“World War Z” has undergone no shortage of scrutiny and revision at Paramount in the seven years since it took root.
First came a year of head-scratching over the peculiar structure of Mr. Brooks’s novel, which is set up as an “after action” report to the United Nations on the zombie wars. Then J. Michael Straczynski began to write what he now says were about 10 drafts of the first script.
All were built around a United Nations investigator who uncovered a conspiracy that intentionally evoked the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But “nothing of any of my drafts remains, other than the names of the characters,” Mr. Straczynski said in a recent e-mail.
