Warm Bodies is a new zombie movie in production with Teresa Palmer and Nicolas Hoult. It is based on the book by Isaac Marion, told from the point of view of a zombie named R (Hoult.) Summit Entertainment is really putting their weight behind up and coming authors. Bodies is one of three new books they green lit as movies, along with Veronica Roths Divergent and Erin Morgensterns The Night Circus. Bodies even has a quote from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer endorsing it on the cover.
Marion got a taste of the big time when he joined Summits panel of authors at San Diego Comic-Con. With his first book published, he got to face press and fans curious about the latest story in the zombie apocalypse genre. We got to sit down with Marion, and as a die hard apocalypse fan, I had some very probing questions before I devote my kindle space to Warm Bodies.
SuicideGirls: My favorite part of zombie apocalypses is when the survivors have to find supplies in whatever is left. Since you focus on the zombie, do we get any of that scavenging?
Isaac Marion: Yeah, the main character is a zombie but in the second half of the book, he infiltrates the human world and you see their society and systems they have set up. The main job people have other than building walls and defending themselves is to go out in the cities and salvage supplies and materials. So theres a lot of talk about that, how medical supplies are running out and things that are perishable are becoming more and more scarce.
SG: Even for a zombie, arent the supplies more bodies to find?
IM: Right, yeah. They have their own supplies. They go on hunting trips. Like usual, they eat people but in this story, they have a little bit more of the ghost of a society of their own. They have a city and they bring the leftovers back to the old ones that cant hunt or the ones that are busy in other areas.
SG: As an author, you can use English prose to describe anything about Rs point of view. In a movie when its Nicolas Hoults job, have you set up an impossible job for an actor?
IM: Well, Ive wondered how exactly theyre going to do the delivery of the dialogue because in the book he does speak a little bit, but its very limited. He kind of learns more speech abilities as he goes, but in the beginning its like four syllables at a time is his personal record. So its an extremely silent role and lots of awkward pauses between words, just trying to get it out slowly. Ive been told he did great in his tests of a way to deliver that in a way that doesnt sound corny, so I hope for the best.
SG: Where was the zombie movement when you started writing?
IM: I actually didnt realize that there was a movement at the time. I knew zombies had always been around in my lifetime as a pop cultural element. Youve certainly seen some zombie movies and youve seen them in video games and what not. I didnt really realize until late in the process, people would tell me how does it feel to be part of this whole trend? I was like wait, theres a trend? At the time it wasnt as publicized. As I was writing it, all these new articles came out saying: New trend zombies and I was kind of scared. I was like oh shit, I accidentally jumped on a bandwagon and I didnt even realize it. Its definitely gotten more and more into pop culture since then. Ive just been hoping that my book doesnt get buried in the flood.
SG: Had Zombieland or World War Z not come out yet?
IM: Zombieland hadnt. World War Z, the book was out there but I think it was relatively early. I just heard it mentioned a couple of times but it wasnt a phenomenon yet. That was the only zombie book that Id ever heard of at the time. Now theres thousands of books.
SG: What got you thinking about zombies as a narrative?
IM: Well, at the time when I first started writing it, I wasnt extremely well versed. I was familiar with the whole mythology just from things Id seen here and there and just general awareness. I wasnt really in that [world.] My hobby wasnt exploring zombie things so as I was just deciding to write the book, I did my research and just brushed up. Most of it was fairly familiar. Everyone knows the zombie clichs. They eat brains, they walk around and stumble. All the basic stuff was there.
SG: Actually, only one franchise has them eat brains.
IM: Yeah, which is that exactly?
SG: RETURN of the Living Dead.
IM: I wondered about that because that seems pretty universal. Everyone knows that zombies eat your brains, but I havent really seen it in the actual movies. However it got in there, it kind of became one of the stereotypes. I just gathered from all sources the general consensus of what a zombie is and I tried to use all the classic tropes of the genre, but then turn them inside out.
SG: I read on your website that one of your odd jobs was delivering hospice beds?
IM: Yeah, I had a job where I delivered home medical equipment. It was mostly hospital beds or optical equipment for people who were about to die basically and go into their houses, deliver the stuff, theyd sign off it. Then Id come back a week later when theyre dead and pick it up, wash it off and make their grieving family members sign more forms. It was pretty grim. Ive had a series of really grim jobs and I dont know why exactly.
SG: Did that get you thinking more about death?
IM: Yeah, Im sure it did, between that and my last job which was supervising visits with kids in foster care and their parents, which are usually really grim situations as well. There were a lot of dark themes on my mind at the time I guess, death and society problems in general. It seemed like that led directly to post-apocalyptic world where everything sucks.
SG: Was it as specific as What if some of these old folks come back?
IM: I dont know if that thought actually crossed my mind. There was one time where I walked in to pick up the bed and the body was still on it. That was very awkward. I had to wait outside in my van while the coroners came and picked him up and then walked in while the bed was still warm from this guy. I had to spray it down, disinfect it and load it into my van. That was one of the closest brushes with death that Ive had. It was weird. I would take the mats and pads and all the stuff back to the office every time. There was juices on them Id have to clean off, pretty grotesque.
SG: And the whole time you were thinking Some day Ill have a movie deal?
IM: That was far from my mind at the time. I went through a couple jobs after that one actually before it got to this point. They were all equally depressing.
SG: What was your process as a writer? Did you outline and write a certain number of pages per day?
IM: I dont really make a traditional outline but Ill map out the basic flow of the story from beginning to end, figure out whats going to happen and what the major beats are and then just start writing. I usually try to do it every day. Ill get up in the morning and go to a coffee shop and get some caffeine in my bloodstream and start writing while Im still sort of semi-conscious. The faster I do it before I start to engage with the real world the better. Once I start thinking about things like paying bills or real world concerns, it kind of pulls the air out of it.
SG: Thats admirable, because except for adrenaline rush days, Im not a morning person.
IM: Im not really either socially, but I found I used to write late at night. It was my tradition. The earlier stuff I wrote, I would do it after dark because there would be less distractions. Somehow I figured out that if I was still halfway in my unconscious and then I woke up my functional brain with coffee, it would flow much smoother because I wasnt thinking about anything else at the time.
SG: Summit may want to pitch this as Twilight with Zombies.
IM: Yeah, it already has been many times. Thats kind of the battle that Im waging to erase that. Its either that or Twilight meets Shaun of the Dead, which is more accurate but I still think not accurate at all. No disrespect to either of those movies or franchises but its just not really like that. I guess understandable associations because of Summit and because Stephenie Meyers quote is on the cover, but its just not that accurate. Its a very different feel. I have to kind of manually tell people that because its hard to convey the tone of the book. When you try to just sum up the premise, it sounds like it would be Twilight meets Shaun of the Dead.
SG: Well, those are high class problems.
IM: Yeah, I dont consider it a problem. Its just something I have to figure out how to explain to people.
Warm Bodiesis now available in stores. The film is currently in production.
Marion got a taste of the big time when he joined Summits panel of authors at San Diego Comic-Con. With his first book published, he got to face press and fans curious about the latest story in the zombie apocalypse genre. We got to sit down with Marion, and as a die hard apocalypse fan, I had some very probing questions before I devote my kindle space to Warm Bodies.
SuicideGirls: My favorite part of zombie apocalypses is when the survivors have to find supplies in whatever is left. Since you focus on the zombie, do we get any of that scavenging?
Isaac Marion: Yeah, the main character is a zombie but in the second half of the book, he infiltrates the human world and you see their society and systems they have set up. The main job people have other than building walls and defending themselves is to go out in the cities and salvage supplies and materials. So theres a lot of talk about that, how medical supplies are running out and things that are perishable are becoming more and more scarce.
SG: Even for a zombie, arent the supplies more bodies to find?
IM: Right, yeah. They have their own supplies. They go on hunting trips. Like usual, they eat people but in this story, they have a little bit more of the ghost of a society of their own. They have a city and they bring the leftovers back to the old ones that cant hunt or the ones that are busy in other areas.
SG: As an author, you can use English prose to describe anything about Rs point of view. In a movie when its Nicolas Hoults job, have you set up an impossible job for an actor?
IM: Well, Ive wondered how exactly theyre going to do the delivery of the dialogue because in the book he does speak a little bit, but its very limited. He kind of learns more speech abilities as he goes, but in the beginning its like four syllables at a time is his personal record. So its an extremely silent role and lots of awkward pauses between words, just trying to get it out slowly. Ive been told he did great in his tests of a way to deliver that in a way that doesnt sound corny, so I hope for the best.
SG: Where was the zombie movement when you started writing?
IM: I actually didnt realize that there was a movement at the time. I knew zombies had always been around in my lifetime as a pop cultural element. Youve certainly seen some zombie movies and youve seen them in video games and what not. I didnt really realize until late in the process, people would tell me how does it feel to be part of this whole trend? I was like wait, theres a trend? At the time it wasnt as publicized. As I was writing it, all these new articles came out saying: New trend zombies and I was kind of scared. I was like oh shit, I accidentally jumped on a bandwagon and I didnt even realize it. Its definitely gotten more and more into pop culture since then. Ive just been hoping that my book doesnt get buried in the flood.
SG: Had Zombieland or World War Z not come out yet?
IM: Zombieland hadnt. World War Z, the book was out there but I think it was relatively early. I just heard it mentioned a couple of times but it wasnt a phenomenon yet. That was the only zombie book that Id ever heard of at the time. Now theres thousands of books.
SG: What got you thinking about zombies as a narrative?
IM: Well, at the time when I first started writing it, I wasnt extremely well versed. I was familiar with the whole mythology just from things Id seen here and there and just general awareness. I wasnt really in that [world.] My hobby wasnt exploring zombie things so as I was just deciding to write the book, I did my research and just brushed up. Most of it was fairly familiar. Everyone knows the zombie clichs. They eat brains, they walk around and stumble. All the basic stuff was there.
SG: Actually, only one franchise has them eat brains.
IM: Yeah, which is that exactly?
SG: RETURN of the Living Dead.
IM: I wondered about that because that seems pretty universal. Everyone knows that zombies eat your brains, but I havent really seen it in the actual movies. However it got in there, it kind of became one of the stereotypes. I just gathered from all sources the general consensus of what a zombie is and I tried to use all the classic tropes of the genre, but then turn them inside out.
SG: I read on your website that one of your odd jobs was delivering hospice beds?
IM: Yeah, I had a job where I delivered home medical equipment. It was mostly hospital beds or optical equipment for people who were about to die basically and go into their houses, deliver the stuff, theyd sign off it. Then Id come back a week later when theyre dead and pick it up, wash it off and make their grieving family members sign more forms. It was pretty grim. Ive had a series of really grim jobs and I dont know why exactly.
SG: Did that get you thinking more about death?
IM: Yeah, Im sure it did, between that and my last job which was supervising visits with kids in foster care and their parents, which are usually really grim situations as well. There were a lot of dark themes on my mind at the time I guess, death and society problems in general. It seemed like that led directly to post-apocalyptic world where everything sucks.
SG: Was it as specific as What if some of these old folks come back?
IM: I dont know if that thought actually crossed my mind. There was one time where I walked in to pick up the bed and the body was still on it. That was very awkward. I had to wait outside in my van while the coroners came and picked him up and then walked in while the bed was still warm from this guy. I had to spray it down, disinfect it and load it into my van. That was one of the closest brushes with death that Ive had. It was weird. I would take the mats and pads and all the stuff back to the office every time. There was juices on them Id have to clean off, pretty grotesque.
SG: And the whole time you were thinking Some day Ill have a movie deal?
IM: That was far from my mind at the time. I went through a couple jobs after that one actually before it got to this point. They were all equally depressing.
SG: What was your process as a writer? Did you outline and write a certain number of pages per day?
IM: I dont really make a traditional outline but Ill map out the basic flow of the story from beginning to end, figure out whats going to happen and what the major beats are and then just start writing. I usually try to do it every day. Ill get up in the morning and go to a coffee shop and get some caffeine in my bloodstream and start writing while Im still sort of semi-conscious. The faster I do it before I start to engage with the real world the better. Once I start thinking about things like paying bills or real world concerns, it kind of pulls the air out of it.
SG: Thats admirable, because except for adrenaline rush days, Im not a morning person.
IM: Im not really either socially, but I found I used to write late at night. It was my tradition. The earlier stuff I wrote, I would do it after dark because there would be less distractions. Somehow I figured out that if I was still halfway in my unconscious and then I woke up my functional brain with coffee, it would flow much smoother because I wasnt thinking about anything else at the time.
SG: Summit may want to pitch this as Twilight with Zombies.
IM: Yeah, it already has been many times. Thats kind of the battle that Im waging to erase that. Its either that or Twilight meets Shaun of the Dead, which is more accurate but I still think not accurate at all. No disrespect to either of those movies or franchises but its just not really like that. I guess understandable associations because of Summit and because Stephenie Meyers quote is on the cover, but its just not that accurate. Its a very different feel. I have to kind of manually tell people that because its hard to convey the tone of the book. When you try to just sum up the premise, it sounds like it would be Twilight meets Shaun of the Dead.
SG: Well, those are high class problems.
IM: Yeah, I dont consider it a problem. Its just something I have to figure out how to explain to people.
Warm Bodiesis now available in stores. The film is currently in production.