Steven Knight to Write Brad Pitt's 'World War Z' Sequel

It may have begun looking like it would be a total wreck, but World War Z was a huge hit for Brad Pitt. Actually, it was the biggest film of his career if you can believe it, and it didn't take long for him to start developing a sequel. J.A. Bayona (The Impossible) was hired to direct it after he finishes up with A Monster Calls, and now the film has a top notch screenwriter in Steven Knight.

Knight is coming off his acclaimed drama, Locke, a film he penned and directed for Tom Hardy to completely dominate. He also wrote the heck out of Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things, and numerous other projects including Helen Mirren's upcoming The Hundred-Foot Journey.

Brad Pitt will return to produce and star but that's all we know about World War Z 2, or whatever it will be called. Hopefully Knight's script doesn't get picked apart and rewritten a thousand times over like with the previous film. [Variety]

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'The Impossible' Director J.A. Bayona to Helm 'World War Z' Sequel

Brad Pitt and Paramount got the last laugh when their zombie epic World War Z went on to haul in $540M worldwide after a slew of production problems had people writing the film off. Stories about difficulties with director Marc Forster were at the forefront of those issues, along with a troublesome final act (which was still pretty terrible, but anyway...), so it came as no shock when Forster wasn't asked back for the sequel. But the project is moving on capably without him, and now they've landed a director in Juan Antonio Bayona.

THR reports that Bayona will take over the film after being shortlisted for the gig a few weeks back. A meeting with Pitt went well enough that he was not only hired but will oversee the writing process, which should help streamline any creative difficulties. Bayona's big break came directing the Guillermo Del Toro-produced horror The Orphange, and his tsunami disaster film The Impossible helped Naomi Watts earn an Oscar nomination. While the experience he gained depicting wide levels of devastation in that film should come in handy, he also showed a deft hand for the emotional toll they exact on people.

No writers are on board at this stage but you can bet Paramount wants to get moving on World War Z 2 pretty quickly.

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