The SyFy channel is getting ready to debut a new original movie – with a long line-up of boy band stars singing its praises. “Dead 7” is described as a post-apocalyptic western starring ‘90s boy banders as zombie slayers. Sound intriguing? It’s meant to grab your attention.
The Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter talked to SpoilerTV at Salt Lake Comic Con FanX. (Make sure to check out our video interview with him and NSYNC’s Joey Fatone below.) Carter told us of the film, “It’s so out-of-the-box and abstract and random that I think people are going to be excited.” In fact, he and the executives at SyFy are hoping its unique tongue-in-cheek appeal draws in “Sharknado”-type attention. “It’s a B movie,” Carter admits. “It’s not some super blockbuster movie. But it’s one of those niche movies.”
Carter not only stars in the film, he wrote the screenplay. He says he’d always been interested in acting but because of his busy music career, he didn’t have much time to focus on it. So nine years ago he decided to carve out time to write a script, penning a part for himself. “I had this idea of doing sort of a western zombie hybrid film,” he explains. “The two [genres] are my favorite types. I love zombie movies and I love westerns – old spaghetti westerns. And so for me, we were able to create a world that I would love to act in.”
At first Carter envisioned the cast as a couple of boy banders alongside sports stars, like Shaquille O’Neal. But after putting the screenplay on the backburner, Carter was thrilled when last year The Asylum came on board – the production company behind “Sharknado.” Together they reworked the movie. “It turned into this entire huge thing that I never thought was possible [before] we partnered up with The Asylum,” he says. Part of that new direction was the expansion of the boy banders. The first person Carter asked to co-star was NSYNC’s Joey Fatone.
“He knows I’ve done some acting,” Fatone tells us. “He was like, ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to do something and work with you – but I also want to figure out [how] maybe we can do something with ‘90s nostalgia, like boy bands and groups and artists.”
Soon that vision became a reality. The cast reads like a who’s who of ‘90s pop music. Carter enlisted A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough from the Backstreet Boys; Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick from NSYNC; Jeff Timmons from 98 degrees; O-Town’s Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick, Jacob Underwood and Dan Miller; Art Alexakis from Everclear, Tommy McCarthy from No Authority and Latin pop singer Jon Secada. But don’t expect to hear their soulful voices harmonizing.
“There’s no singing in the movie,” Fatone previews. “It’s just basically us killing zombies. I play a character called Whiskey Joe. I’m a drunk guy who likes to kill zombies. It was great. A.J. [McLean is] the villain. I think A.J. was almost [a method actor]. He was still doing the laugh and the voice a couple days after.”
All jokes aside, Carter says the musicians all got along great. “We share a lot of parallels. We share the same story with NSYNC, 98 degrees, O-Town – all these guys. And we’re friends. We’ve seen each other along the way and always had great relationships. The thing is, musicians want to act. But we’re always so busy with what we’re good at and what we’re doing that we never get a chance to really grow that other side. And so they all wanted to do it.”
You can check out Carter, Fatone and the rest of the gunslinging boy banders in “Dead 7,” airing Friday, April 1 at 8/7c on SyFy.
Tonya Papanikolas' video interviews with Nick Carter and Joey Fatone:
The Official "Dead 7" Trailer:
