World War Z is a novel by Mel Brooks’ son Max, a story of a zombie war told as an oral history. Most people I know who’ve read it seemed to like it a lot. Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster were on board for the movie adaptation, but last we heard, it was in danger of being scrapped because the budget ($125 mil) was considered too big, even after Forster agreed to make it PG-13. Paramount was looking for someone to co-finance. Today it’s basically the same story, but more optimistic, I guess because it sounds like the co-financier, David Ellison, actually sounds interested. Interestingly enough, David is the brother of Megan Ellison (children of Oracle CEO Larry), who was in talks to finance Paul Thomas Anderson and Spike Jonze’s latest projects. Because I guess independently-wealthy outsiders are the only people actually interesting in making real movies anymore. Also, this is like the world’s most boring gossip column. Doesn’t anyone not have famous parents anymore? Phew. TO THE BLOCKQUOTE! From Deadline:
I’m hearing that hot and heavy talks are going on with David Ellison’s Skydance and as many as two other financiers to share the load…
Oh slow down, baby, you’re gettin me all hot…
…on a movie that is gearing up for production as soon as June. The plan remains for Brad Pitt to star and for Marc Forster to direct. The temptation is to joke about the irony of a zombie project coming back to life after it was pronounced near dead.
Yes, my, that is a temptation. Indeed my sides are quaking at the mere possibility of the irony that would befall the temptation to hypothetically make a joke so hilarious. My God, Mike Fleming, did you type that with magic Mormon underwear over your computer to remain chaste?
As a devotee of great zombie movies from George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, Zack Snyder’s spirited Dawn of the Dead remake and genre spoofs Zombieland and Shaun Of The Dead, I am excited enough by WWZ that I hope it stays on its fast track. Because if it waits around much longer, Hollywood might by that time have killed off the genre with an over-saturation of flesh-eating corpse movies that could be as fatal to the film zombie as a shotgun blast to the head.
Holy hell that is the worst sentence I’ve ever read. I know you guys came here to learn about World War Z, but I am now fascinated by Mike Fleming and his unintentionally hilarious awful writing. His is the same site that employs Pete Hammond, by the way.
A look at the roster of zombie projects that are either going into production or percolating in development is more than daunting. I’ve always found zombies a far more interesting movie species than vampires or werewolves, but the genre benefited when Hollywood paced itself. After all, there was only so much plot innovation possible with slow moving hordes of hungry corpses. who were not handsome and sporting six-packs like the Twilight Saga kids, with little romantic sparks possible when the key characters were in the process of decomposing when they came back to life. Still, a quick scan of recent zombie deals shows that there are probably more than 20 films with a realistic chance of getting made over the next few years, with story lines that twist the genre in directions that are new for zombies.
DANGER, DANGER, MY NERDBOT IS MALFUNCTIONING (*plume of acrid smoke*)
My God, I love how his inherent dorkiness manages to shine through even when he’s in “Serious Professor Journalist” mode. The article rambles on from there, but I’m afraid I can’t take any more of it. That last chunk had so much passive voice in it that I think I am a homosexual now.