More problems, more writers...
In the end, I think the zombie war at the center of “World War Z” will be less deadly than the actual making of the movie. After shooting in numerous international locations last year at high expense, the producers yanked it from its December 2012 release date a few months ago because it wasn’t going to be ready. And no, this wasn’t a simple matter of needing to cut down an overlong film or tweak the ending. No, it’s been said that they admit now that there’s only about an hour of usable film; supposedly they couldn’t figure out an ending. Yikes. Now they’re planning seven weeks of reshoots in the fall–yes, that’s right, seven weeks, enough to make another movie.
We heard in June that Damon Lindelof had been hired to write a new ending. Now we get word from Deadline that Drew Goddard of “Cabin in the Woods” fame actually did most of the writing, based on Lindelof’s idea. On top of that, Paramount is considering bringing in Christopher McQuarrie for another try at it. The problem, though, is that McQuarrie is supposed to be heavily committed to Doug Liman’s “All You Need is Kill,” starring Tom Cruise (Tom Cruise, keeping busy…). McQuarrie and Cruise have worked together frequently, so it’s unlikely McQuarrie will bail on that. What this is all adding up to is a big paycheck for McQuarrie if Paramount wants to persuade him to jump in. And Lindelof likely didn’t come cheap either. Goddard, probably a little more like market rate. Anyway, this just adds to what is already a super bloated budget.
Is there anyway this movie won’t be a disaster? Sure. It stars Brad Pitt, is about the always popular zombie threat, and offers a lot of action. It could get killed by the critics and ignored by US audiences, but it will undoubtedly play well overseas; “John Carter” did good international business. And sometimes even movies that sound like a mess during production turn out well, like “Titanic.” It’s not likely, but it’s possible…
