By World War Z, written by Max Brooks, rode into Hollywood at the height of the zombie craze. Brad Pitt was set to star and produce, and Marc Foster, director of the underrated Craig-Bond film Quantum of Solace, was set to direct. Then nothing happened on the project for a while. The zombie craze is essentially burnt out, save for the occasional amazing use of the sub-genre, like AMC’s The Walking Dead. The film was only announced at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, but a year is a long time for no news on a high-profile project like this. Now, it looks like the reason for the stall has come out: cold, hard cash. Paramount, deciding the film would need $125 million to do the film justice, is preparing to drop the project entirely if a co-financier isn’t found. In addition, Marc Foster has also agreed to make the film PG-13.
Wonderful. Let’s have another At the Mountains of Madness! Look, World War Z wasn’t exactly great literature. In fact, large portions of it seem like they may have been written on the back of a high school notebook, but the ideas within are awesome. Massive battles between the U.S. Army and the undead hordes? Siege after siege all over the country? Tell me how that’s PG-13 without compromising any of the integrity of the ghoulish horror of the story. Getting another financier would seem like enough to me to allow such a big-budget project to go ahead.
Freaking Hollywood, man.
[Via /Film]