WARM BODIES Production Notes - Visual Hollywood

WARM BODIES (2013)PRODUCTION NOTESFor his part, Malkovich says he was attracted by the film's storytelling. "I especially liked the twomain characters and the way the story unfolds. In the writing of the screenplay based on the novel,there's still quite a novelistic approach that I liked."Although the actor shared something of a father-daughter dynamic with Palmer off-camera,Malkovich says the General and Julie are in intense opposition on screen. "He ups the pressure onJulie and what she's feeling and thinking, because her father is in charge of exterminating the groupwhich her love object happens to belong to."But even General Grigio evolves eventually. "That's really in the very last frames of the film," Levineexplains. "It's a sudden conversion, based on something he sees that he's never seen before."The filmmakers turned to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" alumnus Rob Corddry (Hot Tub TimeMachine) to play the character of R's best friend, M, which Levine describes as one of the film'smost critical roles. "M, in many ways, is the heart of the movie," Levine says. "R's change sparkseverything, but M's change is representative of everyone else."For Corddry, who also read Marion's novel, the role of M was much more interesting than the average"best friend" role. "Those guys are usually just straight plot devices," Corddry says. "I actuallyget to change. I might be the only best friend in movie history that has his own trajectory."Ironically it was the simplicity of the role that gave Corddry the most angst initially. The actor likesto do a lot of preparation around his character's back story to stave off anxiety. "If I feel like I havea lot of subtext, I'm not going to be worried when I'm shooting," Corddry says. "But I couldn't dothat this time. I had to be prepared in the moment. This movie was an exercise for me in really beingpresent every time the cameras rolled."Palmer says Corddry's character, while lovable and hilarious, has some pretty complex aspects."He's the most sexual of the zombies that we meet," she says. "He wants to eat humans and hedoesn't understand what's going on with him. He can't quite wrap his head around the idea that Rhas taken this human girl hostage and is now falling in love with her. He finds it bizarre andstrange, but he loves R so he goes along with it. There's also a hint of jealousy in there too, at onepoint."Dave Franco (21 Jump Street, Superbad) plays the role of Perry, Julie's high school sweetheart whobecomes R's lunch early in the movie. Papandrea says that in many ways the actor was the greatestdiscovery of the movie."He's just starting to break out," she says of Franco, who is the younger brother of actor JamesFranco (127 Hours, Spider-Man). "He just lights up the screen and he's a joy to be around. He's avery inquisitive actor and person. I think that really comes across in the character of Perry.""He has to make a very big impact in a very short time and he really does it," adds Levine. "He's socharming and likeable, and so talented, that he sticks with you throughout the movie."Perry starts off as a naive young man who is madly in love with Julie, but then becomes obsessedwith killing zombies after he witnesses them killing his father. Although Perry doesn't last long, hismemories of doomed love affair with Julie—experienced second-hand by R—form a crucialthrough-line of the film.© 2013 Summit Entertainment6