Max Brooks On Being a Zombie Guy

Every zombie fan knows (or should know) who Max Brooks is. The son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, Max has become THE go-to guy in the world of the undead, thanks to his publications and personal appearances. Haven't heard of him? I bet you know his work. The film "World War Z" is based on his bestselling zombie novel of the same name.

I found a great interview with him by Luke Dempsey at USA Today where he answers some questions about those early days of trying to prove himself worthy to horror fans and how much input he had in the "World War Z" film starring Brad Pitt.

Here's a segment:

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LD: One of your first gigs was writing for Saturday Night Live [2001-2003], for which you won an Emmy. Did you feel extra pressure to be super funny because of your dad and his illustrious comic career?

MB: SNL seems many lifetimes ago. My first sketch was "Superman," and to this day, no one played a better Jor-El than Will Ferrell. As far as winning an Emmy, the truth is that the whole team won and I just happened to be on that team. Congratulating me for winning an Emmy would be like congratulating my father for winning World War II. As far as the pressure of having to live up to my dad's reputation, fortunately there was enough pressure built into that show that I didn't have to bring any with me.

LD: Were you surprised by the reaction to your first book? People took it very seriously--was there any part of you that thought, 'Hey, this is a satire--and a funny one--and y'all think it's real?' Did you intend it to be a slyer book than people realized?

MB: Quite the opposite. My agent, my publisher and, initially, the press thought it was some kind of comic send-up--the witty spawn of Mel Brook's snarky brat. All the time I kept saying, "NO! This isn't satire! I'm really into this! I'm really just a zombie nerd!" It took a long time to prove myself to my real audience, to convince my fellow sci-fi/horror fans that I was one of them. That's why I went to Fangoria and begged them for an interview. That's why I started doing my zombie lectures. Eventually it all paid off. Most people know who I am and what I stand for. Maybe someday Random House will realize that too and get The Zombie Survival Guide out of the damn humor section and put it in sci-fi or self-help, where it belongs.

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Check out the entire interview at THIS LINK. And while you're at it, check out THIS STORY of how I forced Max to take generously donated to Max one of B'hold Designs' Ultimate Camouflage (the perfect gift for the zombie prepper that has everything)!

Oh! And did I mention I once turned him into a ZOMBIE?

Aim high. Run fast.

Brett

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