I am Isaac Marion, author of WARM BODIES, now a big-time Hollywood movie about a zombie who wants to live again. SURELY YOU HAVE QUESTIONS!

I AM ENJOYING YOUR LEVEL OF ENTHUSIASM! KEEP IT UP.

That's what she said.

Do zombies poop?

Edit: Hey Issac, I just purchased Warm Bodies to enjoy during a long car ride, but I was curious if the zolabooks copy of The New Hunger will work on a kindle? Thanks for the awesome AMA by the way.

You know, I actually had a scene in the original draft where R discussed this. I can't seem to find it anywhere, but basically, they eat the meat to absorb its "life energy", but they aren't actually digesting anything for nutrients. Their stomachs are inert. So as they eat, their stomachs just fill up with meat until it eventually squeezes its way through the intestines and they shit it out whole.

This was the only scene I ever wrote that I agreed to cut simply for being too gross.

Hey! I just wanted to thank you, when Warm Bodies was still a short story on the internet I used an abridged version as a reading at my wedding :) Thanks for writing it!

Hahaha what?? Please don't tell me your wedding vows ended with "My penis fell off two weeks ago."

Apparently some people think this whole AMA is a fake marketing stunt because of how so many of the questions have been intelligent and civil. Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are!

I once heard Warm Bodies refered to as "Twilight with zombies" which immediately turned me off of the concept. Later I saw the first trailer for the film and it looked like a pretty funny comedy. Do you think the novel and film are tonally the same or did Hollywood take the concept of your novel and go off and do their own thing?

The film is a bit lighter in tone, not as heavy on the philosophy and introspection as the book. (Yes, there is philosophy and introspection in my zombie book.) They're definitely not "the same" but the movie preserves most of the spirit and some of the ideas of the book, and is pretty damn entertaining on its own merits.

Neither the book nor the movie are "Twilight with zombies" by any stretch of the imagination. That's a comparison that can only be made on the on the most superficial level.

Is zombification an allegory for depression?

I only saw the film, but that's the major theme I took away from it.

That's definitely part of it. Depression, apathy, hopelessness and disconnection from life...all that shit.

Why are there no species of bears indigenous to the African continent?

Africa is hot, dude. Bears are fat and furry. It just wasn't meant to be.

Isaac.

Confession: I have photo-bombed your time-lapse camera on Porchugal many times. I have no regrets.

Whoever this is, your question is far too inside-joke for the good people of Redditon. But whoever this is, you will pay with your testicles for what you've done.

What do you think of the Walking Dead?

I watched the first 3 or 4 episodes. My impression was that it's very well made, looks great, good acting and writing, etc, but it offered nothing whatsoever to stimulate my imagination. It's the same zombie apocalypse story they've been telling for decades following every familiar trope and dramatic beat to the letter and I'm fucking bored.

In your opinion, what is the absolute worst zombie movie ever made?

That's impossible to choose, because in the time it took me to write this sentence, some hack horror studio will have pumped out 20 more straight-to-DVD shit piles that I will never, ever see.

Which raises a question: has there ever been a movie so bad, literally no one not involved in creating it has ever seen it?

In contrast, what is the best?

I don't think there is a single best. They all accomplish different things. My two personal favorites are 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead--28 Days for ditching the camp and bringing a sense of arthouse class to the genre, and Shaun of the Dead for turning it inside out and having fun with it.

Is that what you tried to do with your story?

Yeah. Sort of a combination of those two things.

What's your inspiration?

Just kidding

I think literally every interviewer I've encountered has asked me that and the temptation is growing to just break it down for them. What are you asking me, exactly? Are you asking where I get my ideas? Do you think ideas are "gotten" from a "place"? Are you asking where human consciousness and creativity comes from? Cause this is gonna be a LONG INTERVIEW.

Would you rather be Buzz or Woody from Toy Story?

Buzz seems to be a slave to his toy programming. For instance, when they hit that button that switches him into Spanish mode, which also totally rewrites his personality? That's creepy. I suspect Buzz is not really sentient. Woody all the way.

Did you at least try to get Robert Pattinson in the movie?

Hahaha...no.

Hey Isaac, why do you carry an umbrella?

I don't. Carrying an umbrella in Seattle is a sign of weakness and will get you beaten to death with an NPR tote bag.

So he can stop zombie-sized ducks from falling on him

Zombies are the same size as humans, therefore zombie-size is not a valid unit of measurement.

What is your opinion on fast zombies versus slow zombies?

I think they're good for different things. It's definitely harder to make slow zombies scary. Requires a lot more plotting and planning, and a larger scale setting, since you need at least a couple dozen of them to be truly threatening. All of which probably leads to more interesting stories. But the scariness of an infectious lunatic sprinting at you relentlessly is hard to deny. I don't know, this is a common question and I don't really know why this matters so much to people. Warm Bodies has both. They start out slow. As they evolve, they become faster. It's kind of a wink at the controversy.

Were you aware that there has been a German, gay, version of your movie out there called "Otto; or,Up With Dead People"?

I heard about that movie shortly after I finished writing the book. I hear it involves explicit sex scenes of gay zombies fucking each other's festering open wounds. WHY WASN'T THAT A HIT?

Why did you decide to take away Nicholas Hoult's accent? Was that your decision? Or if not, why did the others?

I TOOK AWAY NICHOLAS HOULT'S ACCENT! I TOOK IT! LIKE THE WITCH URSULA TOOK ARIEL'S VOICE, I SNATCHED IT OUT OF HIS THROAT AND LOCKED IT AWAY FOREVER! ENJOY THIS AMERICAN LIFE, NICKY BOY! HAHAHAHA.

Sorry. I'm in a pretty good mood today. No, I had nothing to do with that, but it's pretty common practice for British or Australian actors to do an American accent when acting in American films. Any unusual detail about a character requires some explanation in the film and if it's not explained, could be distracting to the audience. Actors are the avatars for the audience, and making both of the leads have foreign accents (British and Australian) would be vaguely, subconsciously offputting to American audiences. People want to be able to relate to the characters are fully as possible and anything that needlessly clutters that connection has to go. Otherwise, you'd need something in the film acknowledging their foreignness, which would be a waste of precious screen time.

So would you say that villains with foreign accents helps the viewer feel more alienated from them?

I'm sure that's been the logic behind every villain ever having a British accent. It riles up our Murrican blood and gets us rebel-yellin.

How are you doing today?

Pretty fucking well, sir or madame!

I loved WARM BODIES - why a prequel and not a sequel? Why a novella? Why the title THE NEW HUNGER? Curious to know more.

There will be a sequel. The prequel is a bridge between Warm Bodies and the sequel, shedding some light on the characters' backgrounds, expanding the world a little, and setting up some of the concepts that will be important in the sequel. Also, I think it's just a beautiful story about how these people became who they are, and I wanted to tell it.

A novella because that's how long the story was. The title because everyone in the story is starving in some way: for food, for human connection, and for human flesh. Sometimes all three.

Any advice for an aspiring screenwriter fresh out of film school?

I wrote my first script a few months ago and for all I know it's a train wreck. You know a lot more about this subject than I do.

Should I read the book or watch the movie if I can only do one?

Come on, what do you think I'm gonna say to this? All love and respect to Levine and company, READ THE BOOK.

I'm going to piggy-back off this question. Why should I read the book and what sets it apart from the Twilight series aside from the obvious factor?

It's completely different in tone, style, content, and themes. Warm Bodies is dark and satirical, has a nasty sense of humor, is full of blood, sex, drugs and foul language, and is not about romance so much as the meaning of being human. A love story is the engine for all of this, but the destination is not "Aw, they're going to fall in love!" it's, "Aw, they're going to crack the code of humanity's spiritual entropy and try to revive civilization!"

Have you seen the movie yet? Do you think justice to the book?

Seen it twice.I like it very much. I think it captures the essential spirit of the book well enough and is a grand entertainment on its own. My hope is that it leads a lot of people to the book so that there'll be an audience for the sequel, which I think is going to be leagues better than Warm Bodies was.

Hi Isaac. Big fan and long time supporter. I remember reading Freefall and Falling in Love is Easy back in 08 and loving your style of writing and unique voice. I very much enjoyed Warm Bodies last night at a midnight screening. Just wanted to congratulate you on all your success and hope the best.

Wow, that is long-time! Thanks for sticking with me over all these awkward years!

Do you prefer Toaster Strudels or Pop Tarts?

Man, fuck a Toaster Strudel. Pop Tarts forever.

But speaking of marketing stunts...my publisher Zola Books has just decided to temporarily SLASH PRICES on my prequel novella, THE NEW HUNGER for Redditors only. THE NEW HUNGER will be 20% off for Redditors until 6pm-EST tomorrow. Will you be my friends now...?

What started your whole idea of zombies coming back to life? The notion of a serious romantic zombie story has of course always seemed extremely ridiculous and far fetched, but from I've seen you've actually been able to pull that off incredibly well. Were you met with a bunch of unsure folks when explaining the concept of romantic zombies?

Look forward to taking my girlfriend to the film for Valentines Days, both of us are huge zombie genre fans and think the film looks like it's gonna be amazing. Cheers!

I was one of those unsure folks. But almost everything I write (and do and say) is ridiculous and far fetched, so this wasn't such a wild leap for me. I usually have no idea if something I'm writing is going to work until I'm halfway through it.

No question, I just wanted to say that was one of the most adorable movies I've ever seen.

It's a delight, isn't it? I'm seeing it again tonight.

If a human and zombie were to have a baby, would that baby be a hybrid? Alive and dead? What's your take on it?

An actual zombie would be no more fertile/potent than any other dead body, so that wouldn't be possible. A "cured" zombie on the other hand...well, those are a bit of a new frontier for science...

What do you think of the director that is directing Warm Bodies?

I love him. Have you seen 50/50? I've never shed tears in such close proximity to huge laughs before. Also, he's a super nice guy even though he always chooses the worst photos for his Twitter profile.

Okay guys I have to go do a thing at a place, but this has been really fun! Thanks for all your questions, even the dumb and/or mean ones. If I have time later tonight or tomorrow I will try to get to some of the ones I missed, but until then, cheers! -Isaac

I've just started warm bodies and i'm wondering whether there are any particular themes or thoughts i should keep in mind ?

ARE YOU ASKING ME WHAT THOUGHTS YOU SHOULD THINK?? What kind of Orwellian police state do you think I'm running here? Think whatever thoughts come into your thinking device, sir.

Do you think zombies will become the new vampires? With loads of books, movies, and shows featuring them?

Isn't that already the case? And hasn't that sort of been the case for several decades? There are spikes and valleys in any given monster's popularity but I feel like all the major players--vampires, werewolves, mummies, zombies--have been generally pretty damn popular for most of the last 100 years. If anything, I think zombies have probably reached their peak and will soon have to decline for a while to make way for whatever's next. I'm thinking Sasquatch deserves a turn.

Did you have a part in the production of the movie?

I was asked for feedback on various stages of the production. I had meetings with Levine to discuss his plans and answer story questions. I gave notes on two drafts of the script. It was definitely a consultant role, though; I wouldn't say we were collaborating. I knew he would need to find his own way to make this weird story work on screen and I wanted to stand back and let him do his thing.

Also, just for everyone's sake, can we have proof?

I can't imagine how I could prove this, since I stopped taping my phone calls once the CIA finally convinced me everything was chill between us.

Oh wait now I get what you mean. Here's my official tweet regarding this AMA. I have no impostors yet that I know of...

https://twitter.com/isaacinspace/status/297436439598206976

[deleted]

Zombies aren't scary to me. Never have been. Even in their most threatening incarnation--the fast running ultra-infectious 28 Days Later one--they're still just regular people with no weapons. It's what they represent that's scary to me. The destruction of society from within, bit by bit, people losing touch with reality and becoming self-serving drones that only care about their immediate needs...that's the scary part.

your website says you drive around the country in a GMC motorhome named baleen. She sounds like a quaint little beast. what's the story there?

So quaint. So beastly. Check her out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gmqK826GHU

Who would you rather go down on? Lori Beth of the original cast of All That, or Nikki Blonski of Hairspray?

I don't know who any of those people are, so I'll just keep practicing my autofellatio, thank you very much.

ok, isaac, you're at a bar with old friends on a friday night...what's your drink of choice?

Depends on the bar. Beer bar: a good craft IPA or Red ale. Dive bar: Old Overholt rye neat or a whiskey-ginger. Nice bar: a Manhattan.

Even though they're pretty much my favorite cocktail, I always feel like a prick when I order a manhattan. I can't drink out of a martini glass (my hands shake too much and I spill half the drink). So I ask for it in a rocks glass, with "one or two" ice cubes to open up the bourbon (but a whole pile just dilutes it). About 50% of the time it just comes out full of ice, or in a stupid martini glass (once, both?).

I'm not really sure if this was supposed to be a question posed to you or what. It kind of got away from me there.

Totally agree. I love it when bars put manhattans in tumblers.

i just recently (in the last few weeks) saw the trailer for this, I just wanted to say: well done. I'm excited to go see this, and will even pay the ridiculous price that tickets cost here in California to support your movie!

Thanks! As TIME magazine said today, "Warm Bodies is the first movie worth paying to see in theaters this year."

Is this movie going to stay true to the zombie genre, or will it be another "horror" romance flick in the vein of twilight?

If by "stay true to the zombie genre" you mean "be exactly the same as every other movie in the zombie genre, break no new ground, add no new twists, and have no new ideas" then no, it will not be true to the zombie genre. If you mean does it play lovingly with the pop-culture mythology of zombies and use it to explore interesting ideas and make funny jokes, then yes, it's true.

Hey Isaac, do you plan on participating in this AMA?

I got yer participation right here!!