Marc Forster On World War Z’s Reshoots And New Ending

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

zombies everywhere!With only two months until it’s released, World War Z will feed the frenzy of a zombie-crazed pop culture. The film’s producer and star Brad Pitt originally conceived of World War Z as somewhat of a political thriller set after the zombie apocalypse, but the heavily reported production delays re-invented the film into a more conventional zombie action film.

Director Marc Forster tells Empire that the production problems on World War Z were dramatically misreported. It was believed that World War Z had to do seven weeks of reshoots to accommodate script changes from screenwriter Drew Goddard. According to Forster, these reports were false:

No, seven weeks is not correct. We shot for about four-and-a-half. Reshooting was always normal! …Our reshoots were a little more exposed in the press because we had a different ending. We felt a different ending would serve the movie better. It’s the same if you’re buying a house and you roll out a nice Persian carpet for your living room and you realise it doesn’t really fit.”

World War Z has been getting some harsh criticisms from zombie purists who aren’t fans of the fast-moving zombies depicted in the film’s trailers, or in Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake. Forster explains why the film went in this direction:

What is interesting is the way the zombies move. I was looking at nature and how ants move. They’re having this feeding frenzy, and when they‘re going after the last resources they build this tower of babel, this building of disease. In a sense, [the zombies] are moving fast in a feeding frenzy and need stimulation, otherwise they’re roaming and slow. When a shark smells blood he attacks; otherwise he’s just roaming around.

World War Z was originally supposed to be released in December 2012, but because of production issues between Marc Forster and Brad Pitt, and late re-writes and re-shoots, the film was pushed to summer 2013. Hopefully, the new direction and new ending will better serve the film.

World War Z will hit theaters everywhere on June 21st, in 3D and IMAX.