Adapting World War Z for the Big Screen

            I believe that Paramount Studios will have a difficult time adapting max Brooks’ classic novel. A tale about a lone reporter’s quest to compile an oral history about a worldwide war against a disease that reanimates the dead, who then  attempt to consume the living, and the brave people who fought them. Although I admire Brad Pit as an actor, I don’t believe they will have him sitting still and patiently recording the accounts of brave individuals who battle the zombie blight in this new movie.

            I feel that Paramount Studios will also struggle fitting in several different scenes from the book into their new block-buster, scenes that I enjoyed the most out of the book. These scenes which are from the tale of Colonel Christina Eliopolis a brave U.S. Air Force cargo plane pilot.  First we see her tumble out of a C-130 after using the bathroom, just barely opening her chute as she plummets downward from her burning plane. Then we see her on the ground, surrounded by a hoard of zombies in a Southern Louisiana swamp, but she stands and fights, killing over sixty one zombies with just a sidearm. Finally she is guided by a mysterious radio operator, trekking through dense swamp and zombie infested roads, until the operator who is simply called “Mets” leads her to a landing zone where a rescue helicopter picks her up. When reading this story kept me at the edge of my seat and constantly inspired by her courage. It saddens me to realize that this is just a side story and will most likely be extremely shortened when the screenplay is written.

            Other entire parts of the book will probably be cut from the final film. Such as the cynical character Seryosha Garcia Alvarez and his tale of a Cuba’s struggle into a wealthy and democratic nation. As he recounts the time during the zombie conflict when the shores of Cuba are crowded with immigrants escaping from zombie infested nations. He shows extreme gratitude to those individuals which helped the movement. We would also not see his bitterness toward Castro. Who he believes after years of oppressing his people, got off easy by allowing democracy to be implemented, and is now portrayed as the father of Cuban democracy. We will know nothing about Seryosha or the Cuban democratic movement if this gets cut from the new movie… but it probably will.