Although not exactly a big surprise, seeing as his Plan B productions has been developing the film adaptation of Max Brook's xombie pandemic novel World War Z, but Bleeding Cool and MTV have the scoop that Brad Pitt is now locked in to star in the movie (according to Brooks, that is).
Marc Forster (Quantum Of Solace) is still attached to direct, with J. Michael Straczyinski and Matthew Michael Carnahan working on the script. What isn't known is exactly how they've turned the book into a film, and how Pitt will fit into it. The book is a mock journalistic invertigation into a worldwide zombie outbreak. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the 10-year fight-back against the horde, it looks at how the outbreak came about and how some people survived the onslaught.
As it was this unusual structure that first drew people's attention to the book, hopefully they'll retain it in the finished film, almost as if it's a mockumentary, but you never can tell when it comes to film adaptations. And will Pitt be the investigative reporter, or one of the people fighting the zombies? At the moment it isn't clear. Paramount, which is financing the film, has apparently pencilled in a summer 2012 release date.