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Dead Rising: Watchtower film will be "Indiana Jones with zombies"

24's President David Palmer joins cast.

The Dead Rising movie adaptation will begin shooting this week, Sony has announced.

It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.

24's President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) will star in the film, alongside Jesse Metcalfe (he was in Desperate Housewives), Meghan Ory (from fantasy TV show Once Upon a Time) and Virginia Madsen (you'll recognise her if you've seen Sideways).

Speaking to SlashFilm, director Zach Lipovsky has said that the movie will be "like Indiana Jones with zombies" in terms of tone - "fun, scary, dramatic action".

Rather than a direct conversion of one of the games, the film will tell its own story. But familiar elements will remain.

"The idea that you can be bitten and remain human as long as you take your medicine every day is very interesting and dramatic," Lipovsky continued. "Similar to the social stigma of living with HIV," he said.

"Another very cool element from the game is the zombies remember a little bit about their previous lives. There is something really haunting about seeing a zombie cop randomly firing his gun, or a zombie mum pushing a stroller."

Sony is planning to release the movie direct to its streaming service Crackle, and later make it available on DVD.