Max Brook’s novel ‘World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War’ is one of the best zombie books ever written so it was no surprise when Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B Entertainment, snatched up the film rights only a year after the book’s 2007 release. Brooks’ novel is written in a faux-documentary style as a collection of eyewitness accounts of a worldwide zombie outbreak that takes place in the early twenty-first century. To adapt the books distinct style to film, the movie’s writers have added the new character of Gerry Lane, played by Brad Pitt. Lane is a U.N. representative who is interviewing the eyewitnesses in the wake of the “great zombie war”.
The film adaptation of ‘World War Z’ is pulling no punches in its cast and crew. Aside from having Pitt himself in the lead role, the $125 million budgeted film is directed by Marc Forster (‘Monster’s Ball’, ‘Quantum of Solace’) and written by comic legend J. Michael Straczynski (‘Amazing Spider-Man’) who is best known to non-comic fans for his work on ‘Babylon 5’. Now that’s a pedigree that I can get behind!
After a rocky start, filming for ‘World War Z’ began in 2009 in Malta before shifting to Glasgow and is expected to open in theaters in late 2012. Thus far, only a few images from the set have appeared, but recently a video featuring the filming of a zombie attack for the film was released and I am both creeped out and impressed! If this movie is even half as good as the book, it may become one of my favorite zombie flicks of all time.
If ‘World War Z’ is a hit, Max Brooks confirmed that a two more films have already been optioned. These other films will be based on Brooks’ instructional booklet ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’ and the graphic novel ‘The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks’.
