. Cliff emphatically rejects Ronnie s suggestion of informing Miller of the general suspicion that zombies are on the loose. Ronnie teaches Cliff how to kill zombies, and Bobby and Hank prepare weapons. Motel owner Danny Perkins watches news about pets behaving strangely and then finds out his cats are missing. Other of Farmer Miller s animals have disappeared.

That evening, more zombies rise, and Danny is attacked and transformed. Cliff and Ronnie bring supplies to the station and tell fellow officer Mindy Morrison about the zombies. The corpse of Mallory reanimates in the police station and Ronnie decapitates her.

Two corpses reanimate at the funeral home and are beheaded by Zelda Winston (who recently bought the funeral home) with a sword. She goes to the police station, where the three officers leave her to operate communications. The cops drive through town and find the three travelers dead at the motel. Ronnie beheads the bodies, much to Mindy s distress, and takes Zoe s Sturgill Simpson CD. Zelda waves her hand over the police computer and it generates code. Ronnie begins playing the CD on the police car sound system, but Cliff throws the CD out the car window.

Hank and Bobby face zombies at the hardware store. Each zombie says only one word, related to something from their past or an item they see as a zombie. Zombies maul Miller. Geronimo, Olivia and Stella flee the detention center, again observed by Hermit Bob. When zombies overwhelm the patrol car at the cemetery, Mindy sees her dead grandmother, and exits the car, only to be engulfed by zombies. Ronnie and Cliff tell each other to shut up. Ronnie says he knew all would end badly because Jim gave him the entire script ahead of time, while Cliff only got the pages for his own scenes.

Zelda drives Ronnie s car through town, stopping to behead one last Fashion Zombie, and then walks calmly through the cemetery with sword in hand. Zombies amble away from the patrol car as a spinning UFO appears over the cemetery. Cliff and Ronnie watch as it beams up Zelda and departs. The two leave the car, and kill zombies including Bobby, Miller, Hank and Mindy. Hermit Bob watches from the woods through binoculars, lamenting how the world is a terrible place, as zombies overwhelm Cliff and Ronnie.

Cast

• Bill Murray as Chief Cliff Robertson: A police officer who resides in Centerville
• Adam Driver as Officer Ronnie Peterson: Cliff s partner and fellow police officer
• Tilda Swinton as Zelda Winston: a eccentric Scottish resident of Centerville who has recently bought the Funeral Home
• Chloë Sevigny as Officer Mindy Morrison: A fellow police officer who works with Cliff and Ronnie
• Steve Buscemi as Farmer Frank Miller: A farmer and resident of Centerville
• Danny Glover as Hank Thompson: The hardware store owner and resident of Centerville
• Caleb Landry Jones as Bobby Wiggins: the gas station attendant and toy shop owner.
• Selena Gomez as Zoe: a young traveler
• Austin Butler as Jack: a young traveler, who travels alongside Zoe and Zack
• Luka Sabbat as Zack: a young traveler, who travels alongside Zoe and Jack
• Rosie Perez as Posie Juarez: A news anchor and reporter
• Eszter Balint as Fern: a waitress at the local diner
• Iggy Pop as Male Coffee Zombie
• Sara Driver as Female Coffee Zombie
• RZA as Dean: a delivery worker who has a friendship with Bobby
• Carol Kane as Mallory O Brien: The town drunk
• Larry Fessenden as Danny Perkins: The motel owner in Centerville
• Rosal Colon as Lily: a waitress at the local diner
• Sturgill Simpson as Guitar Zombie
• Jodie Markell as Woman on TV
• Charlotte Kemp Muhl as Fashion Zombie
• Maya Delmont as Stella: an inmate at the Juvenile Detention Center
• Taliyah Whitaker as Olivia: a fellow inmate at the Juvenile Detention Center
• Jahi Winston as Geronimo: A fellow inmate at Juvenile Detention Center
• Tom Waits as Hermit Bob: a mysterious hermit who oversees Centerville s events play out
• Jonah Marshall as Zombie Child

Production

In February 2018, during the press tour for Isle of Dogs, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton announced their involvement in a zombie film directed by Jim Jarmusch.

In March 2018, Murray announced that Daniel Craig and Rosie Perez were set to costar. Speaking of the project, Murray stated:

It s a zombie movie. Jim Jarmusch has written a zombie script that s so hilarious and it has a cast of great actors: Rosie Perez, Daniel Craig. It s titled The Dead Don t Die, and it shoots over the summer. But, no, I will not play a zombie.

In July 2018, it was announced that Adam Driver, Selena Gomez, Chloë Sevigny, Austin Butler, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, and Caleb Landry Jones had been cast alongside Murray, though Craig did not appear in the film. Joshua Astrachan and Carter Logan produced the movie, while Focus Features distributes.

Filming took place in and around small communities north of New York City, including Ancram, Elizaville, Fleischmanns and Margaretville, New York.

Release

The Dead Don t Die had its world premiere as the opening film at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2019. The film was released in the United States on June 14, 2019 and on July 12, 2019 in the United Kingdom. The studio spent $2–3 million on domestic promotion.

Reception

Box office

The Dead Don t Die has grossed $6.5 million in North America and $8.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $15.3 million.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $2.4 million from 613 theaters.

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 54%, based on 310 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site s critical consensus reads: The Dead Don t Die dabbles with tones and themes to varying degrees of success, but sharp wit and a strong cast make this a zom-com with enough brains to consume. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews .

Alex Leininger of PopMatters wrote It s a curious film, one that acknowledges the end of the world blatantly without once forgetting to be steadfastly, almost dementedly, silly. It s a smart if minor work from a masterfully innovative director. In a review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott wrote that The Dead Don t Die respects the horror genre without really committing to it.

Todd McCarthy, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, said of the film At times, the deadpan of Murray and Driver becomes, well, a bit deadening, and true wit is in short supply, even though the film remains amusing most of the way.

Year	2019
ReleaseDate	2019-06-14
RuntimeMins	104
RuntimeStr	1h 44min
Plot	The peaceful town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves.
Awards	Awards, 2 wins & 7 nominations
Directors	Jim Jarmusch
Writers	Jim Jarmusch
Stars	Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tom Waits
Produced by	Joshua Astrachan, Peita Carnevale, Arielle De Saint Phalle, Carrie Fix, Marcelo Gandola, Frederick W. Green, Norio Hatano, Carter Logan, Peter Possne
Music by	Carter Logan, Sqürl
Cinematography by	Frederick Elmes
Film Editing by	Affonso Gonçalves
Casting By	Ellen Lewis
Production Design by	Alex DiGerlando
Art Direction by	Julia Heymans
Set Decoration by	Kendall Anderson
Costume Design by	Catherine George
Makeup Department	Kimberly Amacker, Crist Ballas, Jared Balog, Anthony Canonica, Kevin Carter, Benedetta Celada, Valentina Celada, Judy Chin, Marjorie Durand, Simpson Elliott, Gary English, Ana Victoria Esquivel, Michael Fontaine, Bruce Spaulding Fuller, Lindsay Gelfand, Crystal Jurado, Aaron Mark Kinchen, Valeria Kole, Rich Krusell, Brooke Lynski, Michael Marino, Gary Martori, Milagros Medina-Cerdeira, Tom Molinelli, Yesim Shimmy Osman, Christalla Philippou, Greg Pikulski, Björn Rehbein, Zachary Ripps, Toni Roman, Brett Schmidt, Stella Sensel, Jasen Joseph Sica, Guy Smith, Lauren Tirpak, Simpson Elliott, Amanda Miller
Production Management	Carrie Fix, Marshall Johnson, Paul A. Levin, Justus McLarty, Ed Rilli, Michael Sledd
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Randall Balsmeyer, Sussan Cordero, Alejandro Ramia, Will Rimmer, Kamen Velkovsky, Atilla Salih Yücer
Art Department	Michael G. Bird, Ryan Boylan, Brandon Boyles, Lauren Brown, Jeff Butcher, Patrick Campbell, Micaela Carolan, Matt Chappell, Jasmine Cho, George Couri, Samantha Drake, Arlo Hoffman, Edward A. Ioffreda, Alfredo Lazaro, Henriette Lopez, Justin Mabry, Leanne Macomber, Julie Marr, Kerri McGill, Laura C. McPherson, Paige Mitchell, Jonathan Mosca, Emily Pober Higgins, Peter Scheck, Shane Claire Strano, Kelly Sweeney, Mike Thompson, Gabriella Weathersby
Sound Department	Dennis Dembeck, Kathleen Edwards, Grant Elder, Robert Fernandez, Matthew Haasch, Robert Hein, Rob L. Hubbard, Bobby Johanson, Drew Kunin, Avi Laniado, Tor McAfee Kingdon, Igor Nikolic, Glenfield Payne, Jay Peck, Michael Rivera, Adam Sanchez, Tricia Schultz, Michael Scott, Grant Elder
Special Effects by	Sidney Adam Cumbie, Michael Fontaine, Johann Kunz, John M. Souto, Peter Wright
Visual Effects by	Simon Backlund, Håkan Blomdahl, Joe Chan-Nguyen, Susie Cobb, Adrienne DeLuca, Urban Forsberg, Henrik Friberg, Calle Halldin, Alex Hansson, Lauren M. Hudson, Ran Huo, Andreas Hylander, Anthony Jones, Nik Jonvanovski, Nikolce Jovanovski, Erik Karlsson, Ryan Lathey, Petter Lindholm, Nathan Meier, Nicole Melius, Cassandra Mendez, Timo Närhi, Sam O Hare, Michael Orbing, Erik Rasmussen, Travis Reinke, Justin Rogers-CdeBaca, Emre Salihov, Jian Tang, Felix Thedeby, Felix Thedeby, Ellen Therén, Jason Tsang, Adam Wong
Stunts	Frank Alfano, Mohammed J. Ali, Paige Rhea Allison, Manny Ayala, Alanna Blair, Jay Carrado, Justin Clarke, Jared Blake DiCroce, Jen Egan, Tim Gallin, Christopher Jon Gombos, James S. Gonzalez, Wendy Gutierrez, Akihiro Haga, Kat Harley, Benjamin Hinnant, Sarah Irwin, Chad Knorr, Jennifer Lamb, Roberto Lopez, Tina McKissick, Anthony Mecca, James Newman, Mick O Rourke, Christopher Parker, Mark Pettograsso, Zack Roberts, Akos Schenek, Noah Schultz, Manny Siverio, Matthew R. Staley, Dorothea Swiac, Stephanie Vovou, Peter Wallack, Earl Weathers, Kenny Wong, Ren Hsieh
Camera and Electrical Department	Peter Agliata, Tyler Chong, Pati Dynes, Greg Finkel, Leland Gorlin, Bradley Grant, Rob Harlow, Suren Karapetyan, Abby Levine, Paul C. McKenna, Greg Meola, John J. Moers, Rich Porta, John Raugalis, Ema Rees-Scanlon, Eric J. Robertson, Lewis Rothenberg, Mark Schmidt, Tim Smythe, Chad Strohmayer, Lydia Sudall, Andy Watts
Casting Department	Sunny Edelman, Heidi K. Eklund, Dann Fink, Lexa Hayes, Amy Hutchings, Kate Sprance, Bruce Winant
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Romales Acker, Anne Brenneke, Sarah Dano, Colleen Ehrlich, Jennifer Harrington, Barbara Hause, Yvette Helin, Grace Hill, Katalina Iturralde, Gina Javaheri, Beverly Law, Zoe Nadel, Liz Samuels, Sandy Siu, Eileen Sieff Stroup
Editorial Department	Dylan Ball, Peter Boychuk, Alana Casto, Kyle Flannery, Joe Gawler, Ulysses Guidotti, Alec Perez, Perri Pivovar, Carlos Nestor Ramos, Jaime Sukonnik, Kody Wescott
Location Management	Jeff Barry, Jeffrey A. Brown, Justin Camacho, Garrett Kliewer, Brian C. Morgan, Thomas Whidden
Music Department	Affonso Gonçalves, Ilyse Wolfe Tretter
Script and Continuity Department	Katri Billard, Robb Foglia
Transportation Department	Boughen Clinton, John Christopher Hicks, Tim Patrick, Timmy Patrick, Mike Salomone
Additional Crew	Randall Balsmeyer, Steve Berman, Peita Carnevale, Will Carnevale, Jamie Coffey, Heath Cottengim, Andrew Dale, Kim Dang, Sara Denson, Hannah Depew, Evan Derrickson, Sara Driver, Libby Feltch, Jack Fessenden, Dann Fink, Shellie Gillespie, David Guggino, Kat Harley, Mary Hodge, Katarina Krave, Randi Langdon, Cindy Laraway, Heather Lee, Marcella Lentz-Pope, Bill Lobley, Skylar Loraquette, Gabriella Ludlow, Norm Magnusson, Morgan Malecki, Peter A. Marshall, Kristina McFadden, Ames McNamara, Josh Miller, Richie Moriarty, Lisa Ortiz, Jesse Rolfe, Helen Sam, Eric Schwartzmiller, Nicole Signore, Albert Skowronski, Stacey Smith, Kaya Ozan Sorak, Caleb Spaw, Zack Spicehandler, Deirdre Sullivan, Jaden Waldman, Bruce Winant, Kellen C Wingate
Thanks	Rita Adami, P.T. Anderson, Susan Arosteguy, Ellen Berkenblit, Mark Birman, Martiza Birman, Brian J. Bonislawsky, Ron Bozman, Dan Braun, Reinhard Brundig, Bruce Campbell, Daniel Craig, David Cronenberg, Kate Dean, Chris DiBenedetto, Maggie Englehardt, Jane Frazer, Mark Friedberg, Aaron Gilbert, Lynn Gustafson, Rich Heller, Kim Henkel, John Hoeko, Gary Holt, Tom Jarmusch, Hardwick Johnson, Jean Labadie, Jessica Lacy, Nancy Green Madia, Jeremy Marks, Keetin Mayakara, Joanie Merwin, Vincent Merwin, Jaden Michael, Larry O Neil, Clara Perez, Sam Raimi, Jed Rapfogel, Larry Reilly, Mallory Reiss, Paul Reiss, Laurent Rejto, George A. Romero, Debra Rubin, Gil Rubin, Bonnie Schroader, Jerry Schroader, Brett Sharlow, Rob Snyder, Jim Sotet, Kat Spiess, Gary Streiner, Rodrigo Teixeira, Steven Thibault, Peter Trinh, Bart Walker, Jasmin Way, Fred Woller, Wu-Tang Clan, Atilla Salih Yücer, Attila Yücer, Winifred Zubin
Genres	Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Companies	Focus Features, Kill The Head, Longride
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	5.4
ImDbRatingVotes	79914
MetacriticRating	53
Keywords	zombie,police officer,undead,zombie attack,zombie apocalypse