Warm Bodies is a film in production right now. It is based on a novel of the same name by Isaac Marion about zombies who take over, leading the remaining humans to band together and build new “towns” within secure areas. The center of the story is a zombie named R. He can’t remember his name anymore. The novel is told from his perspective. Something very human has remained within R and he develops a fondness for a girl named Julie after consuming the brains of her boyfriend. A kind of awkward relationship develops, but a lot of other things happen as well. I have heard it described by others as Twilight with zombies, and that is far, far from what the book actually is. It is very different. And it is definitely not just for a female audience. Here is the official plot of the novel:
“R is a man with an existential crisis—he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.
After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R but also his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world. Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.”
Summit Entertainment bought the rights to the novel, and I am sure that is not helping the comparisons to Twilight. The first image from the film made its way to the internet, and the first thing I was reminded of when I saw it was the first movie poster from the original Twilight. So this image is not really helping things either. The two main characters are played by Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer (who looks like Kristen Stewart, but kicks more ass than she does). The supporting cast is made up of John Malkovich, Analeigh Tipton, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Cory Hardrict, and Rob Coddry.
Author Isaac Marion is a pretty cool guy. This is his first book, and he has a witty sense of humor. He is on Twitter and Facebook, and if you have read or would like to read the book, I highly recommend following him. He is a young guy who is still unsure of the fame this book has brought to him. In other words, he is pretty humble (and did I mention cool). The reason I am mentioning him is that he is very aware of the image that was released and what it is being compared to. This post came from Facebook tonight and clears up the mystery of the image.
“Regarding that rather um…familiar-looking “poster” for the Warm Bodies movie that’s been floating around the Internet recently: that is NOT an official promo image and is DEFINITELY not the official movie poster. It wasn’t even meant to be seen in the U.S. So tell your local gossip blogger to relax, and stay tuned.”
So, while it is cool to see the first image from the film, we should take it with a grain of salt. I, for one, am excited to see how Nicholas Hoult pulls R off since he basically has no dialogue the entire book.
Warm Bodies has a tentative release date of August 10, 2012.
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