Steven Knight, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter behind ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ and the current Tom Hardy drama ‘Locke’ has signed on to pen the sequel to ‘World War Z’. His script will be directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, director of ‘The Orphanage’ and ‘The Impossible’. Bayona signed on in December and will work closely with Knight to craft the new movie, which follows up last year’s surprise hit, loosely based on Max Brooks’ zombie novel.
Grossing $540 million world-wide, it was Pitt’s highest grossing movie ever and the star, who also produced through his company Plan B, will return for the sequel. Pitt is also slated to appear in an untitled World War II drama also penned by Knight. Apparently, Pitt was very impressed with Knight’s writer/director turn with ‘Locke’ which focuses on Hardy’s character trapped in the backseat of a car and hand-selected the writer for the ‘World War Z’ project.
In the film, Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a United Nations staffer who travels the globe after the outbreak of a zombie plague, all the while trying to keep tabs on his family. The movie took a lot of liberties with Brooks’ novel which ruffled some fans’ feathers, but audiences turned out in droves and the movie has done well in DVD/BluRay sales and video on demand.
Considering that Knight was just announced as the scripter, it’s not surprising that details about the sequel haven’t been revealed. Where will the new movie take Gerry Lane?
What do you think? Are you excited for a second ‘World War Z’ movie?
Sources: Indie Wire, THR
