Brad Pitt to shoot zombie movie in Valletta and Three Cities
Hollywood star Brad Pitt is expected back in Malta for the filming of the Paramount zombie blockbuster World War Z, with shooting starting next month for about three weeks.
Cinema industry sources said the American actor was likely to have his star-studded family in tow. He should be accompanied by the equally celebrated actress Angelina Jolie. Labelled the sexiest stars in film history and attracting major global media attention, the couple has six adopted and biological children.
Brad Pitt was last in Malta in 2003 for the filming of the ancient epic Troy in which he played the mightiest of the Greeks, Achilles. This time round, he is a United Nations worker and father of two girls in the big-budget movie he is also producing.
Based on Max Brooks’ globe-spanning novel, World War Z is set 10 years after the human victory over a worldwide zombie epidemic and tells a retrospective story about the invasion from the various viewpoints of those who survived the conflict that almost eradicated humanity.
Among the locations for the Malta shoot – the rest of the filming is in the UK – are Valletta and the Three Cities area.
Malta will be playing host not only to the Pitt family but also to established and esteemed names in the film-making world, including director Marc Forster, with Quantum of Solace, The Kite Runner, Finding Neverland and Monster’s Ball under his belt.
The film’s cinematographer, Robert Richardson, is known for his work as director of photography in movies such as Eat Pray Love, Shutter Island, Inglourious Basterds and Kill Bill.
Starring alongside Brad Pitt is Anthony Mackie, who had his breakout role in the multiple-Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker.
The last time Brad Pitt was in Malta, the island, dubbed the “Hollywood of the Mediterranean”, was cast into the spotlight, although the local media let him be. Then, he was still married to actress Jennifer Anniston of TV series Friends fame, who had paid him a visit during the 10-month shoot. While here for a couple of months for his first swords-and-sandals film, he had lived in a converted farmhouse in Magħtab.
His new film is expected to involve hundreds of Maltese crew in various departments and filming resources are likely to be spread thin as other films are being shot on the island simultaneously.
A Norwegian feature film, Kon-Tiki, about legendary Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, is being shot mostly in the Rinella water tanks and at sea, over about a month. Although smaller than World War Z, it is involving up to 650 extras on certain days.
Sky1’s Sinbad is also filming in Malta and an Italian production is also under way.