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Max Brooks

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Max Brooks
Max Brooks at the Phoenix Comicon in Phoenix, Arizona, 28 May 2011
Max Brooks at the Phoenix Comicon in Phoenix, Arizona, 28 May 2011
BornMaximillian Michael Brooks
(1972-05-22) May 22, 1972 (age 52)
Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, writer, screenwriter, actor
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPitzer College (B.A.)
American University (1994)
GenreHumor, Horror
Spouse
Michelle Kholos
​
(m. 2003)​
Children1
RelativesMel Brooks (father)
Anne Bancroft (mother)

Maximillian Michael Brooks (born May 22, 1972) is an American horror author and screenwriter. He is the son of comedy filmmaker Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft. Brooks's writing focuses on zombie stories.[1] Brooks is also a television and voice-over actor.

Early life

Max Brooks was born in New York City, the son of actress Anne Bancroft and director, producer, writer, and actor Mel Brooks.[2]

Brooks is dyslexic[3] and attended Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California. He studied at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history.[3] He spent a semester at the University of the Virgin Islands. He graduated from American University in Washington, D.C. in 1994.[4][5][6]

Career

Writing

From 2001 to 2003, Brooks was a member of the writing team at Saturday Night Live.

Brooks' first book, The Zombie Survival Guide, was published in 2003 by Three Rivers Press. The book described in depth the creation of and lives of zombies. The book was later followed up in 2009 by The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, a graphic novel depicting several of the events detailed in the book's latter section.

In 2006, Brooks followed with World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which deals with the war between the human race and zombies. Paramount Pictures acquired the movie rights with Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment producing the film. In the October 2006 issue of Fangoria Magazine, Brooks stated that he would not be writing the screenplay for the motion picture, as he felt he was not an accomplished enough screenwriter to "do it right" (J. Michael Straczynski wrote the first version of the screenplay).[7]

In 2013, Cemetery Dance published a new limited Edition of World War Z. Jeremy Caniglia created all new artwork for this special release to coincide with the film release.

Brooks wrote the introduction for the hardcover collected edition of Dynamite Entertainment's zombie miniseries Raise the Dead released in 2007.[8]

Max Brooks with father Mel Brooks in April 2010

The New Dead, a 2010 anthology of previously unpublished zombie stories edited by Christopher Golden, contains an additional World War Z story titled "Closure, Limited".

In 2010, Brooks wrote the IDW comic book mini-series G.I. Joe: Hearts & Minds.[9]

In 2011, Brooks wrote the foreword for Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies, a 300-page fiction book written by Matt Mogk.

In 2012 he published "Closure, Limited" featuring the story of that name from The New Dead along with three other short stories set in the World War Z universe.[10]

In 2013, Avatar Press released The Extinction Parade, a comic book series based on the 2011 short story created by Brooks.

In 2014, Broadway Books published The Harlem Hellfighters, a graphic novel which portrays a fictionalized account of the entirely African American 369th Infantry Regiment's experiences in World War I, with writing done by Brooks and illustrations by Caanan White.[11] Sony Pictures has purchased the rights to create a film version of the novel, with Caleeb Pinkett and James Lassiter producing on behalf of Overbrook Entertainment.[12]

In 2016, he was invited to Minecon 2016 and announced that he was working on a new novel on Minecraft.

Acting and voice-over work

Brooks has a number of other creative credits. As an actor, he has been seen in Roseanne, To Be or Not to Be, Pacific Blue, and 7th Heaven. He also has a career voicing animation; his voice has been featured in the animated shows Batman Beyond, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Justice League and All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series. During the start of the 3rd season of Lost Tapes, he was cast as himself in the zombie episode, telling the audience about how zombies come to be. He also appeared on Spike TV series Deadliest Warrior, in which he represented the zombie team in the "Vampires vs Zombies" episode, as one of the Zombie experts along with Matt Mogk the Founder of the Zombie Research Society.[13] He also appeared on the Discovery Channel"s Sons of Guns in a zombie gun build off ("Civilian vs. Military").

Personal life

Brooks has been married to Michelle Kholos since 2003. They have one son, Henry Michael Brooks (born March 2005). They live in Venice, California.[4]

References

  1. ^ Brodesser-Akner, Taffy (June 21, 2013). "Max Brooks Is Not Kidding About the Zombie Apocalypse". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  2. ^ Townsend, Allie (July 26, 2010). "Q&A: Zombie-Survival Expert Max Brooks". Time.
  3. ^ a b Glader, Sue. "Max Brooks, Author * The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity". Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Brodesser-Akner, Taffy (June 21, 2013). "Max Brooks Is Not Kidding About the Zombie Apocalypse". The New York Times. pp. 2–3. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  5. ^ " "New York Times Bestseller and Alumnus Max Brooks '94 to Keynote 2011 Pitzer College Commencement". Pitzer College. (April 21, 2011).
  6. ^ "Keynote Speaker Max Brooks '94". Pitzer College (June 2, 2011)
  7. ^ Fangoria Magazine (Oct. 2006).
  8. ^ "'Raise the Dead' Series Collected in Hardcover with Forward by Max Brooks". Comic Book Resources. August 10, 2007.
  9. ^ Manning, Shaun (April 1, 2010). "Brooks Wins 'Hearts and Minds'". Comic Book Resources.
  10. ^ Horror Novel Reviews Max Brooks ‘Closure, Limited and Other Zombie Tales’ Review Retrieved August 14, 2015
  11. ^ Lo Wang, Hansi (April 1, 2014). "The Harlem Hellfighters: Fighting Racism In The Trenches Of WWI". NPR. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  12. ^ Ford, Rebecca (March 7, 2014). "Sony Nabs Max Brooks' WWI Graphic Novel 'The Harlem Hellfighters'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  13. ^ "Deadliest Warrior Comic-Con 2011 Panel – Episode 300a". Spike. July 22, 2011
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