# World War Z adaption will be a typical action movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494 "2011-08-12T19:37:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/1 "2011-08-12T19:37:45Z")
[Figures…](http://io9.com/5830389/world-war-z-movie-synopsis-is-nothing-like-the-book-internet-melts-down) ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/2 "2011-08-12T19:59:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/3 "2011-08-12T19:59:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/4 "2011-08-12T21:29:24Z")
MOTHERFUCKER!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad: ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/5 "2011-08-12T21:37:11Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/6 "2011-08-13T00:12:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 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… 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? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/7 "2011-08-13T01:51:59Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/8 "2011-08-13T02:03:01Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > The “talking head fade to flashback mode” is really the only way to go for WWZ. 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? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/9 "2011-08-13T02:13:30Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/10 "2011-08-13T02:23:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/11 "2011-08-13T02:24:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/12 "2011-08-13T02:55:35Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > That sounds like the most boring movie ever. 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. > [@msmith537](#): > > Besides, doesn’t like every zombie flick have scenes of talking heads pontificating about the zombie outbreak? Ummm…no? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/13 "2011-08-13T03:23:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/14 "2011-08-13T03:27:41Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/15 "2011-08-13T05:32:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/16 "2011-08-13T12:43:55Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > 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? 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. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/17 "2011-08-13T13:22:30Z")
I’m not sure where people are making the leap from the single sentence we’ve been given: > [@](#): > > “The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.” 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. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/18 "2011-08-13T13:23:35Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > My idea would’ve involved talking head interviews cut with “reenactments” of the events the interviewee is describing. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/19 "2011-08-13T13:44:20Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > 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. I found some of the clips on youtube [clip 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq2akuhFaB0) [clip 2 “enemy weapon”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz_7WWO8lXE&feature=relmfu) [clip 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1zWeaVZpsM&feature=relmfu) [clip 4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOLR4WjJqIs&feature=relmfu) [clip 5](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c958sNu03o&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/20 "2011-08-13T13:54:42Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > The “talking head fade to flashback mode” is really the only way to go for WWZ. Get Ken Burns on board and you have a real movie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494.md?page=2)