World War Z
question
Better way of adapting World War Z?
Kellie
Jun 30, 2013 05:25PM
I know there are many out there who were disappointed by the recent movie adaptation (if you can even call it that) of World War Z; mainly that it used nothing from the book except for the zombie apocalypse scenario. On the one hand, I'm disappointed too because the book isn't just about zombies, but rather the social, political, and economic consequences of a worldwide pandemic, which I would have found much more interesting than watching Brad Pitt run around for two hours. On the other hand, World War Z isn't the easiest book to adapt because of the abundance of characters, settings, and situations. Even if a filmmaker chose to make an ensemble-like film (i.e., Contagion), they wouldn't be able to include everything.
So this leads into my idea: what if, instead of a movie, World War Z was adapted into a TV series? Much like Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes mini-series, each episode could represent one interview, perhaps with a different director for each one?
Or, would the aforementioned ensemble movie, focused on intertwining only a few of the interviews, be better? If so, which interviews do you think are the most important or interesting to be included?
So this leads into my idea: what if, instead of a movie, World War Z was adapted into a TV series? Much like Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes mini-series, each episode could represent one interview, perhaps with a different director for each one?
Or, would the aforementioned ensemble movie, focused on intertwining only a few of the interviews, be better? If so, which interviews do you think are the most important or interesting to be included?
I think WWZ would've been perfect for an indie-style documentary. Actually just play out the interviews as they appear in the book, with perhaps some news footage from the time, some 'historical' maps, etc.
I'm curious how much Max Brooks got paid for the rights, considering all they really used from the book is the title. It was good enough as "just another zombie movie" but that's really all it was, nothing special at all. It was interesting to see the bodies flowing through the streets like a tidal wave though.
Good question!
There's a pretty big cast of characters and anchoring it on just one doesn't really make sense (unless it's Brad Pitt I guess). I think AMC's really set the bar with "The Walking Dead" - partly because we become so invested in a small group of flawed characters. World War Z doesn't really lend itself to that - so maybe a non-linear style movie (like Pulp Fiction) would have been more faithful to the book.
Of course I've never attempted anything like that, so what do I know. It would be really interesting to hear from someone who actually does this sort of adaption.
There's a pretty big cast of characters and anchoring it on just one doesn't really make sense (unless it's Brad Pitt I guess). I think AMC's really set the bar with "The Walking Dead" - partly because we become so invested in a small group of flawed characters. World War Z doesn't really lend itself to that - so maybe a non-linear style movie (like Pulp Fiction) would have been more faithful to the book.
Of course I've never attempted anything like that, so what do I know. It would be really interesting to hear from someone who actually does this sort of adaption.
I enjoyed the film but I was disappointed because it had nothing to do with the book. They could have given it a different title and nobody could have even sued them. It's really a bummer too, because it would have made a great film, I think.
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Jul 07, 2013 06:59AM · flag