In what could never be construed as good news, WORLD WAR Z star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster are not currently speaking to each other at all.
The troubled production is heading into significant reshoots in Budapest. According to Vulture, things got so bad that when Forster had notes on a scene for Pitt, they had to be relayed through an intermediary — and vice versa. We’re told that this awkward function was and is being largely fulfilled by a rotating trio of studio production president Marc Evans, Paramount film group head Adam Goodman, and Dede Gardner, a former executive at the studio who now runs Pitt’s company. And all this as the production crests $170 million as it heads into its costly reshoots, with an ending that is still in flux. (A representative for Creative Artists Agency, which represents both Pitt and Forster, declined to comment. Calls to Paramount were not returned by deadline.)
Not good, people. Pitt, who is also producing the film, seems to be calling the shots right now on the new screenwriters that are coming in to fix the ending of the film. PROMETHEUS scribe Damon Lindelof was brought in but it looks like he proclaimed the script needed major overhauls, not just spot fixing. Drew Goodard is now on board to help Lindelof and Christopher McQuarrie may jump in as well. The sources for the report are claiming that the studio is still trying to decide whether or not to completely change the ending or try to edit around what they have. Either way, these are major warning signs that something is wrong with the movie as a whole. The sources also went so far as to say that another director may be pulled in to reshoot the action scenes.
Both Pitt and Forster have an incredible work ethic, which makes it hard to decide whether or not this is an ego battle or a creative rift. I would venture that Pitt will end up the winner seeing as he is both one of the biggest movie stars in the world as well as one of the primary producers. Either way it goes, my once unbiased desire to see this movie has become a little more hesitant. Who knows at what point WORLD WAR Z will make it to theaters and whether or not Forster’s name will remain in the credits. We are still a far way away from a new Alan Smithee film, but you never know.
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