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World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star

Simon Brew


The movie version of Max Brooks’ World War Z gets the green light according to the author, with Brad Pitt jumping on board to star.

Published on Jul 22, 2010

Just the tagline alone for the horror novel World War Z was enough to get many of us interested. "An oral history of the zombie war" is emblazoned across the front cover of Max Brooks' hugely popular work, and unsurprisingly, there's been chatter of a movie version for some time. Rarely has there been such an obvious candidate to jump from page to screen.

As it turns out, that movie version is pressing ahead right now. 

MTV News spoke to author Max Brooks at Comic-Con, and he's revealed that the film version of World War Z is moving ahead right now, and furthermore, that Brad Pitt will definitely be starring in the film.

On top of that, Brooks told MTV that Paramount has taken out an option on two other Brooks projects, The Zombie Survival Guide and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks.

The film is being earmarked for release in summer 2012, and Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Quantum Of Solace) remains earmarked to direct. The latest draft of the script has apparently been received, and we assume, therefore, that it's all systems go for production late this year or early next.

Here's the story over at MTV.

 
Tags
Max Brooks | World War Z | Brad Pitt | Simon Brew

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Users Comments

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By Splend42 1 July 22, 2010 08:26:45 AM

I dearly hope this is a mockumentary (zomumentary?) with 'archive footage', and 'recreations', with talking heads interspersed here and there. IMO that would be the best way to keep it an adaptation of World War Z and not just another (hopefully awesome) zombie film.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By phortonfour 1 July 22, 2010 09:59:04 AM

Totally agree with the above statement - a mockumentary would definitely be the best way to go, and I would be very sad to see it turned into a straight-forward horror/action film. Quite surprised to see Brad Pitt attached, and a little worried that having a star name on board will actually hinder the effect of the film. After all, the whole essence of this story is how real, ordinary people dealt with the zombie uprising. Having Brad Pitt's mug on the screen will take away some of the realism ('realism being a relative term in a film about the undead') as most people will think 'ooh it's Brad Pitt', not 'ooh it's just an ordinary soldier (or whoever he plays). Obviously I understand the need for big names to be attached to some projects in order to get a green light, but whether this will be a good thing for the film remains to be seen.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By mugwump 1 July 22, 2010 11:41:38 AM

The problem with WWZ, as it stands, is that there is no protagonist, and certainly no character arcs. So a vanilla adaptation of the book ain't gonna fly for the sort of investment it would take to make. Expect a standard 'one man's story in the zompocolyse' type thing.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By dbayon82 1 July 22, 2010 12:51:37 PM

Mugwump's spot-on - there are no major characters that stay in the book for more than a handful of pages, that's the whole point. Don't see how a star name can work with that, so they must be picking and choocing a few of the strands and fleshing them out. It's pretty unfilmable otherwise.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By dbayon82 1 July 22, 2010 12:51:58 PM

Mugwump's spot-on - there are no major characters that stay in the book for more than a handful of pages, that's the whole point. Don't see how a star name can work with that, so they must be picking and choosing a few of the strands and fleshing them out. It's pretty unfilmable otherwise.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By PaddyMafia 1 July 22, 2010 01:00:22 PM

An earlier version of the script tried to straddle the gap between the novels sprawling narrative, and a more classical "one mans apocalypse" plot. In essence, the UN dispatches a researcher (Brad Pitt, I assume) to obtain oral histories from survivors. This enables multiple perspectives, and remained close to the novel. However, it also introduced a new narrative, in which the researcher comes to uncover a conspiracy relating to the war (evil pharmaceutical company, I think it was). This new strand (which drives the plot and indeed provides framing for many of the flashbacks) was inspired by the sub-plot in the novel about a bogus vaccine. Additionally, most of the USA flashbacks (particularly the freeway attack and the cannibalism) were flashbacks of the researcher character himself. Of course, as the script was re-written that may have all changed by now.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By GoldbergV 1 July 22, 2010 05:57:28 PM

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! As long as they keep the story in about the Japanese kid fighting his way down the syscraper I'll be happy. Oh, and the one about the downed pilot and the one about the housewife who had to kill her husband, and Yonkers of course. And the Redeker plan. Have I mentioned this book is awesome?! Although I think it would be more suited to a miniseries than a film, still excited.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By dudeface22 1 July 22, 2010 08:36:29 PM

the biggest rumor that i have been hearing (which very well will be what the movie is) is that its going to mainly profile Z DAY... the yonkers battle. its the most intense section of the book and the easiest part to make a movie out of... either that or the redeker plan. but who knows...i really hope it sticks with a mockumentary style with Brad Pitt being the interviewer.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By dudeface22 1 July 22, 2010 08:36:56 PM

kind of almost district 9-ish.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By dudeface22 1 July 22, 2010 08:37:09 PM

kind of almost district 9-ish.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By rottenjohnny 1 July 22, 2010 08:58:30 PM

There's so many great episodes in the book, they'll probably have to drop a few of my favourites for the film. I'm looking forward to the movie, but I would've preferred a documentery-style series produced by a cable channel like HBO or Showtime. Probably wouldn't hurt to include scenes from the Zombie Survival Guide either.

Re: World War Z movie pressing ahead, Brad Pitt to star
Posted By cerveloguy 1 July 23, 2010 02:50:56 AM

Zonkers is annoying due to the total lack of common sense (could'nt even get on upper floors to shoot, or just run them over with tanks!!. The submarine story was excellent, and the story that was not properly featured about a university campus sounded very good. Keep Romero far, far away from this and maybe get Danny Boyle on it?
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