As I mentioned when we revealed the new film poster, I spent the day at Paramount recently, where producer/star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster treated us to nearly 20 minutes of advance footage of their adaptation of Max Brooks’ post-apocalyptic oral history, World War Z. Before the screening, the preternaturally handsome Pitt addressed the assemblage of journalists about why he decided to produce and star in the zombie epic, saying, “In Max Brooks’ book we found much more than a zombie film. We found this global apocalypse. This zombie epidemic as worldwide pandemic.” With a bit of a laugh, Pitt noted, “I wanted to make a film my sons could actually see before they get old. As you will see, we got a little carried away.”
But when it comes to zombies, is getting carried away such a bad thing? With World War Z fans, it depends on who you ask. While much of the footage that we saw was action heavy, Forster assuaged fears by acknowledging that it wasn’t all run-and-gun zombie mayhem; the film will have quieter, more introspective moments like the novel. To be fair, the footage we saw, which sets up the story of Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations employee with experience in disaster-affected areas racing around the world in an attempt to find patient zero and prevent a zombie pandemic from destroying mankind as we know it, featured a nice balance of quieter character moments and heart-pumping action sequences. Noticeably absent, though, is the blood and gore that we’ve been trained to expect from zombie flicks. Part of making a film Pitt’s sons could see entails making a PG-13 film, a potentially polarizing move for genre diehards, but a choice that could make the film more accessible to a broader audience. The experience is somewhat akin to playing a videogame with the violence filter turned on, but the sense that something is missing quickly goes away.
Read more. Very interesting article with in addition an interview with Marc Forster, the director. Do read.