That really, really blows.
What’s the point in optioning a property if they have no intention of actually rendering what made that property popular? it fucks the fans twice, once by giving them a shit movie that has nothing to do with the book, and worse, by making it impossible for anybody else to adapt it.
I’m guessing the reason they did this is because the book, as written, is not conducive to a star vehicle. It’s a collection of vignettes with no real protagonist. And it’s not a fucking action story, it’s a global disaster story, and the protagonist is humanity itself.
This book probably could have never worked as a two hour movie anyway. It should be a television mini-series, and Hollywood needs to get over the idea that there always has to be a “star.” Fucking cretins. There are so many beautiful stories in that book and the coked up morons who run the studio can’t see anything but a title they think they can use to open a weekend. I hope there’s a fan backlash against this.
No surprise. I loved Brooks’ book but it wasn’t a very good subject for a movie. The closest you could have come to being faithful to it was to have filmed it as a “mockumentary”. And quite frankly, that probably would have made for a bad movie.
So, try to look on the bright side. The movie will get some people to read the book and make Brooks a bunch of money. And while it won’t be anything like the book, maybe the movie will be a good zombie apocalypse movie.
MOTHERFUCKER!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad:
First I’d heard of the project, and I’m already disappointed. Too bad - I always thought the book would be ideal for a miniseries treatment like “Band of Brothers,” or “From the Earth to the Moon.”
My idea would’ve involved talking head interviews cut with “reenactments” of the events the interviewee is describing. That would’ve made a better TV miniseries than feature film. I don’t know how the thing with Paul Redeker could be rendered onscreen though. If this has fast zombies as well anybody wanna meet up at the Pitt house for a lynch mob?
The “talking head fade to flashback mode” is really the only way to go for WWZ. I think you’d have to shoot the Paul Redecker scenes very carefully to not show the narrator of that story until then end - maybe swith the flashback visuaks from showing Redecker to the narrator’s POV. Hard to pull off.
In any case Booo for turning it into a standard action flick! You want to cut it to a 2.5 hour movie, focus on the story of the soldier who fought at Yonkers and with Army Group North from the Rockies to the Hero’s City. Short, focused, lots of fighting, US-centric. Then film a bunch of the other scenes for a companion mini-series and for the super-extended BluRay release. Maybe add some of the international stuff for release abroad. Brad, bubbe, sweethart, let’s do lunch sometime.
That sounds like the most boring movie ever. Besides, doesn’t like every zombie flick have scenes of talking heads pontificating about the zombie outbreak?
I’m not holding my breath, but I’m hoping the synopsis is really just some dumb studio guy going “How can I make this movie sound really exciting?” It’s kinda like a trailer might be all explosions and fart jokes, but the movie is actually really smart.
If what people on the internet cared about mattered movies like Snakes on a Plane and Scott Pilgrim vs the World would have been massive hits. The sad reality is that this will be a higher draw than the alternative.
That’s why I think series television would work the best. Use an episodic format, preserving the interviewer/flashback framing device, and tell a different story every week. You would not have continuity with casting (something Hollywood can’t seem to get its head around, and it’s why they’re going to fuck up Asimov’s Foundation as well), but series television has successfully used one off casts for individual episodes before. Think Twilight Zone. They could have used wide variety of notable guest stars, each given time and focus to shine in their own episodes.
I should have been a producer.
Boring? Really? Have you seen Band of Brothers? Because that’s how it should be done, only one person per “flashback”/episode, not all of them, and with zombies.
Ummm…no? 
You know, I’m not all that outraged by this. Sure, the ideal would be the sort of TV series described by Diogenes, but if you take away the World War Z link, this movie sounds pretty cool on its own merits. A globe-trotting zombie movie starring Brad Pitt? Shit, sign me up for that. And if the movie is at least moderately successful, there’s a good chance that someone will try to spin a TV deal out of it, which might end up more like the book. Hell, even if the movie is an outright failure, it might still happen. Buffy the Vampire Slayer did not make a strong impression as a feature film, but it still led to two successful TV series.
I loved the book, and the audiobook rocked too. But I’m having problems getting all pissed off about a movie that nobody has seen yet. I think I’ll wait until it’s actually made and released than getting my nerdpanties in a bunch now.
I had hoped it would be a HBO miniseries.
I made a killing (in fictitious money) with World War Z on Hollywood Stock Exchange- bought 30,000 shares at ~$19 that’s now worth ~$84- a $550,000 investment that’s up to almost $3 million. I wonder if I should keep or sell.
Have you read the book? The book is a series of interviews about the past Zombie War, but it’s not the concept that makes is so popular: the book is amazingly well done, and does a really good job using a superficially objective/historical voice to convey real horror. If you could get that across in a movie, it would be really neat.
I’m not sure where people are making the leap from the single sentence we’ve been given:
to “typical action movie.” If the star was Vin Diesel or The Rock, that would definitely be an appropriate response but at this point Brad Pitt has a pretty good track record for choosing quality projects.
I mean I get that the very brief synopsis is not at all indicative of the structure and tone of the book, but personally I’ll wait for more information than a single, mostly ambiguous sentence before I write it off.
By any chance, did you happen to see the Halo 3 marketing that seemed kind of like what you’re describing? It was extremely effective in my opinion. There were talking head interviews with survivors of the war against the Covenant, describing their battles alongside Master Chief. There was no “flashback” style action sequences, just people talking. It was fucking INTENSE though, and I can’t explain why.
I think the campaign was only available as small clips on the internet, but I was hoping that someone involved with the WWZ movie would have seen them, and been inspired. That film style would have worked PERFECTLY for capturing the feel and tone of the book.
Get Ken Burns on board and you have a real movie.