Brad Pitt's Plan B Is Producing World War Z
Filed under: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Paramount, Scripts, Brad Pitt
There has been no shortage of news coming out of the NYCC this past weekend (including from our very own Ryan Stewart). Now, IGN reports that Paramount and Brad Pitt's Plan B Productions are partnering to produce a film version of the novel World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War by Max Brooks (son of Mel). Brooks seems to have a flair for the subject of the "living challenged" as he also wrote the Zombie Survival Guide. Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski is adapting the book but there is no confirmation yet that Pitt will star, Straczynski kept it pretty non-committal saying the script was, "For Brad Pitt potentially -- we'll see what happens. He might be the star in it."Adapting the book won't be easy, since the novel is an anthology of man's survival during the "great" war with the undead. The structure of the book has no main characters and jumps time and place with recollections of the survivors of the decade long fight. During a panel discussion, Straczynski described the story as "very political, very smart, very cagey". Straczynski seems confident that if all goes to plan with the script, production wouldn't be far behind. The project sounds promising, but considering Pitt's plate looks pretty full, I'm not counting on him getting in front of the cameras for this one.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-28-2007 @ 2:49PM
OjNK said...
Loved this book. It actually approaches the subject matter with a very logical eye. It pretty much completely dodges the 'supernatural' aspect, afterall how can you logically explain zombies, but everything outside of that feels extremely authentic. It would definitely be very hard to film though, probably requiring a big non-zombie movie budget to give it what it deserves.
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3-01-2007 @ 1:06AM
Matt said...
I totally agree with the above poster. This book was a fantastic take on the zombie genre. This movie has the potential to have some truly awesome moments in it, as well as a Babel-like storytelling approach, looking at many numerous characters in different scenarios simultaneously. This could be awesome.
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3-02-2007 @ 5:12PM
Mike said...
I bought this book, and Max's other (Survival Guide), as a XMAS gift for a friend. She loves the book and I can't wait to read it. We are huge Zombie fans. We think the stories would be better expressed as a series on HBO,or SHOWTIME...A feature film would not do it justice. In any case, I can't wait to see it. Check out the Zombie Survival Guide,as well. Not a bad book too have...just in case.
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3-12-2007 @ 3:40AM
Bob said...
This film should be excellent. Considering it's Straczynski who is writing the script, with his talent proven by all of his success and recognition lately, he is the perfect choice for making this a fantastic film. I can't wait to see it!
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