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Baitball Blogger

(46,576 posts)
Tue Apr 30, 2013, 03:34 PM Apr 2013

World War Z -- an epic nightmare to make -- but I'm sure it will be worth watching.

Brad Pitt Vanity Fair Cover Story Reveals World War Z Was “Nightmare” Production

According to director Marc Foster and studio executives, the budget soared to $200 million as problems on set and with the script led to 40 minutes of the film being reshot to get a more comprehensible ending.

Vanity Fair reports that when the director’s cut was first screened, the room was “silent.”

“It was, like, Wow. The ending of our movie doesn’t work. I believed in that moment we needed to reshoot the movie,” says one Paramount executive.

An entire 12-minute Russian battle scene was thrown out as the World War Z team scrambled to create an improved ending to the film.

http://www.gossipcop.com/world-war-z-new-ending-vanity-fair-brad-pitt-cover-story/

18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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World War Z -- an epic nightmare to make -- but I'm sure it will be worth watching. (Original Post) Baitball Blogger Apr 2013 OP
that big of a reshoot NewJeffCT Apr 2013 #1
There was a lot of good material to work with. Baitball Blogger Apr 2013 #2
I didn't see a projected release date for WW Z. In_The_Wind Apr 2013 #3
Fandango says June 21st. Baitball Blogger Apr 2013 #6
Cool In_The_Wind Apr 2013 #10
I wasn't interested until I started seeing the trailers and now OriginalGeek Apr 2013 #4
I sooo want to make the midnight opening night. Baitball Blogger Apr 2013 #8
I read the book and loved it! lunatica Apr 2013 #5
Trailer... hunter Apr 2013 #7
This, if any movie, should rely on some "found footage" Taverner Apr 2013 #9
I am expecting black hole level suckage. politicat Apr 2013 #11
I think most of us that are looking forward to it, reached the conclusion Baitball Blogger Apr 2013 #12
I think the problem is they made an action film instead of a suspense film. politicat May 2013 #13
Love your breakdown. Baitball Blogger May 2013 #15
well said NewJeffCT May 2013 #17
Why can't they make good movies anymore ? olddots May 2013 #14
Maybe the humility here is a good thing.... cbdo2007 May 2013 #16
WHOA! Found this article that is specific about the issues. Major Spoilers. Baitball Blogger May 2013 #18

OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
4. I wasn't interested until I started seeing the trailers and now
Tue Apr 30, 2013, 05:08 PM
Apr 2013

it's one of my most anticipated movies this year. 3rd after Iron Man and Star Trek.

 

Taverner

(55,476 posts)
9. This, if any movie, should rely on some "found footage"
Tue Apr 30, 2013, 07:31 PM
Apr 2013

After having listened to the audiobook, that is the only direction I can see this going

politicat

(9,808 posts)
11. I am expecting black hole level suckage.
Tue Apr 30, 2013, 11:12 PM
Apr 2013

I heard Max Brooks say something to the effect that it's Brad Pitt's movie. When the author pretty much disclaims having anything to do with a derivative work, that's bad. When that author is a kid who grew up with the film industry, that's really bad. Brooks knows media strategy and how to make a Hollywood insult.

The trailers are showing fast zombies. It looks like it's more Escape From LA than Ken Burns' The Civil War (which is a much better metaphor for WWZ.)

WWZ would have been a much better HBO one season series than a 120 minute movie.

Baitball Blogger

(46,576 posts)
12. I think most of us that are looking forward to it, reached the conclusion
Tue Apr 30, 2013, 11:29 PM
Apr 2013

that we were going to watch a zombie movie. But not World War Z, as written by Max Brooks. It was all written in the past tense, which doesn't always work well in the movies where suspense is what holds the audience's interest for two hours.

Agree that World War Z should be redone as an HBO series.

politicat

(9,808 posts)
13. I think the problem is they made an action film instead of a suspense film.
Wed May 1, 2013, 12:45 AM
May 2013

The terror behind a zombie is the terror of a creeping, implacable foe, and the heroism in the face of creeping terror is inner strength, resilience and resourcefulness. An action film doesn't (and maybe can't, due to the format) reward patience and internal fortitude. The action hero/ine is by definition playing a Fighter class character (usually Barbarian, sometimes Swashbuckler or Ranger) -- major stat is STR, then CON, with WIS and INT as dump. The zombie hero/ine archetype is either a Battle Cleric or a Mage -- all WIS/INT, not so much on the STR. That's why the first Die Hard was so revolutionary -- unlike the Rambo concept that had dominated action in the preceding generation, John McClane was pretty much an ordinary guy who relied far more on his CON and INT than his STR.

They can go together (the episode of Firefly which introduces the Reavers manages it well) but it's hard to do well because brute force (via punch or the abrupt conversion of mass to energy) is only one method of achieving an end with suspense. With action, brute force is an end of its own.

WWZ works because the suspense all derives from the how and why civilization fell, and the means and methods of re-establishing civilization. The characters who are thriving in the post-Z world are those who cooperated and were integrated into a community. (the exceptions in part 1 are the cardiologist who did body parts trafficking and is essentially a prisoner of an Amazonian tribe, and the supplement sales jerk who is alone in Antarctica.) The book itself establishes that brute force fails against the implacable -- Battle of Yonkers, Battle of Hamburg. The reclamation relies on planning, precision and patience -- qualities the zombies cannot have. The reader cares about the struggle -- it's a character driven book rather than a plot driven book. In that, it's much more closely related to a procedural (and thus a lot more like the short film Spoiler than Die Hard) than an action film.

(Genre theory. It's not just for English majors.)

Baitball Blogger

(46,576 posts)
15. Love your breakdown.
Wed May 1, 2013, 09:11 AM
May 2013

Genre theory. I haven't seen the movie Spoilers, but I could follow everything else.

NewJeffCT

(56,827 posts)
17. well said
Wed May 1, 2013, 10:21 AM
May 2013

I loved the description of the Battle of Yonkers because the millions of slow moving zombies shambling out of New York made them seem almost unstoppable and inevitable - there were just so many and they just kept coming & coming, despite hundreds of thousands of them dying because of bombs, rockets, missiles, etc. I could almost feel the panic of the soldiers when one of them hit a zombie with a headshot, but it didn't die (later, it was revealed because the shot only hit the side of the head - not enough to kill it) or when zombies trapped in homes behind the soldiers started shambling out when the doors/windows were broken/weakened because of the bombings.

the movie has made them into fast-moving zombies and it certainly looks to be an action movie.

 

olddots

(10,237 posts)
14. Why can't they make good movies anymore ?
Wed May 1, 2013, 01:50 AM
May 2013

They saved Hitler's Brain was made for peanuts and it's still a classic.

cbdo2007

(9,213 posts)
16. Maybe the humility here is a good thing....
Wed May 1, 2013, 09:57 AM
May 2013

after all, 90% of the movies I see nowadays have stupid endings, so seeing them realize this and change the ending is refreshing and may work to its advantage.

Baitball Blogger

(46,576 posts)
18. WHOA! Found this article that is specific about the issues. Major Spoilers.
Wed May 1, 2013, 09:20 PM
May 2013

Here are clips:

“Marc wanted to make a big , huge action movie that wasn’t terribly smart and had big, huge set pieces in it," Straczynski, the creator of “Babylon 5” told Vanity Fair. “If all you wanted to do was as empty-headed Rambo-versus-the-zombies action film, why option this really elegant, smart book?

and

2. However, everyone chased their tail and ended up with what they started with: a more thoughtful drama with an emotional finish.
Much has been made about the Russian set ending in "World War Z" (the film has three main settings, Philadelphia, Israel and Russia). The gist of it: In Russia, humans are kept as slaves, presumably to stave off the hordes of zombies -- and the original climax of 'WWZ' has Pitt freeing these slaves and enlisting them to fight off and kill the zombie army off with "lobotomizing" sheaths that take off zombies' heads. It was evidently a huge set piece (taking up almost 15 minutes of the film) and super expensive, but there were three essential problems:

a) These sequences were gruesome and veered close to an R-Rating whereas 'WWZ' was contractually obligated to bring in a PG-13 ("The question was: how graphic can it be and get that rating?” one source questioned).

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/does-world-war-z-need-to-make-400-million-to-break-even-vanity-fair-looks-at-the-runaway-brad-pitt-starring-zombie-movie-20130430

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