SWAT Team Raided and Seized Weapons from WORLD WAR Z Set

collider.com ^ | 10 Oct 2011 | Adam Chitwood

[smokingfrog]

Now here’s something that doesn’t happen every day: a SWAT team raided the Budapest set of Marc Forster’s big-budget zombie pic World War Z earlier today and seized a number of weapons that were being used in the film. Police confiscated 85 fully-functional weapons (read: not prop guns) from a warehouse that was being used by the production. Most of the weapons were of the automatic, military-style assault variety which is a very big no-no to transport internationally without authorization. Hit the jump for the full story, including star Brad Pitt’s reaction.

Apparently the paperwork for the guns claimed that they were non-fuctional, when in fact they were very much real. The fault lies with the production company’s employees who transported the weapons without approval from Hungary’s Anti-Terrorism Unit.

Sources tell Us Weekly (via Vulture) that Pitt is “furious.” The film is reportedly already over budget and over schedule, and this snafu has thrown quite a wrench into the production (guns are highly necessary when fighting a zombie army). In addition to starring, Pitt is also a producer on the film so one assumes this is causing a bit of a headache. Witnesses are currently being interrogated and an investigation is underway.

The film centers on a United Nations employee who travels the world in a race against time to stop the zombie pandemic from becoming all-emcompassing.

[TheZMan]

“Brad Pitt”

Hahahaha....

HAHAHAHAHAHA

[HiTech RedNeck]

They could afford the guns, but not to have dummies built?

[org.whodat]

You mean he just drove into the anti terrorist unit and said give me your weapons, they did, and that was illegals. Well dang! Was he holding a gun on them????

[tet68]

I thought the name had been changed to OccupyWallZtreet.

[Christian Engineer Mass]

“automatic”

Where did they get those?

[Uriah_lost]

A fast and furious connection, perhaps?

[reaganaut]

Brad Pitt? You know your career is in the tank when you start doing Zombie movies.

[justa-hairyape]

Where did they get those?

From Obama's stash. Fast and Furious AK47's for everyone.

[Tex-Con-Man]

It was a Zombie movie...more like “Slow and Lethargic”.

[Still Thinking]

In addition to starring, Pitt is also a producer on the film so one assumes this is causing a bit of a headache.

Not very good at it, is he?

[Redcloak]

The fault lies with the production company’s employees who transported the weapons without approval from Hungary’s Anti-Terrorism Unit.

Translation: They bribed the wrong guy.

[microgood]

From another article:

According to a source, Pitt, 47, isn't to blame for the prop problem. "The movie company's employees must have made a mistake bringing the guns in without the Anti-Terrorism Unit's permission."

This is the bottom line. They did not clear it with the local Mafia Homeland Security office.

[AnAmericanAbroad]

Oops.

Lesson for the properties master (prop man) and the armorer (not always the same individual).

Always make sure you have all the proper permits when making a film. Especially when your production is doing location work overseas.

Interesting sidenote: When James Cameron did the original “Terminator”, he referred to it as a “guerrilla film”. He didn’t have filming permission from the LAPD for anything. The fact that he pulled it off owed to the fact that it was a low-budget film, and he could sneak under the radar.

A big-budget production like “World War Z”; not so much.....