The rumor going around is that Brad Pitt’s zombie movie based on the novel “World War Z” (Written by Max Brook) will be turned into a trilogy. “World War Z” is scheduled to come out December 2012.
Brad Pitt’s costar on the set, James Badge, let the rumor drop.
“That book [the flick is based on the best-selling tome of the same name] is such a thick dense book of so many socio- and political and economic views that says a lot about us as people,”
“So I think we’d like to make 18 more World War Z’s and we’d still have more material because it’s an ongoing story.”
While I’m all for having a epic zombie trilogy to rival “The Lord of The Rings” some of the choices being made are upsetting the diehard fans of the novel. For one thing the novel is very episodic in nature and told in a series of flashbacks. The movie plot seams to be changed to follow Brad Pitt’s character as he tries to fight the growing zombie threat. That’s a pretty big change.
Look I’ll be honest here, That is a GOOD change. I loved the novel, it was great, but any story told as flashbacks immediately loses a tremendous amount of tension. You already know how it’s going to end up for the most part. That’s not to say that can’t still be done well, I read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft and most of his stories are told that way, with the main character telling you what has already happened. The novel is great, but it’s hard to make a movie like that.
Here you can see some actual filming for the movie, which brings me to the next thing die hard fans are complaining about.
Fast Zombies
Max Brooks, the author of the novel, is on record as not being a fan of them and you can clearly see the zombies being pretty dang lively in the above clip. Again I’m going to break with the purists here and say I love fast zombies. I like slow zombies too, but they don’t make me wet my pants and curl up in the fetal position. Fast zombies may not have the slow macabre dread of the original George Romero pop culture zombie, but let’s be honest, they are scarier to face overall.
Who knows how much control Brooks has over what goes on in the filming of his novel. I’m guessing not a lot. I have no idea whether “World War Z” will do well at the box office or not, but I’m keeping hope alive. Really good zombie movies are few and far between.
I still am not sure this movie is a good idea. I’ll probably watch it as a good zombie flick, but if they are making it a zombie flick, then it doesn’t stay true to the book.
What I mean is the zombies in the book were barely there and more used as a backdrop and environment. The book itself was about humanity and how the individual person reacts to such a world wide disaster. Survival, but at a more human and individual level. While being chased by zombies makes a better, more action packed movie, it leaves out all the small, often heartbreaking, choices survivors made each day.
I don’t think they could stay true to the book and still make it an interesting movie. The book is great, but not all great books can be adapted into great movies.
I still hope this will be good, because whether we like it or not World War Z is getting made. We’ll see I guess.
I’ll watch it. Of course I will. But if it turns out to another “New Star Wars Movie” suckfest, I refuse to see it more than six times in the opening week.
But seriously: I hope that clip is from a rehearsal. Zombie has no makeup; guys arm being bit has no blood. Please tell me they’re not going to go T2 on this and just make everything cgi.
True, but did you see his commitment as he bashed himself against the car. I’d break bones if I tried that. Kinda badass.
It gives me hope anyway.
As for the fast zombie controversy, I think zombies start out being faster and then due to wear and tear (with no chance at being able to heal), they get slower and slower and then eventually just fall apart. In the Survival Guide and World War Z, Brooks stated that viruses and bacteria weren’t able to effect solanum infected tissue, but that zombies did eventually wear out. However, he also stated that the reason that zombies weren’t able to reason effectively, was due to the solanum virus destroying the frontal lobes of the brain, which should indicate the ability to not only reason, but also to maintain fast reaction times should be adversely effected to an extreme degree.
Or you could just set back and enjoy the book and not worry about all the science stuff (ala, MST3K’s opening sequences).
I cant telll how unnecessary angry a get about this disrespect to the source material gets me. Right now and probably for years to come. To be honest, it instantly made Brad Pitt my most despised actor (GF is still amazed Jackman lost the title) and there is no good point about fast zombies that would make me change my mind. Alternatives to the old slow zombie are okay but not WHEN THEY MAKE THE ENTERLY PLOTLINE IMPLAUSIBLE! [Insert hurtfull insult here]
I completely love the passion that people have over this subject. I mean if you really think about it 99% of all this stuff is utterly trivial, but to us and our fellow nerds.
It’s an intense subject. Why does that make me so happy?
I think it’s just human and I noticed similar behaviour from different groups. It is amazing how intense chemists can debate over the sentence “I don’t like pools with many chemicals in the water”. ^^
On the other hand, I once overheard a little child stating a gaming concsole to be a computer and an IT pro in my companionship meant that hearing such things “is cancer”.
When you like something, you get passioned about it and want to defend it if you feel its treated wrongly.