J.A. Bayona had signed on to helm ‘World War Z 2‘ shortly after the first film was released in 2013 and left it two years later with no reason given to the public. Now, after three years of silence, the director behind such films as ‘The Orphanage’ and ‘The Impossible’ has opened up to why he has left the production. With the first film going through constant production issues, it almost seems like the sequel might have the same behind-the-scenes problems that the first movie had.
The problem though wasn’t creative differences, but a clear lack of vision on how to bring the ideas for ‘World War Z 2’ together and Bayona didn’t have an answer on how to make it work:
“We were working on that project for around a year, and we had a great idea. We were very excited. We designed great set pieces, and we were very excited with the direction we were taking with the film, but somehow, we never found a way to connect it all together.”
While it is disappointing, thankfully Bayona realized he wasn’t up to the task and backed out of production before the film had gotten off the ground instead of moving forward and leaving part way in which would have required reshoots.
“There was a moment where we were about to start production, and I wasn’t ready. I told them, and I said, ‘Listen, I’m not the right guy for this. There’s probably another guy who’s able to take care of this in a way that the movie will not get affected,’ so I decided to step out of the project.”
The director wasn’t open to sharing which ways he would have wanted to take the movie either. Likely, Bayona has no idea how much of the original ideas are still being used and doesn’t want to reveal any spoilers:
“I would prefer not to tell you because they’re working on it now. I had a conversation with them recently, and they’re very excited, so I prefer them to talk about it.”
It isn’t clear how far into production they are now as David Fincher, who was last said to be directing, is busy on the second season of ‘Mindhunter’ while Brad Pitt is gearing up for the next Quentin Tarantino film.
Of course, the duo could always be multitasking.
Source: Den Of Geek
