World War Z News & Reviews - Possible SPOILERS

[Joansie]

I hope I am not repeating anything. This is a very interesting read. I do hope it gets done soon.


SPOILERS if you follow the link

http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3947&Itemid=99

[Jan]

That is a great article, Joansie. And more telling because the poster isn't very familiar with either Max Brooks or JMS.

Jan

[frulad]

It's called research people. Not too hard to do...

[Shr'eshhhhhh]

Just listened to the audio version.

Having both the Max Brookes books, I treated myself to the audio version.

I read World War Z, over Christmas so it was still fresh in my mind so, I thought I'd listen to it in chunks but I found it so compelling I had to listen to all of what is almost six hours of the thing in one sittiing.

Some of the actors did sound like they were reading the script for the first time but a number of performances stood out very well indeed (I love Mark Hamill cussin like a trooper, he is such a gifted actor he deserves to be in much more than he is).

JMS really must have had a task on his hands and I'm glad his screenplay is as well regarded as it is.

But I can't imagine how he has done it.

As I say the audio version is nearly six hours long and about half the material in the book had to be removed to do it.

To do the book justice surely the only way it could be done would be as a mockumentary (filmed like "The World At War").

And the only medium that could support such an undertaking would be television not cinema.

I imagine JMS has done something very radical, possibly just doing a war film set in the World War Z universe with some of the key events.

I am looking forward to it so much it hurts, so much so I fear I'm setting myself up for a fall, and whatever way it's been done it's a long wait until it finally appears on screen.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I really enjoyed the World War Z book -which is more a collection of short stories that all tie in together. I hope the movie is set at least somewhat in the same way. I trust JMS to do a zombie movie more than anyone else out there lol

[Andrew_Swallow]

The other way to do it is to turn the book into 3 films. Same as happened to Lord of the Rings.

[Jan]

Believe me, the book is *far* too small for that. The 'stories' are just interviews and so, much less self-contained than short stories. It's not important to get every single interview on film for it to still be very effective, imo.

Jan

[AaronB]

The other way to do it is to turn the book into 3 films. Same as happened to Lord of the Rings.

Um, Lord of the Rings was three books, was it not?

[grumbler]

Believe me, the book is *far* too small for that. The 'stories' are just interviews and so, much less self-contained than short stories. It's not important to get every single interview on film for it to still be very effective, imo.

Agreed, and some of the stories were so trite or silly that including them would just slow the pace of the movie. The main stories about how the war was actually fought, plus the better human-interest/character stories, and you could have a film that was very complete.

[JoeD80]

Um, Lord of the Rings was three books, was it not?

You could even say that was six books, since each was split into two parts. I think in the prologue somewhere, or in on of Tolkien's letters he said it was more a series of six books than a trilogy. I think it was the publisher who decided to release two books per volume.

[Shr'eshhhhhh]

This is clearly not going to be a 'straight' adaptation.

But if it were to be it would have to be long.

As I say even with half the events removed (some of them very important ones) the audio version comes in at almost six hours.

It's not a conventional book.

Most novels of the same length are full of described detail which can be depicted in the costume/scene design and action, this greatly shortens the length of the film.

The details in this book are almost impossible to depict in the condensed fashion that cinema usually gets away with.

The accounts deal with emotions and political, technological and historical details which can only be presented on screen in the manner that the book was written (as recorded oral accounts).

These could be illustrated with still images, fake news reports, clips from the documentary films made at the time and film of the interviews taking place.

Ideal for a television series, but not a cinema project by any means.

JMS seems to have turned in a clever script about the writing of the report, a side step set in the same universe, which is possibly the only way to get a cinema film out of this material.

But it might be the ultimate promotion for the film to do a full length mockumentary series as well.

[vakie]

JMS has also posted on the WWZ boards on IMDB:

by gil-65 (Wed Sep 10 2008 02:41:06)

No one has the script, as Michael isn't finished with it yet.

Anyone that tells you otherwise is just plain lying, trying to cast aspersions on the project, or simply attention-hungry.

Michael has organized a workshop reading team, a sort of "beta test" if you like, of close friends, fans, and industry collaborators, and the final shooting script isn't even in the hands of the director to shoot. The feedback from the workshop group is still in the brainstorming stage for act II; acts I and III are more or less locked as of now. The director still gets final proof, but Michael doesn't anticipate that he'll be overruled.

Portions of act II have been released for pre-production shooting, but the lion's share of the script won't be ready for delivery until at least October.

Anything that you read otherwise is rumor, contrivance, and conjecture based on the book.

Richardball291, I'm calling you out--you don't have a copy of the script, nor does anyone else.

Even people on the reading team only get small portions of individual scenes; certainly there are no copies of the entire thing, it doesn't exist in that form as of now.

--

by straczynski (Sun Sep 14 2008 22:02:19)

Yes, I'm finished with the script. The most recent draft, which will be the production draft, is dated 4/23/08 and has been finished and in the hands of the studio, the production company, and several directors who have been considering the script since April. Paramount hopes to find the right director soon, preferably an A-list director because this is going to be a huge financial commitment on their part, so all of the directors who have been (and are being) considered have been given the finished, full script.

No, I don't have a "workshop reading team" or "beta testers." I don't have any "industry collaborators." There cannot be any "workshop group" feedback because I don't use anything like that. It doesn't exist.

And anybody who actually KNOWS me knows that I go by Joe, not Michael.

I don't know who YOU are, but you're a pretender and a sham. Also you make stuff up.

J. MIchael (Joe) Straczynski

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/...flat/117158798

[Jan]

Wow! I don't think I've seen such a clueless post since Ford and Thaxton were trolling JMS on Usenet!

Jan

[Jonas]

From what the reviewer is saying, JMS picked the most logical approach: adapt the atmosphere, the ideas and the world, rather than the plot. Which is fine in this case, because the novel (and it is a novel) has such a unique structure.

As for The Lord of the Rings, it was written to be one novel consisting of several books (in the organizational, not the physical, sense). It was printed in three parts because paper was still considered too expensive for a book that long.

[Jonas]

Wow! I don't think I've seen such a clueless post since Ford and Thaxton were trolling JMS on Usenet!

Jan

It hurts, doesn't it? There's a reason I stay as far away as possible from the IMDb forums!