World War Z

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (abbreviated WWZ) is a 2006 post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks. It is a follow-up to his 2003 book The Zombie Survival Guide. Rather than a grand overview or narrative, World War Z is a collection of individual accounts in the form of first-person anecdote. Brooks plays the role of an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission who published the report a decade after the Zombie War. The United Nations left out much of his work from the official report, choosing to focus on facts and figures from the war rather than individual stories; these form the bulk of the novel. The interviews chart a decade-long war against zombies from the view point of many different people of various nationalities. The personal accounts also describe the changing religious, geo-political, and environmental aftermath of the Zombie War.

World War Z was inspired by The Good War, an oral history of World War II by Studs Terkel; and by the zombie films of director George Romero. Brooks used World War Z to comment on social issues like government ineptitude and American isolationism, while also examining themes of survivalism and uncertainty. Critics have praised the novel for reinventing the zombie genre; the audiobook version, performed by a full cast including Alan Alda, Mark Hamill and John Turturro, won an Audie Award in 2007. A film based upon the book is in development, produced by Plan B Entertainment, with a screenplay by J. Michael Straczynski.

RUMOUR : Brad Pitt has signed on to star in the upcoming adaptation of World War Z due for release in 2012.

After a bidding war with Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way, Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment secured the screen rights to the novel in 2007

In July 2009, Brooks revealed to Fangoria that the script is currently being re-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan. Brooks believes this "shows [the producer's] confidence in this project" because of the amount of money that was being invested in it. Paramount Pictures announced at the 2010 Comic-Con that Forster is set as director, and Brad Pitt has been confirmed to play the lead role.