World War Z may be looking for a new director

First there were delays then there was the news that J Michael Straczynski's script was being rewritten by script hot shot Matthew Michael Carnahan.

Now a rumour that came from the San Diego Comic Con that Paramount Pictures is currently looking for a new director.

Currently attached is Marc Forster who directed Quantum of Solace. To me Quantum was a huge disappointment after the excellent Casino Royale. The action scenes in Quantum just didn't work. Therefore, the news that Forster may not be doing World War Z is actually pretty cool to me. I just really want to see Max Brooks excellent book on the big screen - The Battle of Yonkers, lobos, the astronauts on the space station watching the swarms of the undead, underwater zombies and more.

This is a rumour at the moment, but who would be a good director for this adaption? Zack Snyder, Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, Lloyd Kaufman? Who could it be?

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World War Z gets a new scriptwriter

On FANGORIA RADIO last week, guest Max Brooks told them about a new writer taking on the film version of his best-selling undead-epic novel World War Z. The movie is being developed by Paramount and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Production, and J. Michael Straczynski had already written the script.

Now taking on the adaptation reins is Matthew Michael Carnahan, a specialist in political thrillers such as State of Play and The Kingdom.

“He’s one of Hollywood’s hot A-list writers, so if they went after him and paid him a mountain of gold, it definitely shows their confidence in this project,” Brooks said on the show. “They say it’s a positive move because they’re very excited, but the truth is, it’s also positive because they just paid him a buttload of money, and [with] the money they paid him, the money they paid Straczynski and they money they’ve paid me, they’ve really dug themselves a deep hole, so they better make this thing!”

Not sure whether this news is good or bad. Carnahan may have just been brought in to polish the political aspect of the script or maybe he's rewriting huge chunks of it.

Marc Forster is directing it and it was supposed to start filming this year. Obviously that is not the case, so who knows what problems there are with the script.

I just want to see this film! (below is a fan made teaser trailer using a whole host of other films).

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State of Play - TV Spot

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Writer: Matthew Michael Carnahan
Studio: Universal Pictures
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams

Due out on 17th April 2009

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State of Play - International trailer

The plot will be similar to that of the original six-hour program, retaining several main characters, but condensing and changing certain aspects to fit the two-hour format. The film is set in Washington, D.C. and tells of Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), a fast-rising United States Congressman with ambitions to become his party's presidential candidate. This goal is threatened after his mistress (a former research assistant) is found dead in suspicious circumstances, while right-wing opponents to Collins' campaign for social reform attempt to use the scandal to kill his political career. During a probe into a series of seemingly unrelated murders, Cal McCaffrey (Russell Crowe), an investigative journalist and Collins' former campaign manager, finds himself tasked with solving the case, becoming romantically involved with the Congressman's estranged wife (Robin Wright Penn) in the process.

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Writer: Matthew Michael Carnahan
Studio: Universal Pictures
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams

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