You all should be well aware by now that
World War Z went through some major changes after producers were not happy with Marc Forster's cut of the film. The brought in screenwriter Damon Lindelof, who viewed the film, and then made some suggestions that completely changed the third act. The main changes take place when Brad Pitt's character, Gerry Lane, boards a plane in Jerusalem with the injured female Israeli soldier Segen (Daniella Kertesz). In the theatrical version, the plane is rerouted by the United Nations, is attacked by zombies in mid-flight, and crashes in crash land in Wales. Gerry and Segen are the only two survivors and head off to a World Health Organization building nearby.
But in Matthew Michael Carnahan’s draft of the script, the plane isn't attacked by zombies or rerouted by the U.N., but instead lands safely in Russia. There, the country is in bad shape, and Gerry and Segen are forced to joined the military, while the sick and old are deemed worthless, so they are executed.
If you'd like to read about all of the changes you can
click here, but I want to focus on the storyboards below. In the theatrical cut of
WWZ Gerry discovers how to camouflage himself at the WHO building, but in the Moscow storyline he figures out that zombies have another weakness.
When Gerry Lane and his hordes are forced to fight the zombies at gunpoint by the rogue Russian military, they discover— when attempting a little side mission— that the zombies are huddled around fire and taking turns attacking. The warmest, most alive zombies go into the field to attack while the shivering ones try and warm up. It’s all in keeping with the idea of zombie hordes as schools of fish, flocks of birds or pride of lions working together, that runs throughout both versions of “World War Z.” So how do they beat them? In Russia anyhow, Pitt’s Gerry Lane convinces the Russian commanders to extinguish all fires. At first the initial thought it's, “Are you nuts?” as half the Russians and slaves are dying of the cold anyhow, but it’s their only option. Cut to a few days later and all the zombies have died from the cold and the Russians and the slaves are victorious.
The images once here have been removed at the request of the studio.
United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.
WORLD WAR Z was directed by Marc Forster. The screenplay was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof, based on the book written by Max Brooks. The cast includes: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, and Matthew Fox. The film is now playing at your local theater.