The world didn’t end in a satisfying climax of explosive special effects. Hopefully we can make it into a movie some day. I hung on its every word the same way I’d hung on that first sentence – “I am dead, but it’s not so bad.” – in the offices of Summit/Lionsgate that afternoon five years ago. In this current shitty world climate, that feels like a very important mantra. He has taken the story into a tense, action-packed place, expanded the scope of the world, all the while still loving these characters - utilizing them both to tell us truths about the human condition and as a call to action: we must not sleepwalk through life, lest we become zombies ourselves.

With the next chapter in this adventure, The Burning World, Isaac has created a surprising, altogether thrilling follow-up. This poppy action/horror/comedy/adventure was an allegory for the human condition, one that nailed its high degree of difficulty by always staying true to its sophisticated, somewhat nihilistic worldview, and never wavering in its deep and abiding love for its characters. It was a clever conceit, but it was the execution that really made it work.īecause Isaac’s writing wasn’t just about being clever for cleverness’ sake. At the center of it was a device that I’d never seen before: we were in the point of view of a zombie, and a charming, irreverent zombie at that. I loved how his perspective could be earnest and ironic all at the same time. It was completely unexpected and invigorating.

The book was Warm Bodies and within a few words, I was hooked. But I contorted my face into a look of eager curiosity (had to cover up, as there was no possible way I would like this fucking thing) and read on … “Just read the first few pages…” he said. Kinda needs a story, but we should talk about it more…” In this particular meeting, a studio head who would later become a friend and close collaborator, Erik Feig, handed me a book. I first read Isaac Marion’s writing on a “general.” That’s the douchey Hollywood term for a specific type of meeting between a filmmaker and a studio exec, during which said exec pitches said studio’s available projects and said filmmaker pretends to be interested in said projects for just long enough in the hopes that said studio might think said filmmaker is cool and potentially want to do a different, better movie with you: “A reboot of Turner and Hooch? I mean, I’d have to read the script but it sounds cool.

Warm bodies 2 the burning world