Not only does Netflix's Army of the Dead have a zombie tiger, but the creature was modeled after a real animal with a connection to another Netflix property: Tiger King. Turns out that Carole Baskin’s own tiger served as a visual reference for its zombie counterpart. Producer Deborah Snyder revealed the origin of Valentine, the scene-stealing zombie tiger, on a virtual panel for Justice Con while describing the process of including it in the movie.
According to Snyder, the visual effects team called different animal sanctuaries in order to get a real-life reference for modeling and animating Valentine. The chosen candidate ended up being a tiger owned by Baskin, now internationally famous after the world got briefly distracted from the pandemic by following Baskin's long-time feud with Joe Exotic on Tiger King.
Snyder says this choice was made before Tiger King was released, and the team spent a week on Baskin’s sanctuary before the series revealed the threats and harassment campaigns between the rival exotic animal owners. As Snyder jokingly says, “at least they got out of there alive."
Valentine, the zombie tiger, stole our collective hearts right after being revealed in the Army of the Dead trailer, but it wasn’t the only good surprise. The upcoming movie by Zack Snyder will also feature faster, stronger and smarter zombies, capable of organizing themselves to fight as a community. This fresh approach to the zombie apocalypse theme is also put in the middle of a heist movie, in Las Vegas, starring Dave Bautista.
Army of the Dead's cast also includes Matthias Schweighöfer, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana De La Reguera, Theo Rossi, Tig Notaro, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada and Garret Dillahunt, as well as Raúl Castillo, Huma Quereshi, Samantha Win, Richard Cetrone and Michael Cassidy.
Army of the Dead will premiere May 21 on Netflix and select theaters. You can check out the full panel from Justice Con below, featuring producers Snyder and Wesley Coller: