So, all those out there that have read the book "World War Z" by Max Brooks raise your hands. Ok, those of you with your hand raised, take that hand and pat yourself on the back for having excellent taste in literature.
"World War Z", one of my favorite books ever is being turned into a movie!
For those of you who don't know the book (for shame) the theme of the book is a collection of interviews collected from all over the world 10 years after the end of the zombie war in which the world had been overrun with zombies (its only a matter of time, folks) and subsequently taken back by the humans that survived. Now I realize that a book that is a collection of interviews may not sound like much but Brooks manages to weave the interviews into a cohesive storyline. Go Max!
There was an "audio book" made of it that was excellent. I use quotes around audio book because that is not really a fair description. It would be more accurate to call it an audio play but good luck finding "audio play" when you head down to your local book store to pick it up. One of the things that makes this play so great is the phenomenal acting by the cast which includes voice acting great Mark Hamill. Yes, I know he was Luke Skywalker but, while I absolutely loved the original Star Wars movies, he really came into his own with voice acting. Other performers include Alan Alda, Rob Reiner, Carl Reiner, Henry Rollins, John Turturro and others all turning in top flight performances. Unfortunately all the interviews in the book don't make it into the play but it is still a great one.
Ok, so now you know the storyline of the book. Let's have a littl look at what the storyline of the movie will be. This is the official synopsis from Paramount:
"The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself. Mireille Enos plays Gerry’s wife Karen Lane; Andre Kertesz is his comrade in arms, Segen."
Now, does that sound like the same story? To be fair, the two storylines to cave a couple of things in common: Um... Well... They both have people and zombies.
This isn't just a case of a fan of a book nitpicking a movie based on it. This is a case of one story having nothing to do with each other except the title! It is like licensing the movie rights to Harry Potter and making a movie about a little girl who travels around the world granting the wishes of bread mold and pulling magic joo joo bees out of her left nostril. Insistently, if there are any Hollywood big wigs out there reading this I am available to write that screenplay.
I know changes are made to the original story in movies all the time due to the restrictions of film or even just to make the story new for people who are familiar with the story but there is at least something of the original story in there somewhere! One of my favorite TV shows "The Walking Dead" diverged quite a bit from the comic it is based on. The key difference is that, despite being different, it is still true to the source material.
I guess there is something that truly upsets me, as a writer, about taking the product of someone's hard work and imagination grabbing the title and tossing everything else. Why should it upset me when Max Brooks is fne with it? Well for one, we don't know what his feelings on the changes are, no statement has been issued. Even if he is ok with it I still feel it is kind of a giant "Up Yours!" to the fans who are excided to see a story that they enjoy up on the silver screen.
The movie isn't set to be released until December 21, 2012 and many things can happen between now and then so there is hope. Incidentally December 21, 2012 is the date of the end of the world according to the Mayan calender ad least according to popular belief. Cute, Paramount, glad you did something right.
The one of the truely sad things about all this is that the synopsis sounds like it might be a pretty good movie were it allowed to stand on its own. Maybe they will change the title and then make a real World War Z movie. I won't be holding my breath for that one though.
Rant Over... For now
Just sharing
12 years ago
