Warm Bodies is a 2013 American paranormal romantic zombie comedy film written and directed by Jonathan Levine and based on Isaac Marion s 2010 novel of the same name, which in turn is inspired by Shakespeare s Romeo and Juliet. The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, Lio Tipton, Cory Hardrict, and John Malkovich.

The film focuses on the development of the relationship between Julie (Palmer), a young woman, and R (Hoult), a zombie, and their eventual romance, causing R to slowly return to human form. The film is noted for displaying human characteristics in zombie characters and for being told from a zombie s perspective.

Plot

About eight years after a zombie apocalypse, R, a zombie who cannot recall his name but believes it began with an R , spends his days wandering around an airport which is now filled with his fellow undead, including his best friend, M. R and M achieve rudimentary communication with grunts and moans and occasional near-words. As a zombie, R does not have a heartbeat and constantly craves human flesh, especially brains, because he is able to feel alive through experiencing the victims memories when he eats them.

While R and a pack of zombies are hunting for food, they encounter Julie Grigio and a group of her friends, who were sent by Julie s father from a walled-off human enclave to recover medical supplies. R sees Julie and is drawn to her; his heart beats for the first time. After being shot in the chest by Julie s boyfriend, Perry, R kills him and eats his brain while Julie is distracted. Perry s memories increase R s attraction to Julie. He rescues her from the rest of the pack by wiping some zombie blood on her face, masking her scent, and takes her to an airplane he resides in to keep her safe.

Julie is terrified of R and suspicious of his intentions. She starts trusting him after he rescues her during a failed escape attempt and finds food for her. R insists that Julie stay with him for a few days, until he deems it safe enough for her to leave. The two bond, listening to LP records and playing games to kill time, causing R to begin to come to life; his heart starts beating, and he is slowly able to communicate with more words. After a few days, Julie gets restless, and tries to return home, yet attracts swarms of zombies. After fending off a group including M, who is confused by R s actions, R decides to return her to the human enclave.

On the way, R reveals to Julie that he killed Perry, prompting her to abandon him and return home alone. R begins making his way back to the airport, heartbroken. He discovers that M and other zombies are also showing signs of life, making them targets for the Boneys – skeletal zombies who, having lost their humanity, have shed their flesh and prey on anything with a heartbeat. R and M lead a group to the human enclave, where R sneaks inside the wall.

R finds Julie and meets her friend Nora, who is shocked to see R in the territory and notices R s growing humanity. When R reveals that the other corpses are also coming back to life, the three of them attempt to tell Colonel Grigio, Julie s father and the leader of the survivors. Colonel Grigio dismisses them and threatens to kill R, stopping only when Nora pulls a gun on him. Julie and R escape to a baseball stadium where the rest of R s group is waiting but find themselves under attack by Boneys.

While M and his gang of zombies square off against the Boneys, Julie and R run but find themselves trapped. Taking the only escape route, R jumps with Julie into a pool far below, shielding her from the impact. After Julie pulls R from the bottom of the pool, they kiss. Colonel Grigio arrives and shoots R in the shoulder without warning. Julie attempts to persuade him that R has changed when she notices that he is bleeding from his wound – revealing that he has completely revived and is human once more. The humans and zombies combine forces and kill most of the Boneys while the rest perish from starvation, as the zombies slowly come back to life and assimilate into human society. Later, a fully human R and Julie watch the wall surrounding the city being demolished, signifying the end of the apocalypse.

Cast

• Nicholas Hoult as R
• Teresa Palmer as Julie
• Rob Corddry as M
• Dave Franco as Perry
• Lio Tipton as Nora
• Cory Hardrict as Kevin
• John Malkovich as Grigio

Production

The studio Summit Entertainment backed the film, which was produced by Bruna Papanadrea, David Hoberman, and Todd Lieberman and executive produced by Laurie Webb and Cori Shepherd Stern. The zombies can barely talk in the film, so extensive voice-overs were used to express their thoughts.

Writer and director Jonathan Levine said even though this is a love story that involves zombies, he hoped people would not try to put the film into one category and zombie enthusiasts would be open to a new twist on the genre. I think this movie takes the mythology in a different direction, and I think there is a lot there for die-hard zombie fans, he explained. We re encouraging people to be open-minded, because it does take some liberties with the mythology, but at the same time, it s very grounded in the science of zombie-ism and uses that as a springboard for a more fantastical story. It may be divisive, but I think there s a lot there for zombie fans if they re open-minded to a new take on it, and I hope they can. Actress Teresa Palmer said, For me, the core of the story is that love breathes life back into people. That human connection saves us. People who have had those lights dimmed inside them, when they fall in love they get brighter.

Warm Bodies began shooting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in September 2011 with its airport scenes being shot at Montreal-Mirabel International Airport.

Levine told USA Today that R attempts to do a lot of things to varying degrees of success. Driving, for instance. Let s just say his hand–eye coordination is not what it needs to be. Nicholas Hoult and other zombie actors practiced with circus performers to achieve the right body moves. Hoult explained, There were some days with the Cirque du Soleil people and we would take our shoes off in a dance studio and we would kind of grow out of the wall and make our bodies feel very heavy. It s one of those things where you think about it a lot but you just have to try it out and see what works. Then Jonathan would say either too much or little less , we didn t want to go over the top with it. Hoult told another reviewer that he drew a lot of his inspiration from Tim Burton s Edward Scissorhands, saying he thought of that movie as a zombie film, whether it was or not. Because you had to feel sorry for Edward… I was thinking of Edward when I did R.

Release

Warm Bodies was released on January 31, 2013 in the Philippines, Greece, and Russia. It was released on February 1, 2013 in the United States and on February 8, 2013 in the United Kingdom. In its opening weekend it collected $20.3 million. It has returned a box office of $66.4 million within the US and an additional $50.6 million internationally.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 81% rating, based on reviews from 209 critics, with an average score of 6.8/10. The site s consensus reads: Warm Bodies offers a sweet, well-acted spin on a genre that all too often lives down to its brain-dead protagonists. At Metacritic it has a score of 60 out of 100, based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews.

Richard Larson of Slant Magazine wrote The ubiquity of Shakespeare s original template allows Warm Bodies some leeway in terms of believability, where otherwise it sometimes strains against its own logic. But the film s persistent charm encourages us to look past a few festering surface wounds and see the human heart beating inside, which is really what love is all about. Larson awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times deemed the film a well-paced, nicely directed, post-apocalyptic love story with a terrific sense of humor and the, um, guts to be unabashedly romantic and unapologetically optimistic. He added that the movie isn t perfect. It s a shame those Bonies are mediocre special-effects creations that run with a herky-jerky style… But those are minor drawbacks… Mary Pols of Time called it an inventive charmer that visits all the typical movie scenarios of young love amid chaos and disaster… There are so many clever lines and bits of physical comedy worth revisiting that the movie seems like a likely cult classic.

Stella Papamichael at Digital Spy gave it 3 out of 5 stars and called it a truly deadpan romantic comedy and a witty reinvention of the genre like Shaun of the Dead before it, drawing parallels between the apathy of youth and the zombie masses, adding, Hoult gets to deliver a wickedly dry voiceover. Chris Packham of The Village Voice said in a negative review that The film s intentions are way too good for its own good, producing bloodless romance and more shamefully bloodless carnage. Nobody kisses anyone else until it becomes clear that both parties have pulses, and everyone gets to keep all their limbs. Michael O Sullivan said in his one-and-a-half star review for The Washington Post that the film is Cute without being especially clever, it s as pallid and as brain-dead as its zombie antihero…It s less funny and self-aware than Shaun of the Dead, less swooningly romantic than Twilight and less scary than pretty much anything else out there with zombies in it.

Home media

The official DVD and Blu-ray was released in North America on June 4, 2013.

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipient	Result
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Comedy	Warm Bodies	Nominated
	Choice Movie: Romance	Warm Bodies	Nominated
	Choice Movie Actor: Comedy	Nicholas Hoult	Nominated
	Choice Movie Actor: Romance	Nicholas Hoult	Nominated
	Choice Movie Breakout	Nicholas Hoult	Won
40th Saturn Awards	Saturn Award for Best Horror Film	Warm Bodies	Nominated

Year	2013
ReleaseDate	2013-02-01
RuntimeMins	98
RuntimeStr	1h 38min
Plot	After a highly unusual zombie saves a still-living girl from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
Awards	Awards, 2 wins & 10 nominations
Directors	Jonathan Levine
Writers	Isaac Marion, Jonathan Levine
Stars	Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich
Produced by	Gillian Bohrer,Erik Feig,Ogden Gavanski,David Hoberman,Todd Lieberman,Bruna Papandrea,Cori Stern,Cori Shepherd Stern,Nicolas Stern,Patrick Wachsberger,Laurie Webb
Music by	Marco Beltrami,Buck Sanders
Cinematography by	Javier Aguirresarobe
Film Editing by	Nancy Richardson
Casting By	Joanna Colbert,Andrea Kenyon,Rich Mento,Randi Wells
Production Design by	Martin Whist
Art Direction by	Gilles Aird,Jean Kazemirchuk
Set Decoration by	Marc Andre Castagner,Suzanne Cloutier,Sylvie Desmarais
Costume Design by	George L. Little
Makeup Department	Caroline Aquin,Mathieu Baptista,Marianne Bobet,Kevin Carter,Michelle Côté,Dave Elsey,Bruno Gatien,Christophe Giraud,Jonathan Gording,Mario Huot,Monica Huppert,Annie Jalbert,Alexis Johnston,Catherine Lavoie,Adruitha Lee,Camiel McLean,Adrien Morot,Magali Métivier,Martin Nepton,Marcelo Padovani,Areli Perea,Ghislaine Sant,Jessica Spoor,Rocco Stallone,Kathy Tse,Mark Unterberger,Fanny Vachon
Production Management	Andrea Isaacs,Mark W. McCoy,Leslie Rodier,Daniel Ross,Hélène Ross,Manon Rufer,Danny Turgeon
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Anabelle Berkani,Ariane Côté-Chénier,Dominic Gaglione D Amico,Martin Doepner,Jean-François Duplat,Brigitte Goulet,David McKeown,Laurence Mercier,Michael J. Moore,Sinan Saber,Anne Sirois,Tanya van Blokland,Stephen Woolfenden,Michele Shelley Ziegler
Art Department	Serge Archambault,Francis Back,Joao Baptista,Marjorie Beauchamp,Alain Brochu,Rejean Brochu,Stephen Craig,Stéphane Daoust,Edith Desmeules,Mathieu Giguère,The Godding Brothers,Marc Godding,Eric Gosselin,Geoffroy Gosselin,Todd Harris,Jose Holder,Sylvain Joyal,Andrew Law,Christophe Louboutin,Martin Lussier,Josée Létourneau,Veronique Meunier,Merik Pelletier,Laurent Pereira,Dominique Pottier,Julie Robert,Aaron Sims,Gary Damian Thomas,Pascal Tremblay,Mathieu Verreault,Ed Verreaux
Sound Department	Henry Auerbach,Wade Barnett,Joe Cappelletti,Cedric Charron,Chris David,Brian Dunlop,Evan Gillman,Justin Herman,Ellen Heuer,Sang Jun Kim,Jenna Lange,Tim Limer,Travis MacKay,Louis Marion,Brian F. Mars,Tor McAfee Kingdon,Thomas O Neil Younkman,A. Josh Reinhardt,Gabriel J. Serrano,Leslie Shatz,Cynthia Thibault,Shawnda Thomas,Stephen Webster,Mandell Winter,Martyn Zub,Michael Jesmer,Callie Thurman
Special Effects by	Marc Auclair,Louis Craig,Pierre Côté,Jean-Martin Desmarais,Karim El Fassi,David Loveday,Marie Ashley Nelson,Louis Payeur
Visual Effects by	Holli Alvarado,Emi Baba,Derek Babchishin,Dan Bartolucci,Giorgio Bertolone,Vincent Blin,Tim Bobyk,Jelmer Boskma,Guy Botham,Everett Burrell,Cyntia Büll,Xavier Callamand,Michael Capton,Ben Case,Ling Chen,Manda Cheung,Leslie Chung,Andrew M. Collins,Steve Dellerson,Charles-David Deschenes,Mike Diltz,Ryan Flick,Thomas F. Ford IV,Demitre Garza,Paul Gillot,Ed Holdsworth,Tia Hoshizaki,Brenda Ilic,Brett Ineson,Beau Janzen,Terry Kalinich,Danny S. Kim,Mathew Krentz,Matt Kushner,Michael Lemon,Neil Lim Sang,John Lipskie,Ben Lumsden,Martin McGreevy,Michael Miller,Daniel Molina,Josh Mossotti,Thomas Nittmann,Shannon Leigh Olds,Uros Otasevic,Allison Paul,Lee Pierce,Ian Rozylo,Migs Rustia,Dan Schrecker,Drew Shields,Greg M. Silverman,Mark Stewart,Brad Sutton,Tom Szenher,Wilson Tang,Drew Tobin,Andrew Ryan Turner,Yuki Uehara,Dmitry Vinnik,Chris Walker,Blair Werschler,Dave Zeevalk,Andrew Guttormsson
Stunts	Abdul Ayoola,Marcello Bezina,Andy Bradshaw,Bobby Brown,Stéphane Byl,Annie Carignan,Ruth Chiang,Allan Yuk-lun Chou,John-sebastien Cote,Eric Daniel,Marie France Denoncourt,Connor Dunn,Felix Famelart,Carl Fortin,Charlene Francique,François Gauthier,Jere Gillis,Nathalie Girard,Raphael Grosz-Harvey,Tyler Hall,Dan Iaboni,Spencer Jones,Zandara Kennedy,Patrick Kerton,Josée Laviolette,Yan Lecomte,Mathieu Ledoux,Irma Leong,Thomas Liccioni,Angelica Lisk-Hann,Genevieve Maclean,David McKeown,Daniel O Connor,Rochelle Okoye,Steven P. Park,Adrian Persad,Jan Pivon,Cheryl Quiacos,Darryl Quon,France Raymond,David Rigby,Sébastien Rouleau,Paul Rutledge,Patrick Sabongui,Nigel Scantlebury,Michael Scherer,Warren Scherer,Dan Shea,Joey Shea,Helen Stranzl,Alicia Turner,John Walsh,Max White,Martin Williams
Camera and Electrical Department	Francois Archambault,Eric Aubin,Matthieu Beauchamp,Pierre Beaulieu,Charles Beetz,Michel Bernier,Stephane Boisvert,Emmanuel Béhier Migeon,Charles Castonguay,Mathieu Charest,Daniel Chrétien Jr.,Joost Clerinx,Bernard Couture,Simon Desrochers-Laplante,Etienne Didelot-Pothier,Amélie Douville,Jean-François Dubé,Sylvain Dupuis,Marc Ehrenbold,Étienne Geoffrion,Gaël Giraud,Sylvain Girouard,Dan Goyens,Mark Hryma,Pierre-Luc L Espérance,Mélia Lagacé,Rhyce Langker,Eric Lefèbvre,Kenneth MacKenzie,Brad MacLean,Robert Mattigetz,Dominique Mercier,Gary Pachany,Dominic Pigeon,Dany Prévost,Gerry Prévost,Martin Renaud,Nic René,Dominique Ricard,Ken Seng,Isabelle Tessier,Jan Thijs,Jean-Francois Tousignant,Simon Touzin,Paul Viau,Simon Vincent,Jonathan Wenk,Steven J. Winslow
Animation Department	Adam Chaput,Brad Griffin,Grant Harris,Lina Kouznetsova,Terence P. Reilly,Grant Wilson
Casting Department	Skyler Barrett,Julie Breton,Nestor Costa,Max Scharf,Jessica Sherman,Sam Sazant
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Annemarie Aird,Valérie Bélègou,Ingrid Cadieux,Christelle Deforceville,Henry Fong,Laurence Lacoste,Chanel Lavoie,Valérie Levesque,Olivier Proulx,Art Reasonover,Jean David Serafino,Mélanie Turcotte
Editorial Department	Pierre Cadieux,Pete Conlin,David Croom,Jared Curtis,Milaine Gamache,Michael Hatzer,Christopher Hills-Wright,Jonathan Hoffman,Bill Holley,Chris Jensen,Eric Marapin,Julian McDougald,Harry Muller,Justin Powell,Pablo Prietto,Derek M. Schneider,Brian Spirnak,Ian Turpen,Everette Webber,Trevor White,Leslie Adkins-Garza,Heather Goodwillie,Steve Rebsch
Location Management	Marie-Claude Bélisle,Jean-Philippe Carignan,Josée Francis,Diane Janna,Benoît Mathieu
Music Department	Christine Bergren,Jay Duerr,Paul Katz,John Kurlander,Tyson Lozensky,Alexandra Patsavas,Brandon Roberts,David Sabee,Jim Schultz,Brittany Whyte,David Paul Mesler,Jordan Seigel
Script and Continuity Department	Pauline Beraud,Nadia Guglieri,Lorette Leblanc
Transportation Department	Sylvain Beaudoin,Lyssa J. Caster,Owen Coughlan,Réal Hamel,Alexandre Juaneda,Nicky Luca,Charles Prud homme,Jon Prévost,Michael Saintsbury,Steve Szewczok,Larry Taman,Jerome Wheeler
Additional Crew	Tim Abell,Caellum Allan,Diana Ascher,Martial Audilon,Nedda Azizian,Nancy Banks,Jacinthe Bibeau,Valérie Binette,Zoe Bower Robert,Martin Brisebois,Shaun Burke,Irina Cazazaeva,Guenaél Charrier,Nickey Chow,Tana David,Puelo Deir,Marc Desaulniers,Brigitte Deshusses,Ken Dhaliwal,Ivan Drehspul,André Déry,Kathy Edwards,Nicolas Fafard-Trudel,Andrée-Anne Faucher,Shayne Fiske,Philippe Fournelle,Sophie-Andrée Gagne-Melancon,Taylor Gerrity,André Gordon,Alina Gotcherian,Marc-André Goyer,Sabrina-Jasmine Guilbault,Jean-Francois Hall,Raphaël Hébert,Anne Jacobsen,Jonathan Jean-Pierre,Quanita Johnson,Jean-Patrick Joseph,Nutan Khanna,Nadia Khedaim,Daniel Langlois,Chanel Lavoie,Samantha Lavorato,Mela Lee,Giovanni Lopez,Ross Marquand,Emilie Paquet,Mike Park,Jean-Jacques Pillet,Jess Platt,Eva Quintero,Brent Radford,Colin Riendeau,Daniel Ross,Michael Saintsbury,Michael James Scotty Scott,Mary Senn,Christopher Setien Estevez,Derek Steiner,Todd Steiner,Victorine Tamafo,Robert Tarpinian,Simon Therrien,Kathy Ann Thomas,Bernard Topalian,Quin Tran,Chanda Venable,Mathieu Verreault,Joey Wills,Justin Begnaud,Philip A. Cutler,Evan Jackson,Garson Yu
Thanks	Xavier Collin,Kyle Hunter,Sue Redman,Ariel Shaffir,Annie Spitz,Kzar Torres
Genres	Comedy, Horror, Romance
Companies	Summit Entertainment, Make Movies, Mandeville Films
Countries	USA, Canada
Languages	English
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	6.8
ImDbRatingVotes	231399
MetacriticRating	60
Keywords	zombie,undead,memory,talking zombie,pretending to be a zombie