Listen, we get it. After the ton of not-so-hot press last year during the troubled production of “World War Z,” the game plan now for director Marc Forster, star Brad Pitt and everyone else involved is to play it cool, brush it off, move on and try and make sure the summer tentpole makes some money. Cool. But maybe some better metaphors could be utilized in explaining just what happened during a shoot that required an entirely new ending and numerous writers to try and patch things up, and involved friction on set that apparently led to Pitt refusing to speak with Foster.
First, Forster clarifies that it wasn’t seven weeks of reshoots, just a mere ” four-and-a-half,” claiming it was an “always normal!” part of the process. “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,” he told Empire. “It’s the same if you’re buying a house and you roll out a nice Persian carpet for your living room and you realize it doesn’t really fit.”
Um, not exactly the most relatable comparison (I only purchase bear skin rugs…) but sure, we get what he’s saying…kind of… Meanwhile, as for the undead in the film, Forster compares them to two wildly different animals. “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,” explained. “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.”
So Persian rugs, ants, sharks…”World War Z” is gonna be awesome, right? We’ll find out on June 21st.