Brad Pitt Wants David Fincher to Direct ‘World War Z’ Sequel
How many times will you be afforded the opportunity, in this lifetime, to look at Brad Pitt and say, “In your dreams”? Probably never to his face, unless your name is David Fincher, and your old pal Brad Pitt comes to ask you for a favor, and that favor happens to be directing a sequel to World War Z. Can you even imagine David Fincher directing a sequel to someone else’s movie — especially one that was just OK?
No, really. Can you even imagine? How bored would David Fincher have to be to say yes to Brad Pitt? But according to Variety, Pitt is “in talks” with his Fight Club director to helm World War Z 2, the sequel to the 2013 box office hit. Pitt will return to star in and produce the sequel, with plans to begin production early next year.
J.A. Bayona was originally set to helm World War Z 2 before he was tapped to direct another blockbuster sequel: Jurassic World 2.
It seems totally nuts that Fincher — of all people — would agree to direct World War Z 2, but he does have a substantial professional history with Pitt, who has starred in three of the director’s films: Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Fight Club. The pair almost re-teamed for an ambitious new adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for 20th Century Fox, but Fincher ultimately left the project over creative differences.
World War Z 2 wouldn’t be the first time that Fincher helmed a sequel to someone else’s film, but his famously negative experience on the set of Alien 3 has kept him away from the idea. Still, on the scale of potential World War Z sequel directors ranked from most likely to least likely, you could put Fincher above Lars Von Trier, but below Werner Herzog — who, let’s be honest, would probably totally take the job just for the hell of it.