As we mourn the loss of Joe Pilato today, fans and friends have taken to social media to reflect on their memories regarding the beloved actor. Most notably known for his role as the antagonist in George A. Romero's Day of the Dead, Captain Rhodes, Pilato was at one point attached to play Seth Gecko in From Dusk Till Dawn!
Yep, back in 1991, five years before the Robert Rodriguez-directed From Dusk Till Dawn officially released, Robert Kurtzman tried his damndest to get the Quentin Tarantino-penned project off the ground as a low-budget feature film. Kurtzman directed a promo trailer as a means to raise funds for the proposed project.
For the 2-minute promo trailer, Kurtzman cast Joe Pilato as Seth Gecko, who we all know went on to be played by George Clooney.
“I came up with the Dusk as a directing vehicle for myself,” Kurtzman explained. “And in the late summer of 1991 at the tail end of shooting Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness I borrowed a dolly and some track from production (with Rob Tapert’s permission) and pulled in a favor from Panavision for a camera and shot a promo short for the film. I had no money and I built the sets at KNB using whatever I could find. I had to put up the set on Friday, shoot on Sat. and have everything cleaned up on Sunday so not to disrupt KNB’s work on Monday. The effects are crude as it was all posted on video and at the time CGI was a ways off.”
Shared by Kurtzman on Twitter today, you can check out the promo below.