10 Directors Who Went To Insane Lengths To Get Their Movies Made
3. 60 Pages Were Written In 10 Days - World War Z
Any movie can fall victim to drastic reshoots, including blockbusters like Marvel, Star Wars, James Bond, or, in this case, World War Z. Based on the Max Brooks novel of the same name, the zombie saga was expected to be a monster hit, especially with Brad Pitt in the lead role.
But after filming the climax, the director, Marc Forster, worried that World War Z was coming across as generic action flick rather than an epic horror. Even though the third act was monumental in scale, it seemed to jar with the rest of the story, which was more personal.
During post-production, Forster and Pitt decided to reshoot the last third of the movie, making it more small-scale. Because they were already very late in production, Forster was forced to bring in his friend, Drew Goddard, and write 60 pages with him in 10 days to stay on schedule. It was a very ballsy move but it worked out since World War Z earned over half a billion dollars, making it the most successful movie of Pitt's career at the time.