Brad Pitt's big budget zombie movie World War Z had an infamously troubled production, and here's what ended up getting changed by reshoots. When one thinks of the greatest zombie movies, a few options are likely to spring to mind. Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, from zombie maestro George A. Romero are easy choices, as are hilarious zombie comedies like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. However, when it comes to the most financially successful zombie movie, the answer isn't any of the aforementioned films.
Released in 2013, World War Z served to loosely adapt the 2006 book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks. Brad Pitt stars as Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator who's enlisted to help locate the source of the zombie outbreak. World War Z isn't necessarily that highly regarded by diehard zombie fans, but it blew up at the box office, hauling in over $500 million worldwide, and setting a record for highest-grossing zombie movie that might well never be broken.
Despite this success, World War Z has never gotten a sequel, as plans to make one keep falling through. Perhaps producers and Pitt should quit while they're ahead, as World War Z itself suffered from a hugely troubled production process involving extensive reshoots, and it's a minor miracle it turned out as well as it did.
World War Z's Reshoot Changes Explained
Filming on World War Z began in summer 2011, and took place at multiple European locations. Unfortunately, when the first cut of World War Z was shown to Paramount executives, it was very poorly received, and Pitt - also a producer on the project - dubbed it "atrocious." This led to seven weeks of reshoots in the summer of 2012, which caused the film to be pushed back from its originally scheduled December 2012 release date. Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof (along with Drew Goddard) was then brought on to completely rewrite the third act of the film. This led to even more reshoots, and a budget that ballooned to nearly $200 million.
When it comes to what the reshoots changed, the answer is basically everything after Gerry boards a plane leaving Jerusalem as the city is overrun by zombies. Instead of Gerry ending up at a World Health Organization facility in Wales, he lands in Russia, and once there is conscripted into service fighting the zombie threat. Months later, Gerry has become a seasoned zombie killer, and discovers that cold weather works as a weapon against the undead. It turns out that back in America at a refugee camp, Gerry's wife Karin has been forced into a sexual relationship with a soldier character played by Matthew Fox in order to keep herself and their kids safe. Fox's character ultimately appeared in "blink and you'll miss it" fashion in the final version of the film.
Upon learning this, Gerry steals a boat and heads back to the US in search of his family, landing in Oregon. The film ends before Gerry is reunited with his loved ones - who are in Florida - and he also doesn't discover the vaccine for the zombie virus that he does in the final cut of World War Z. As is quite apparent, this version of World War Z would've been a vastly different film to what audiences eventually saw in theaters. Unfortunately, it's unlikely fans will ever get to see this original footage, as those involved seemingly have no desire to release it to the public.