Marc Forster to Direct ‘World War Z’, Will Call It ‘Quantum of Zombie’

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 15, 2008

Do you like zombies? Do you like plots that involve the decimation of humanity? Do you like action scenes shot and edited into confusing jumbles of blurs so you have no clue what the fuck is happening on-screen?

Well then prepare to be stoked! Fresh off the blockbuster success of the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, director Marc Forster has been hired to direct the big-screen adaption of Max Brooks’ bestselling book about the zombie apocalypse, “World War Z.” The novel is a collection of interviews with survivors of a zombie holocaust that happened ten years earlier. Per Wikipedia, the book “charts a war against zombies from remote oddities, to a global pandemic to mass panic, and then to an armed struggle to reclaim the planet from the undead. In addition, the personal accounts describe the changing religious, geo-political, and environmental aftermath of the Zombie war.”

Brooks is the son of obscure cult director Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft, and previously authored “The Zombie Survival Guide” which is exactly what it sounds like. The rights to “World War Z” were picked up a couple of years ago by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, and while Pitt will be producing there’s no word yet if he’ll have a role in the film.

Variety reports that J. Michael Straczynski is writing the screenplay, but the script appears to already be done. Quiet Earth featured a very enthusiastic review of the script two months ago, and it sounds pretty epic for a zombie movie. At the time of the review, the biggest complaint fans seemed to have was with the apparent change from the book’s traditional, shambling zombies to the zippier variety found in the Dawn of the Dead remake. But with the announcement of Forster’s involvement, some people may also take issue with the action scenes in general as that appears to be a major weakness for the genre-hopping director. Zombie attacks may not be as disciplined as hand to hand combat, but I’d still like the head shots and flesh biting to be clearly visible and identifiable in all their gory glory.

What do you think of Forster directing World War Z? Have you read the book? Do you hope, as I do, that Mister Hand is a huge zombie fan thus guaranteeing this news will inspire yet another rant?

Read more articles by Rob Hunter