More World War Z Details

By Johnny Butane
December 3rd, 2008

The hope, screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski told MTV’s Movies Blog, is to start production on World War Z by the first of the year. That’s a pretty quick turnaround since he’s still polishing the script based on director Marc Forster’s notes. But considering how long this project’s been gestating, the sooner we see it made, the better.

“Most zombie movies to this point have been small, focusing on a few people in a house,” he told the site. ”And this has got real scare. You’re in India with hundreds of boats trying to get out of there with a tidal wave of zombies. The scale of what we’re doing here is phenomenal.” Sounds pretty encouraging, but keep in mind that sentence came right after one in which he calls World War Z a thriller and compares it to The Bourne Identity…

Mixed wires somewhere? Let’s hope so. It’s all right with me because honestly no film version will do justice to Max Brooks’ amazing novel so I’m set up with low expectations from the outset.

Speaking of which, just how is the book being translated to film? ”We follow [the book’s author] all over the world as he goes on these interviews, and he has his own personal story as well. You’re cutting between the past and the present, how he got to this point.” Could be confusing, could be brilliant, only time will tell for sure. We’ll continue following this one as close as law allows so don’t move!

- Johnny Butane