It looks like Brad Pitt’s World War Z sequel is starting off on the wrong foot by losing its director before it even starts filming. Juan Antonio Bayona has just exited the film due to timing issues with the film he just finished (A Monster Calls). Paramount is scurrying to find a new director to begin filming by summer of this year for a June, 2017 release date.
According to Deadline, Juan Antonio Bayona has just exited as director of the sequel to World War Z, the film that Paramount and Plan B are readying for a summer start with Brad Pitt reprising his lead role as the man who fights the zombie apocalypse. The studio and Plan B have a script by Steven Knight that Dennis Kelly rewrote. Bayona’s abrupt exit is being attributed to timing. The studio is determined to get this picture into production for June 9, 2017 release and Bayona felt he needed more time because he has commitments on the film he just shot, A Monster Calls. Skydance is co-financing with Paramount. The studio confirmed this, with this statement: “Bayona is no longer able to make World War Z 2 this year, and it is our ambition to do so. He is a wonderful director and we hope to work with him soon.”
This immediately becomes one of the biggest Open Directing Assignments in town, maybe the biggest job this side of the Jurassic World sequel, for which Bayona will probably now find himself a prime candidate since that film has a looser timetable and is still awaiting a script.
The first film had a myriad of problems from re-scripting to re-shoots so this comes as no surprise for the franchise, Paramount and Plan B.
More on this as it develops!
Source: Deadline
