While out and about promoting this weekend’s Ninja Assassin writer J. Michael Straczynski has given Collider an update on the Max Brooks‘ World War Z adaptation he has been working on for quite awhile now. Check out the excerpt below:
Q: Did you complete WWZ?
JMS: Yes, I wrote five drafts.
Q: Is it close to getting done?
JMS: One never knows. The director [Marc Forster] is attached to it and Paramount really wants to see it done because they have a lot of money invested in this thing. They think it could be a really big film for them.
Q: How did you adapt the first person narrative?
JMS: A series of interviews, so I basically said, “Well, who did those interviews?” And you tell the story of the guy who works for the UN going around the planet interviewing folks to see what happened to them and report on what happened. Through his eyes, you see flashbacks of those storylines.
I enjoyed Changeling, but Straczynski certainly didn’t prove himself with Ninja Assassin, the script being the worst part about that film. After reading World War Z, I wish they would do this project as a 12-part mini series are something to that effect. I was also hoping they wouldn’t structure it based on flashbacks. For a novel it works pretty well, but when it’s taken to a visual medium I feel like it will lose some steam, knowing that the events have already passed. The director attached, Marc Forster, also hasn’t done well recently with Quantum of Solace and The Kite Runner not really living up to expectations. I know Paramount really wants to get this made, as they have put quite a bit of money into it, but I’d much rather see them focus on something else.
Have you read World War Z? What do you think about the film adaptation?