‘World War Z’ Director Marc Forster Explains ‘Different Approach’ To Film Adaptation

From MTV News

Ever since the “World War Z” film synopsis hit the Internets last month, the most loyal fans of the beloved Max Brooks novel have been up in arms about the fact that the movie is trading out Brooks’ post-war setting in favor of having star Brad Pitt’s character, a U.N. staffer, fight to stop the Zombie pandemic from wiping out the entire population.

MTV News recently caught up with director Marc Forster during the Toronto International Film Festival where he was promoting his upcoming film “Machine Gun Preacher” to find out how he is approaching the translation of Brooks’ novel from page to big screen.

“The idea, obviously the book is not written as a narrative, you try to take things from the book, but at same time you’re changing certain things,” Forster explained. “I do feel we’re trying to keep it in the spirit of the book because it’s important.

Forster said that he realizes the fans want as faithful an adaptation as possible, which he wants to stay true to, but at the same time he has to make a movie that stands on its own.

“We are doing our own film, telling our own story because we had to,” he said. “But trying to still include as much as we can from the book.”

Forster went on to say that one of the biggest points of discussion or contention is deciding how the zombies move.

“In Max Brook’s book they move in the George Romero fashion. I feel like we have a little bit different approach,” he revealed. “But it doesn’t exclude that they might not eventually be fashioned how George Romero’s zombies move, it’s just a little bit different approach,” Forster said. “I think that will probably be the biggest discussions that there will be.”