While he only made a blink and you’ll miss it appearance in the final cut, Matthew Fox’s World War Z character was originally a villain. World War Z is based on the acclaimed horror novel by author Max Brooks, which detailed accounts from survivors of an apocalyptic war between humans and zombies. The book featured great characters and vivid accounts of the conflict and the movie rights were quickly snapped up. The book’s structure would have made it tricky to make a more traditional narrative, however, and would have been better suited to a TV series.
The eventual World War Z movie starred Brad Pitt and mostly ignored the source material, outside of certain details. The story follows Pitt’s Gerry Lane as he runs around the globe trying to chase the source of a zombie outbreak before it overwhelms humanity. World War Z is unique in that it’s a genuine, blockbuster zombie movie, but its huge budget meant it was watered down for a PG-13 rating. The movie also suffered through a famously troubled production, but despite predictions it would be a flop, World War Z became a solid hit.
Audiences watching World War Z may have noticed Lost star Matthew Fox as one of the paratrooper’s who helps save Gerry and his family during the first act. What’s odd about this is the character barely has any dialogue or screentime, despite being played by such a recognizable face. It turns out Fox was one casualty of the movie’s reshoots, which originally involved Gerry landing in Russia after escaping Jerusalem at the end of the second act. Gerry was forced to fight the zombies and led a unit of zombie killers, which culminated with an epic battle in Red Square.
This original third act proved somewhat disastrous during test screenings, so a new ending was shot that involved Gerry traveling to a World Health Organization center in Cardiff. The more toned down World War Z third act worked quite well, and the movie ended with Gerry reunited with wife Karin (Mireille Enos, Sabotage) and their children. The original finale was much darker, with Gerry finally calling Karin after being trapped in Russia for months with no phone. He learns his family is safe in a camp in the Everglades, but that to keep her and the children safe, she had to trade herself for sex to Fox’s paratrooper.
World War Z ended with Matthew Fox’s character talking to Gerry on the phone, telling him his family has started a new life and he should do the same. Gerry refuses to accept this which set up a sequel where he has to travel back to America to reunite with his family. Reshoots rendered Matthew Fox’s role somewhat meaningless in the final edit and he would have been unlikely to return for David Fincher’s now-canceled sequel. While details on Fincher’s World War Z 2 were scarce it apparently would have involved the search for a virus that would make zombies fight one another.
Next: World War Z: Best Tips, Tricks, & Hints To Know Before Playing
