Movie Matchmaker: David Fincher's World War Z
by Brian Tallerico

THE RESPONSE

Those of us raised on the movies of George A. Romero were naturally attracted to what was pitched as an "oral history of the zombie war," but the book reached well beyond its niche market to become a huge hit. It was the 28 Days Later of the zombie-book scene - an adventure that came mostly out of nowhere to take the world by storm. Hitting the New York Times Bestseller List and also earning numerous accolades, World War Z was called a "literate, ironic, strangely tasty treat" (Kirkus Reviews) and acclaimed as "another milestone in the zombie mythology" (Booklist). A heated bidding war started soon ensued between Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way and Brad Pitt's Plan B, with Pitt's company landing the prize for over six figures. Brooks, citing his lack of experience as a screenwriter and wanting to watch the "movie as a fan" (Eat My Brains), turned the duties over to J. Michael Stracynski, the creator of Babylon 5, who is working on a screenplay and has even implied that Mr. Pitt may take to the big screen in the lead role. Almost a year ago, Stracynski told IGN, "You all know the novel World War Z? I'm adapting that for Paramount. For Brad Pitt potentially -- we'll see what happens. He might be the star in it. So things are going very well for a TV guy."

THE MOVIE

If you've read the book, we know what you're probably thinking - "Who the Hell would Pitt play?" World War Z is an oral history without a real lead character, but that's clearly going to change. Stracynski told IGN that he was going to start by making the undefined interviewer of the book the lead character, and presumably the one played by Pitt. It was a sentiment echoed by Brooks when he told Eat My Brains, "Oh who wouldn't love to see Brad Pitt play them in a movie, but with my luck (and looks) they'll give it to "Ducky" from "Sixteen Candles"." Does this mean most of the film will be in flashback? Or will the focus of the film shift to the aftermath where the interviews are the subject and we only hear about what happened? There's no way that could work completely. The balancing surrounding the procedural aspect of the interviews, with a film made up of at least half flashbacks, are probably the reasons that there have been no further developments on the movie front in a while. Stracynski claims that he's being as faithful as possible, but World War Z is going to be nearly impossible (even just because of its numerous locations) to adapt faithfully as written, at least outside of the mini-series format.

On that note, IESB got their hands on a draft of Stracynski's at the end of last year and they were blown away - "Can a zombie film win an Oscar?" From the sound of it, the scope has been adequately kept intact. Stracynski didn't take World War Z and turn it into just another zombie movie, and it sounds like a shocking amount of the wide canvas of the novel has been adapted to the screenplay. IESB even mention our directorial match (and a few others) and suggest that "Horror fans, zombie fans, and fans of classic cinema need to send up a thousand prayers that this is handled reverently and expertly - if it is, it will be the horror film to beat for years to come after its release. One for the books. Second only to Romero’s trilogy - the progenitor of the phenomenon - the best living dead story since he created the genre."

Movie Matchmaker: David Fincher's World War Z Page 3