Filming a popular novel is always a challenge but Brad Pitt seems to have gone overboard in trying to film a zombie apocalypse movie out of World War Z based on Max Brook’s grippingly detailed science fiction novel. Brad Pitt had bought the screen rights of the book in 2007 and originally JM Straczynski had developed the script based on the novel. It seemed to be a good start as the people who had seen the initial draft of the script believed that it had the power to lift the genre to a level where it became a serious contender for awards. But once things started going wrong it has been a downhill ride all along.
40 Minutes Long Third Act Was Reshot at Great Expense
The screenplay leaked in 2008 and it was scrapped for not reaching the action levels expected. Mathew Michael Carnahan of the ‘Kingdom’ fame was brought in on the project to do a complete rewrite. The shooting was completed last year after a lot of hiccups but things haven’t improved even after that. Pitt and his team of advisers decided to reshoot the 40 minutes long third act. Damon Lindelof of ‘Lost’ fame was roped in for the expensive reshoot. As a result the relation between Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster became so bad that it was rumoured that they refused to talk to each other on the set.
The Creative Team Had Little Experience in Big Budget Films
The film is now said to be ready and is scheduled to release on June 21. However the reports surrounding the movie are still negative. The budget is said to have ballooned to a staggering $400 million, which if true makes the World War Z the most expensive film of all time. A recent Vanity Fair article also exposed the movie’s shortcomings. The article pointed out that creative team handling the project had no or little experience in making big budget spectacle heavy film and it shows in the final product. There was mismanagement at every level. The adhoc changes and rewriting and reshooting took its toll and pushed the budget to a disproportionately high level. Brad Pitt might be feeling that he chose the wrong novel to film and if the film doesn’t do well on the box office he will end up in a big financial mess.
Via: guardian
