New Screenwriter Hired for 'World War Z'

Source: First Showing + Fangoria

Not sure how many of you have read Max Brooks' 'The Zombie Survival Guide', and 'World War Z', but if you are a Zombie fan, and haven't read them yet, do yourself a favor and grab them. They won't disappoint.


"Max Brooks says: Autograph? Do I look like a Zombie, motherfucker?"

Now this is a bit strange. Fangoria reports today that the World War Z adaptation in the works over at Paramount is being revised by a different screenwriter. Originally, it was J. Michael Straczynski who had been adapting Max Brooks' book, but now it's Matthew Michael Carnahan, a "specialist in political thrillers" whose past credits include State of Play and The Kingdom. “He’s one of Hollywood's hot A-list writers, so if they went after him and paid him a mountain of gold, it definitely shows their confidence in this project,” Brooks said. We know Marc Forster is directing, but we didn't know there were problems with the script?


"Available from all good 'Undead' booksellers."

Brooks adds: “They say it’s a positive move because they’re very excited, but the truth is, it’s also positive because they just paid him a buttload of money, and [with] the money they paid him, the money they paid Straczynski and they money they’ve paid me, they’ve really dug themselves a deep hole, so they better make this thing!" I'm right there with him - they better make this thing! There seems to be something going on behind-the-scenes here - because when we reported that Forster was attached to direct last year, they were preparing to start production this year. So what happened? Why do they need an entirely new writer?


"Concept art for the film. Massive Zombie hordes... oh, my."

Straczynski has openly talked about his script quite a bit, with this update in December being the most recent. From the way he describes his version of Max Brooks' book, it sounds like it will be a very political movie that involves the government, which might explain why Matthew Michael Carnahan is actually good fit for this. I'm still curious to see if there is more to this story than we're hearing. We'll keep you updated on the development of World War Z, a project I am still very much looking forward to one day seeing.

From Fangoria: On FANGORIA RADIO last week, guest Max Brooks dropped a scoop about a new writer taking on the film version of his best-selling undead-epic novel WORLD WAR Z. The movie is being developed by Paramount and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Production, and was previously being scripted by CHANGELING and BABYLON 5’s J. Michael Straczynski.

Now taking on the adaptation reins is Matthew Michael Carnahan, a specialist in political thrillers whose credits include STATE OF PLAY and THE KINGDOM. “He’s one of Hollywood’s hot A-list writers, so if they went after him and paid him a mountain of gold, it definitely shows their confidence in this project,” Brooks said on the show. “They say it’s a positive move because they’re very excited, but the truth is, it’s also positive because they just paid him a buttload of money, and [with] the money they paid him, the money they paid Straczynski and they money they’ve paid me, they’ve really dug themselves a deep hole, so they better make this thing!” We’ll keep you posted on any further WORLD WAR Z news we hear.