The War is Back On

Todd Jepperson

It wasn’t too long ago we told you about Brad Pitt taking an interest in the film adaptaion of Max Brooks’ World War Z. In short, he bought up rights, and started peddling it to Big Hollywood production companies. Conflicting reports and rumors have been spinning almost out of control since then, but we think there are some actual developments to report.

First, Paramount Studio axed the project because of funding. Apparently, they didn’t have the, roughly, $125,000,000 kicking around between the sofa cushions to bring this thing to theaters the way it was. They even threatened to re-write it as a PG-13 script if they couldn’t get someone to help foot the bill. Luckily Skydance Productions, as well as “unnamed” others, have come forward and offered to lend a hand and filming could begin as soon as June.

Now that we have funding, we need to figure out who’s gonna film the thing. Until further notice, Robert Richardson has been called up to take care of it. Being that he’s been the lead man on films such as Natural Born Killers (1994), Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2 (2003-04), Inglorious Basterds (2009), and his current project Hugo Cabaret, we can probably breathe easy knowing he’s on the job.

Next, we need to begin casting. Round 1 has apparently already happened, bringing in a couple of familiar faces. Obviously, Brad Pitt is in and we all know who he is, but Pitt’s agreed to co-star alongside AMC’s The Killing’s Mireille Enos.

The latest reports have this thing filming this year with an early summer 2012 release, but as you can come to count on from the City of Fallen Angels, these things will probably change. We’ll try to stay on top of it and let you know when they do.