I’ve never seen ‘Lost’, but watching ‘Prometheus’ I began to understand why Damon Lindelof is such a divisive figure to many people. I won’t go over that film again, but suffice to say it’s arguable whether he sticks the landing on Ridley Scott’s flick, so it’s odd to me to see that Paramount is bringing Lindelof on to do a third act rewrite of ‘World War Z’, according to The Hollywood Reporter here. I always thought this book would make a tough transition to the screen (even though I loved it), so it’s not incredibly surprising that they’re having trouble figuring out an ending…I just wonder if he’s the man for the job. Coming on the heels of the news that the movie is headed for massive reshoots, trouble could be brewing. After the jump I’ll remind you what the movie is actually about. Just cross your fingers that it doesn’t turn out to be a disaster.
Here’s the summary from Amazon, which clearly states the antithesis of a Hollywood blockbuster:
“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.
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4 Comments
I’m the first one who’ll admit to finding ‘Lost’ an overrated saga littered with predictable archetypes aplenty. However, Lindelof — at least to me — challenged himself as a writer and as a thinker with ‘Prometheus,’ so I daresay this could be a good project for him to work on. If you want this zombie film to get the Academy’s attention, you better attach a screenwriter who is willing to a dig a little deeper than the normal layering of gore, cannibalism, and monstrous anarchy attached to zombie flicks. Chances are that if the script keeps being re-written, the filmmakers have yet to concretely pinpoint a tone for the film. Here’s to hoping they find their way!
Joseph Braverman(Quote) (Reply)
The script was the wink link of the flick to me with Prometheus, so I’m hesitant here, but not upset.
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
I liked almost everything except the end of ‘Prometheus’, so idk if this is a good hire or not.
Jessie Makowski(Quote) (Reply)
Same here.
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)