World War Z (movie)

Synopsis

Former UN employee Gerry Lane, his wife Karin and their two daughters are in heavy traffic in Philadelphia when the city is invaded by zombies . As the chaos spreads, the Lanes escape to Newark , New Jersey and take refuge in an apartment where a couple lives with his young son, Tommy. The Secretary General of the UN , Thierry Umutoni, an old friend of Gerry, sent a helicopter that extracts Lanes and Tommy to a ship of the US Navy in the Atlantic , where scientists and military personnel analyze trends of the epidemicin the world. Dr. Andrew Fassbach postulates that this is a virus and that the development of a vaccine depends on the discovery of its origin. Gerry reluctantly agrees to help Fassbach trace the source of the outbreak, after being made to understand that he and his family will be evacuated from the ship if he does not do so.

Gerry and Fassbach go to Camp Humphreys , a military base in South Korea , where they are attacked by zombies when they arrive. Turning to get on the plane, Fassbach accidentally slips, falls and unloads his firearm, accidentally killing himself. After being rescued by the surviving personnel of the base, led by Captain Speke, Gerry learns that the infection was introduced at the base by his doctor, who was finally cremated by a soldier with a lame leg that the infected ones have ignored. A former CIA agent imprisoned at the base for selling arms to North Korea (to help fight the infection) tells Gerry to go to Jerusalem, where a safe area was maintained by the Mossad even before the official recognition of the outbreak. As Gerry and his team bike back to their plane, the zombies attack, kill several soldiers and infect Captain Speke, who commits suicide to avoid turning back. Gerry and his pilot escape.

In Jerusalem , Gerry meets Mossad leader Jurgen Warmbrunn, who explains that months before, the Mossad had intercepted an Indian military message claiming that 3 Indian troops were fighting ” rakshasa ” or ” dead spirits “. Israel had quarantined Jerusalem , erecting huge walls around it. As Jurgen shows Gerry how Israel allows survivors to take refuge in the city, the festive songs of refugees incite zombiesto climb the walls and attack the crowd. Jurgen orders Israeli soldiers to escort Gerry to his plane. On the way, Gerry notices that the zombies ignore an emaciated boy. Shortly after, one of Gerry’s escorts, a soldier who identifies only as “Segen”, is bitten by hand, which Gerry quickly amputates to prevent him from transforming himself. Gerry and Segen escape in a commercial airliner while Jerusalem is invaded and Israel seeks to protect its remaining borders.

Gerry contacts Thierry, and the airliner is diverted to a World Health Organization (WHO) facility outside Cardiff , Wales . When an underground zombie attacks in midair, Gerry uses a grenade to expel infected people from the plane, but it also makes them crash. Gerry is injured, but he and Segen both survive. They go to the WHO establishment, where Gerry loses consciousness. He wakes up three days later and explains to the WHO staff his theory, after seeing the zombies ignore certain people:viral reproduction . He suggests testing this by deliberately infecting someone with a plant pathogen , but the pathogens are stored in a wing already invaded by zombies. Gerry, Segen and the WHO Chief Medical Officer are looking for a pathogen. While they fight, they are separated; Gerry continues towards the vault of pathogens while Segen and the doctor return to the main building. A zombie holds Gerry inside the chest, causing him to inject an unknown pathogen and open the chest, testing his theory. The zombie ignores him, just like those he meets when returning to the main building. Everyone is excited about Gerry’s success.

Gerry and his family gather in a security zone in Freeport, Nova Scotia . A “vaccine”, derived from deadly pathogens, is developed and delivered to survivors fighting the infected, acting as a kind of camouflage . The vaccine also helps survivors reach quarantine areas. Human offensives start against the zombies, and hope is restored. “It’s not the end,” says Gerry, “it’s not even close. Our war is just beginning.

Technical sheet

Unless otherwise stated or supplemented, the information mentioned in this section can be confirmed by the IMDb database .

• Original title: World War Z
• Director: Marc Forster
• Scenario: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Joseph Michael Straczynski , Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard , based on the novel World War Z: An Oral History of Max Brooks ‘ Zombie War
• Artistic direction: Jon Billington, Ben Collins, James Foster, Alan Gilmore and Matthew Gray
• Sets: Nigel Phelps
• Costumes: Mayes C. Rubeo
• Photography: Ben Seresin
• Editing: Matt Chesse
• Music: Marco Beltrami
• Production: Ian Bryce, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Brad Pitt
• Producers Delegates: David Ellison , Marc Forster, Dana Goldberg, Tim Headington, Graham King , Paul Schwake and Brad Simpson
• Executive Production: Marc Forster
• Production Companies: Skydance Productions , Hemisphere Media Capital, GK Films and Plan B Entertainment
• Distribution Company: Paramount Pictures
• Budget: 190 million to USD ¹
• Country of origin: United States
• Original language: English
• Format: color – 2.35: 1 – its Dolby Digital – 35 mm
• Genres: action , adventure , horror , sci-fi , thriller
• Duration:
  • Movie version: 116 minutes
  • Long version: 123 minutes
• Release dates ² :
  •  Canada , United States :  June 21 , 2013
  •  Switzerland : June 26 , 2013
  •  Belgium ; France :  July 3 , 2013
• Classification:
  •  United States :PG-13for intense frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing images
  •  France : Forbidden to children under 12 when it is released in cinemas

Distribution

• Brad Pitt (VF: Jean-Pierre Michael , VQ: Alain Zouvi ) : Gerry Lane
• Mireille Enos (VF: Marie Zidi , VQ: Mélanie Laberge ) : Karin Lane
• Daniella Kertesz (VF: Marie Tirmont , VQ: Geneviève Déry ) : Segen
• James Dale Badge (VF: Loïc Houdré , VQ: Frédéric Paquet ) : Captain Speke
• David Morse (VF: Stefan Godin , VQ: Sylvain Hétu ) : Gunter Haffner
• Fana Mokoena (en) (VF: Frantz Confiac ; DV: Patrick Chouinard) : Thierry
• David Andrews (VF: Patrick Bethune , VQ: Jean-Luc Montminy ) : Captain Mullenaro
• Sterling Jerins ( VF: Jeanne Orsat , VQ: Marguerite D’Amour ) : Constance Lane
• Abigail Hargrove (VF: Alice Orsat; Sarah Oussaid ) : Rachel Lane
• Peter Capaldi (VF: Mathieu Buscatto ) : The WHO doctor
• Pierfrancesco Favino (VF: Joel Zaffarano ) : The director of the WHO research center
• Ludi Boeken (VF: Michel Papineschi , VQ: Guy Nadon ) : Jurgen Warmbrunn
• Gregory Fitoussi (VF: himself ) : The pilot of the Antonov An 12
• Matthew Fox (VF: Xavier Fagnon ) : An American soldier
• Elyes Gabel (VQ: Martin Watier ) : Andrew Fassbach
• Fabrizio Zacharee Guido (VQ: Xiao Ye Hernan ) : Tomas
• Michiel Huisman (VF: Patrick Mancini , VQ: Claude Gagnon ) : Ellis
• Ruth Negga (VF: Nathalie Karsenti ) : One of the doctors of the WHO
• Moritz Bleibtreu : One of the doctors of the WHO
• Julia Levy-Boeken : a refugee from the Israeli camp
• Lucy Aharish : A Palestinian

Sources and legend : French version (VF) on AlloDoublage ³ and according to the French dubbing cardboard ; Quebec Version (VQ) on Doublage.qc.ca ⁴

Production

Development

After the war auction with the production company Appian Way of Leonardo DiCaprio , Plan B Entertainment obtained in 2006, the rights to adapt the novel World War Z by Max Brooks ⁵ . Brad Pitt , one of the founders of this company, finances the film. The script is entrusted to Joseph Michael Straczynski and the management to Marc Forster , who wishes to take inspiration from the thrillers of the 1970s , with their paranoid plots, such as Alan J. Pakula’s The Men of the Chair ( All the President’s Men )⁶ .

Very quickly, the producers decide not to take again the original structure of the novel, which described several testimonies of people having survived the world war against the zombies. Thus, it was chosen to focus on the point of view of a single protagonist: the former UN employee Gerry Lane ⁷ .

The writer had hoped that filming would begin in early 2009 ⁸ . Unfortunately, during an interview with IGN inMarch 2009, the director admitted that the scenario was still in full development and that it was not certain that World War Zwould be his next film. In July of the same year, another screenwriter named Matthew Michael Carnahan (in) rewrote scenario ⁹ .

At Comic-Con 2010 in San Diego , Paramount Pictures and UTV Motion Pictures announced that the film will be shot by the same director, confirming that Brad Pitt will take the lead role ¹⁰ .

Casting

Many rumors have circulated about the possible names in the credits, including those of Bryan Cranston ¹¹ and Ed Harris ¹² , the two players being a time entered into negotiations with the production. But these are not finally part of the cast.

The French actor Grégory Fitoussi was chosen because the director had seen in the series Gears : “I spent tests for the film. I filmed at my house and sent the band to Los Angeles. This is being done more and more for foreign films. It turns out that director Marc Forster is a fan of the Gears series . He even tried for a while to adapt it to the United States. Obviously, he wanted to work with me. He gave me this role of pilot of the United Nations. I was lucky because all my scenes were with Brad Pitt , James Badge Dale and David Morse. Three actors of which I am totally fan. The only problem was to release me because I was shooting on the 4 ^th season of gears at the same time in Paris. The producers of the series were very conciliatory and I take the opportunity to thank them because without their help I could not have done World War Z ⁷ . ”

Shooting and rewriting

Filming starts in Malta inJuly 2011¹³ , where the team is actually shooting scenes taking place in Jerusalem ⁷ . Filming continues at Glasgow in Scotland inAugust 2011¹⁴ , for sequences supposed to take place in Philadelphia. Thus, we see repeatedly City Hall Glasgow and George Square and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia and an overview of the main town inPennsylvania ⁷ . The filming is completed in the district Kőbánya in Budapest in Hungary inOctober 2011.

Following many problems ⁷ on the set and at the request of an unsatisfied production, film crew left back several scenes in May 2012 in the Hungarian capital ¹⁵ .

In June 2012, the writer Damon Lindelof even pledged to rewrite the third act before reshootings ¹⁶ . However, he is busy with other projects. Paramount thus engages Drew Goddard ¹⁷ . As a result of the rewrites, the studio decides to shoot between 30 and 40 minutes of additional scenes, to have a more coherent end. These re-shoots and other problems then raise the budget to more than 190 million, much to the despair of Marc Evans, president of Paramount ^{18 , 19 , 1} .

Music

The music of the film was composed by Marco Beltrami , composer of the original tapes of all parts of the Scream saga , Resident Evil or Die Hard 4 and Die Hard: Nice day to die .

At the end of May 2013, the English rock-alternative group Muse announces on his official YouTube channel that he participated in the film’s soundtrack. Indeed, two tracks from their album The Second Law appear in World War Z , including Follow Me that can be heard in the final credits and The 2nd Law: Isolated System .

Home

Output

Originally scheduled to appear in cinemas on December 21, 2012, World War Z was postponed due to its unpredictable production. Finally, the world premiere of the film takes place in London on June 2, 2013. Just behind the projection is being held at the Empire Cinema (in) on Leicester Square , Muse gave a concert in the presence of all the film crew on the Horse Guards Parade to celebrate this release. World War Z will then officially appear on June 21 in England and the United States , and on July 3 in French theaters.

Critical reception

The film received a relatively favorable critical reception in the Anglo-Saxon countries, garnering 67% of positive reviews, with an average rating of 6.2 / 10 and based on 238 reviews collected, on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator site. ²⁰ . On Metacritic , he scores 63/100 based on 46 reviews collected ²¹ .

In France , critics agree to its release to consider the film as family by its nature of blockbuster wanted by Marc Forster ^22 , 23 . This gives him both his strength and his weakness with critics, some seeing a genre put within reach of each with a correct scenario ²² , to bring his children (the film is PG-13 ²⁴ ), but d others a watered down and insipid vision of this kind.

• Thomas Agnelli, of Premiere , evokes a “blockbuster that fulfills his summer entertainment contract” with a film debut that “puts the head upside down” and a second part that, despite “some crazy sequences, such as the crash of an Airbus A310-300 or the attack of a fortified area in Jerusalem, inspiring unease and dread, impresses a little less ” ²⁵ .
• Yann Lebecque of Fantasy Monitor , estimates that the viewer is “constantly held spellbound by this work, which finds the breath of the early zombie movies by questioning the witness about the state of the world” ²⁶ .
• For Jean Roy of L’Humanité , “The rhythm is impeccable, the music not to belittle, the unfailing interpretation and, especially, the special effects in 3D are striking. ” ²⁷ .
• For Bruno Icher of Libération , the film “against all odds is rather exciting, above all thanks to its frenetic pace that does not soften during three quarters of the film where everything is still going at full speed” and “resuscitates – admittedly to great fresh – a bit of the corrosive spirit of the sagas of the living dead, while remaining in the nails of the mainstream show ” ²⁸ .
• For François-Guillaume Lorrain in Le Point , “[Brad Pitt] faces a humanity contaminated by a virus. An effective potpourri film, between apocalypse and politics. ” ²⁹ .

• However, in Le Monde , the film is described as a “family horror film […], a prudery that dramatically distorts the political and organic scope of gender” ³⁰ . In addition to the rogue kind, the World shows several messages to “the ideology rancid” , especially when going to Jerusalem ³⁰ .
• In Positif , Philippe Rouyer comments, “Brad Pitt is doing his best. This is not enough to give flavor to this film both tasteless and noisy. ” ³¹ .
• In Cahiers du cinéma , Jean-Philippe Tessé reports “Z as a Z series? It’s a matter of taste, but after all, we’ve seen worse than this calibrated blockbuster for the public. ” ³² .
• In Les Inrockuptibles , Leo Soesanto summarizes “Brad Pitt inconsequential and well coiffed in a blockbuster that depoliticizes and weakens the figure of the zombie. “. He concludes ” World War Z is a wobbly disaster movie where the undead could have been replaced by anything. ” ³³ .
• The criticism of Figaro is also bleeding, titling ” World War Z : to die of boredom! In a chronicle subtitled “The nanar of the week” ³⁴ .
• In Mad Movies , Laurent Duroche finds that “Marc” Quantum of Solace “Forster flatly illustrates scenes of a nameless debility […] struggling to hide a lack of stakes flagrant resulting from chaotic rewrites performed during filming. » ³⁵
• Geek newspaper described the acting, the characters and the storyline as flat and soulless ³⁶ .

It should be noted that Max Brooks , the author of the literary version of this film ( World War Z : An Oral History of the Zombie War ), publicly denied the film (saying that “the film and the book do not share the title “), holding that he was not at all representative of his work as a writer ³⁷ .

Technical errors and questionable facts

• At the beginning of the film during the traffic jam scene, a police officer on a motorcycle tears off the exterior mirror on the driver’s side. When the hero leaves the vehicle, the aerial plan shows us the rear view mirror between the green car in front and his. On the next shot when he picks it up, he is at the left rear wheel of the front green car.
• There is a faux-fitting in the supermarket scene. When the hero is shot, a can of engine oil is drilled and flows on the ground. On the following plan, the display is perfectly tidy and the floor completely clean.
• The flight between the United States and South Korea is impossible. Indeed, the aircraft carrier is “three hundred kilometers from Philadelphia” , which makes it distant more than 11 000 km or the autonomy of the Antonov An-12allows a range of about 5 500 km , full tanks. The flight plan does not include refueling, the plane can not cross this distance. Especially since his takeoff was from an aircraft carrier, probably the USS John Stennis CVN-74 (which is possible for a C-130), with tanks probably not filled to capacity. Moreover, it is ironic that the US military uses of Soviet equipment ³⁸ .

Box office

Country or region	Box Office	Box office shutdown date	Number of weeks
United States Canada	$ 202,359,711 39 , 40	October 10 , 2013	16
la France	2,444,735 entries 40	September 3 , 2013	9
World	$ 540,007,876 39	October 10 , 2013	16

The film earned 202 million dollars in revenue to the United States , and 337 million dollars of international revenues totaling 540 million dollars in global revenues ³⁹ . In France , it achieved 2,444 million entries ⁴⁰ . This is the zombie movie the most profitable of all time ⁴¹ .

1. ↑ ^a and b (in) ” Exclusive: The Making of Brad Pitt’s World War Z, from Stunning Budget Overages and a Re-Shot Ending to Lots of On-Set Drama ”  [ archive ] , on Vanity Fair ,April 30, 2013 (accessed July 26, 2014 )
2. ↑ (en) Release dates [ archive ] on the Internet Movie Database
3. ↑ “French dubbing sheet of the film”  [ archive ] on AlloDoublage , accessed June 28, 2013
4. ↑ “Sheet of dubbing Quebec film”  [ archive ] on Doublage.qc.ca , accessed November 13, 2013
5. ↑ (in) Nicole LaPorte and Michael Fleming, ” For Plan B raise ‘Zombie’ ”  [ archive ] on Variety ,June 14, 2006(accessed January 8, 2013 )
6. ↑ Michael Fleming and Tatiana Siegel, ” Forster to Direct Par’s World War Z ”  [ archive ] on Variety,November 13, 2006 (accessed January 8, 2013 )
7. ↑ ^{a , b , c , d and e} Secrets of filming World War Z movie [ archive ] on AlloCiné
8. ↑ Rick Marshall, ” J. Michael Straczynski On World War Z ‘:’ The Scale Of What We’re Doing Here Is Phenomenal ‘ “ [ archive ] , on MTV Movies Blog ,December 3, 2008(accessed January 8, 2013 )
9. ↑ Michael Gingold, ” New Screenwriter Takes On ‘World War Z’ ”  [ archive ] , on Fangoria ,July 16, 2009(accessed January 8, 2013 )
10. ↑ Rick Marshall, ‘ Brad Pitt To Star In’ World War Z, ‘Paramount Options’ Zombie Survival Guide’ And ‘Recorded Attacks’ ”  [ archive ] , on MTV Movies Blog,July 21, 2010 (accessed January 8, 2013 )
11. ↑ ” Bryan Cranston ( Breaking Bad ) in World War Z with Brad Pitt?  ”  [ Archive ] , on Reviewer.fr ,August 7, 2011(accessed July 26, 2014 ) .
12. ↑ ” World War Z : Matthew Fox and Ed Harris leave the cast ”  [ archive ] , on ActuCiné.fr ,August 7, 2011(accessed July 26, 2014 ) .
13. ↑ Georgina Littlejohn, ” It’s too loud, Daddy! Brad Pitt’s boys cover Their ears explosive During visit to de son set new movie World War Z ”  [ archive ] , on Daily Mail,July 4, 2011 (accessed January 8, 2013 )
14. ↑ Anonymous, ” Open casting for Brad Pitt zombie movie in Glasgow ”  [ archive ] , on BBC News ,July 9, 2011(accessed January 8, 2013 )
15. ↑ (in) Baz Bamigboye, ” Brad’s zombie shoot comes back to life ”  [ archive ] , on Daily Mail , London,May 31, 2012 (accessed July 26, 2014 )
16. ↑ (in) Borys Kit and Kim Masters, ” Damon Lindelof to Rewrite ‘World War Z’ (Exclusive) ”  [ archive ] on The Hollywood Reporter ,June 6, 2012 (accessedJuly 26, 2014 )
17. ↑ (in) Mike Flemming, ” Comic-Con: Drew Goddard Scripts New Ending To Brad Pitt’s World War Z ”  [ archive ] , on Deadline.com ,July 11, 2012 (accessedJuly 26, 2014 )
18. ↑ (in) Grady Smith, ” Box office report: ‘Monsters University’ scares up $ 82 million ”  [ archive ] on Entertainment Weekly ,June 23, 2013 (accessedJuly 20, 2013 ) :”The zombie thriller, which reportedly cost over $ 200 million to produce (Paramount is admitting to $ 190 million) …”
19. ↑ (in) Ronald Grover and Chris Michaud, ‘ ‘ Monsters University ‘scares zombies to lead US box office ”  [ archive ] , on Reuters ,June 23, 2013 (accessedJuly 26, 2014 ) :”Paramount said the film, which Pitt produced, cost $ 190 million to produce. “
20. ↑ World War Z [ archive ] on Rotten Tomatoes .
21. ↑ World War Z [ archive ] on Metacritic .
22. ↑ ^a and b VIDEO World War Z: appetizing or wobbly?  [ archive ] , L’Express , July 2, 2013.
23. ↑ Marc Forster: “We wanted the audience to World War Z cling to their arms”  [ archive ] , first , 2 July 2013.
24. ↑ World War Z: “What we do not see on the screen is afraid that what is seen”  [ archive ] , first , 1 ^st July 2013.
25. ↑ Thomas Agnelli, ” Critical World War Z ”  [ archive ] , on premiere.fr (accessed 5 July 2013 )
26. ↑ ” World War Z Press Reviews ”  [ archive ] , AlloCiné(accessed July 5, 2013 )
27. ↑ See the criticism  [ archive ] on the site Humanity .
28. ↑ Bruno Icher, ” World War Z , global gore ”  [ archive ], Liberation (accessed 5 July 2013 )
29. ↑ See the criticism  [ archive ] on Point .com.
30. ↑ ^a and b World War Z: Here comes the family horror film [ archive ] , Le Monde , July 2, 2013.
31. ↑ View report  [ archive ] on the site Allociné .
32. ↑ View report  [ archive ] on the site Allociné .
33. ↑ See the criticism  [ archive ] on the site Inrockuptibles .
34. ↑ World War Z: to die of boredom!  [ archive ] , Le Figaro, July 2, 2013.
35. ↑ View report  [ archive ] on the site Allociné .
36. ↑ Review: World War Z – Like his zombies, soulless  [ archive ] , the newspaper geek , 1 ^st July 2013.
37. ↑ several articles refer to it, including this one: World War Z Author Movie and Novel Says Share Title Only  [ archive] or: The 1001 scenario aberrations of World War Z  [ archive ]
38. ↑ The aeronautical approximations of World War Z, July 9, 2013 on avionslegendaires.net  [ archive ]
39. ↑ ^{a , b and c} (in) ” World War Z ”  [ archive ] , Box Office Mojo (accessed July 5, 2014 )
40. ↑ ^{a , b and c} ” World War Z ”  [ archive ] , on JP’s Box Office (accessed July 5, 2014 )
41. ↑ ” Zombie sheet ”  [ archive ] , on JP’s Box Office (accessed November 16, 2016 )
42. ↑ World War Z 2 : the director of The Impossible replaces Marc Forster  [ archive ] – Screenrush .com
43. ↑ Dave McNary, ” Brad Pitt’s ‘World War Z’ Sequel Loses Director Juan Antonio Bayona as ”  [ archive ] on Variety ,January 11, 2016 (accessed September 17, 2016 ).
44. ↑ The Geek’s diary  [ archive ]