# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/21 "2011-08-13T14:42:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Get Ken Burns on board and you have a real movie. Talk about slow zombies - that’s just a picture of a zombie, and the \*camera \*is moving! ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/22 "2011-08-13T14:46:55Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > 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) Those were really fucking cool. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/23 "2011-08-13T14:54:08Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Talk about slow zombies - that’s just a picture of a zombie, and the \*camera \*is moving! :cue mournful fiddle: ---
**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, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/24 "2011-08-13T19:29:10Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Get Ken Burns on board and you have a real movie. Now _that_ would have been frigging cool. At least have him as a consultant. ---
**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, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/25 "2011-08-13T19:47:40Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > :cue mournful fiddle: “My dearest Caroline, Brrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnns.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/26 "2011-08-13T20:02:37Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > “My dearest Caroline, > Brrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnns.” Winning. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/27 "2011-08-13T20:55:12Z")
God help me, I agree with **Dio**. This would have worked much better in mini-series format - more time to draw out a selection of the vignettes. I don’t think ALL the stories are filmable, though, but with judicious selections, it would have worked. I, however, will still see it, and try to remind myself that it only bears the same name as the book. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/28 "2011-08-13T21:36:03Z")
So, they paid for the rights to WWZ and made Resident Evil? \ ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/29 "2011-08-13T21:53:20Z")
I’m disappointed in this. I can at least hope they’ll have a zombie hunting scene in the catacombs. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/30 "2011-08-13T22:06:50Z")
I wasn’t sure how they were going to do this movie. It’s certainly disappointing right now, but I also recognize that they may have had difficulty getting it into something palatable for general audiences that aren’t familiar with the books. It was clear from the start though, that none of us were going to be 100% happy with the result. I simply hope that they keep enough of the books feel that it isn’t just another zombie movie, because it definitely was not just another zombie book. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/31 "2011-08-13T22:34:44Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > 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. It is a really cool concept - as a book. Not all cool book concepts translate well to movies. I like the book, but I don’t really think that a talking heads type movie would be particularly entertaining. All media are not created equal; what works well in print doesn’t always work visually. _Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell_ is another cool book that I doubt will translate well to other media. The fun is in the footnotes. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/32 "2011-08-13T22:43:08Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > MOTHERFUCKER!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad: That’s my first reaction too. > [@MandaJo](#): > > 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 can’t really say why I loved the book so much, but I did; post-apocalyptic fiction is one of my favourite genres and I’ll read _anything_ in it. > [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > I wasn’t sure how they were going to do this movie. It’s certainly disappointing right now, but I also recognize that they may have had difficulty getting it into something palatable for general audiences that aren’t familiar with the books. It was clear from the start though, that none of us were going to be 100% happy with the result. I simply hope that they keep enough of the books feel that it isn’t just another zombie movie, because it definitely was not just another zombie book. It occurs to me that they don’t need to appeal to a mass audience, because they don’t need to make a big blockbuster action movie with a billion dollars worth of stars and special effects. They could make this into a faithful to the book fairly small budget movie and make all us fanboyz very happy, or a big budget piece of crap that probably won’t make a lot of money anyway and makes us all unhappy, and they always choose Option B. Bah. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/33 "2011-08-14T01:26:21Z")
I read the book and didn’t think much of it. It was an interesting idea, but slogging through a few hundred pages with no main character got tedious. I mean, I knew how it ended from page 1. The rest was like reading through newspaper clippings, dozens and dozens and dozens of newspaper clippings. A few of the stories were interesting, but then _ZOOOM!_ it was off to some other schmo and their story. I’m not surprised they had to change the format for a movie, and I won’t be surprised if it pretty much sucks. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/34 "2011-08-14T01:45:59Z")
It’s been awhile since I read it but wasn’t the book pretty action focused? I just remember people running away from zombies, killing zombies, or being eaten by said zombies, usually in exotic locations. Wasn’t one of the stories about a blind guy who was a total master zombie killer because he was attuned to nature and all that bs? Total Hollywood. And it opens with hordes of zombies in the Chinese countryside, right? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/35 "2011-08-14T02:25:35Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Wasn’t one of the stories about a blind guy who was a total master zombie killer because he was attuned to nature and all that bs? This makes me not want to read it. The Zombie Survival Guide had these sorts of short stories at the end of it and those were crap. With higher-quality writing I guess it could have been better (though the rest of the book was great), but still… ---
**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 14, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/36 "2011-08-14T02:47:48Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > It’s been awhile since I read it but wasn’t the book pretty action focused? I just remember people running away from zombies, killing zombies, or being eaten by said zombies, usually in exotic locations. Wasn’t one of the stories about a blind guy who was a total master zombie killer because he was attuned to nature and all that bs? Total Hollywood. And it opens with hordes of zombies in the Chinese countryside, right? No, the book takes place years after the war ended. So really there’s no action in it at all. A guy is traveling around the planet collecting oral records of the survivors of the war against the zombies. Most zombie books take place during the attacks. The main plot is everyone trying to survive. This book is different because it’s about the people who have survived but now have to deal with the cost of surviving. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Evil_Prince_Zorte)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/37 "2011-08-14T16:26:49Z")
Here’s a short review of the script, it looks like it’s true - [http://scriptbreaker.blogspot.com/2011/07/script-review-world-war-z.html](http://scriptbreaker.blogspot.com/2011/07/script-review-world-war-z.html) The second draft is easy to find on the internet, from 2007. It was a pretty good adaptation. and started with Gerry and his family escaping just before the Battle of Philadelphia (moved from Yonkers) based on a tip from someone who knew it was going to end badly. The conflict came from the fact that in researching his report, he was beginning to discover things the powers that be wanted covered up. Gerry himself was given the story of the family that survived by going north, and had to feed his daughter soup made from a dead neighbor to keep her from starving. The other stories were told in flashback as he did the interviews, interspersed with his own story of uncovering government conspiracy. The third draft was described as being pretty similar, but apparently it changed drastically sometime in 2010. It was probably because Gerry was never in any real danger aside from threatening phone calls telling him to back off. To be honest, I don’t really care too much if it takes place during or after the zombie war, because all the compelling stories are about what happened during. The Gerry conducting interviews afterward to find out what happened is just the frame. You can put Gerry into those stories and at least still get the best moments, though you would lose the idea of seeing how different people cope with what happens. Also there is the danger of needing to waste a lot of time getting him from place to place. The unused 2nd draft is sill worth looking up and downloading. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/38 "2011-08-15T18:47:51Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Get Ken Burns on board and you have a real movie. That’s what I’ve wanted from the get go. You do it Ken Burns style with limited “footage” and the rest told through pictures and narration. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/39 "2011-08-15T19:07:00Z")
Thinking about it, I didn’t think I would like the book; it is a very odd style, and I didn’t see how it could work. It does work, though, and I ended up loving the book. I think a genius film director could do the same for a film - turn the book into something unexpected and very, very good, instead of taking the easy way out and just making another typical apocalypse movie. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494/40 "2011-08-16T03:09:37Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > The third draft was described as being pretty similar, but apparently it changed drastically sometime in 2010. It was probably because Gerry was never in any real danger aside from threatening phone calls telling him to back off. That would seem like an easy thing to fix. Why the heck can’t you make it where he may be killed for trying to uncover it? I can picture that movie. The more he learns, the more they want to kill him. As he goes, he flashbacks to what he’s been told, and the actions somehow compliment each other. Towards the end, it’s someone in the people trying to kill him who breaks down and reveals that it’s all true, and that person winds up saving his life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-z-adaption-will-be-a-typical-action-movie/592494.md?page=3)