Read at AICN that JMS (don't ask me to spell his last name- the guy who did babylon 5) wrote a script for a zombie movie called World War Z and the report said the script was damn good. was wondering if anyone had read the book it is based upon or knows anything about it.
Read the book, it was amazing. It's a must read for all zombie fans. I've read it through 3 times actually. One of the most thorough zombie tales I have ever read, very much in the vein of Romero films.
The way in which the novel was written would translate beautifully into a movie, I think, without any of the usual screenwriter's "embellishments." If a World War Z movie comes to fruition, it'd just be best if Max Brooks wrote the screenplay in the first place.
Also, the book has a clever reference to the G1 Megatron toy that's both hilarious and appropriate for the situation. Seriously, this book is an extremely well thought out piece of horror fiction presented in a very convincing fashion.
This is easily my most anticipated film, more than Indy, more than Iron Man, more than Deathly Hollows, and we won't even get it for another 2 years! WWZ (written by Max Brooks, son of Mel) is a great book for fans of the Zombie genre. It takes the advice given in the Zombie Survival Guide (also by Max) and shows it in full force. There are some scenes that could be absolutely bone chilling on screen - like one person trying to make her way through a highway jammed full of abandoned cars, many with their now-Zombified passengers still belted into their seats. While I have always had mixed feelings about JMS as a writer, I think this is perfect for his talents and knew he'd treat it seriously. Now if only they could get a solid director who won't **** it up...
The problem is the novel is a bunch of interviews, with no connective tissue between them, and there are just too many scenes to put into one film, so some will have to be excised, or at least combined (though some would make awesome bonus material, or maybe faux-documentary fodder for the SF channel). And writing a screen play requires different "muscles" than writing a novel simply because you need to be more economical with your words, time, and budget. Max is still a fairly unproven writer, so I could understand a studio being nervous giving him the job, but it's also likely that he just didn't want to do it himself.
That was the downed dirigible pilot, right? The shot of her looking through the hole in the guy's skull would be amazing.
The perfect way to do this movie would be in the fashion of Sin City because so many of the stories and characters tie into each other. If they actually make this movie, it will clearly be the best true Zombie film since the original Night of the Living dead.
I agree. One of the things tying all the stories together could be the narrator/interviewer traveling the globe tracking down people to interview. Some of the stories could be done flashback style, and some, like the feral girl describing the attack on the church, could be shot as just the interview itself.
Honestly the book reads like Studs Terkel, and I could easily see a faux-documentary in which you just let the survivors tell their stories. You get some good actors (not stars) telling ghost stories, and your imagination could chill you as much as any filmed scene. Mix in some "found" footage and "new" footage of the ongoing mop op, and you've got a solid, albiet low budget, flick.
The book is awesome but would probably need to be cut down to work as a movie; the abridged audio book runs for almost six hours so it definitely needs cuts. I hope they don't cut any of Todd Wainio's stuff though.
Oh yeah I could happily sit through six hours but I doubt the general movie going public will set aside a quarter of the day for zombies, no matter how awesome they are.
At work I have a little zombie theme going on my shelf space. On shelf # 1 I have on display the first 3 Books (the big black volumes) of The Walking Dead. On shelf # 2 I have on display 2 Marvel Zombies HC. They go on rotation with a different cover every day cause I have all the variant covers except the drunk Iron Man cover. Also have the MZ Venom vs SM statue on display. BUT on shelf # 3 I have both Max Brooks books on display. People always ask me about those books and sometimes browse through them. The Survival Guide book tends to get a laugh here and there.
Am getting the audio book of this from a friend- he's picking it up for me from the post library. will have it Monday. I am all for zombie madness, but 6 hours in a theater is madness. Give it to HBO and spread it over 3 weeks, then that would rock and you wouldn't sacrifice anything just to keep a PG-13 or R rating and TiVo would let you do the whole 6 hours on your own when You wanted it. thanks for clueing me in on an interesting title. can't wait to dive in.
As you'd expect - in China. If you take World War Z as a "sequel" of sorts to the Survival Guide... well, maybe a companion book... it's caused by a contagion (viral?) that's been around for thousands of years. The Survival Guide recounts various historical encounters with zombies over the years (or possible encounters based on the available evidence), often postulating how one outbreak may have led to another years later. WWZ can be seen as the Guide's forcasted "Class 4" outbreak. I highly recommend both books.