Oscar-winner Stefan Ruzowitzky captures Patient Zero for Screen Gems

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

Stefan Ruzowitzky, an Oscar-winner in 2008 for his Best Foreign Language Film THE COUNTERFEITERS, has come aboard Screen Gems’ epidemic thriller PATIENT ZERO, Deadline reports. The script by Mike Le was a highly coveted one last year, with Screen Gems walking away the winner; now they have their helmer.

An interesting twist has developed in the interim. The story initially had a zombie element to is, but Deadline is claiming that element has been dropped. Strange, since zombies appeared to be a huge part of the story.

Here is the synopsis:

An unprecedented global pandemic has resulted in the evolution of a new species. An aggressive form of rabies turns the infected into predators, addicted to violence. An inexplicably gifted human survivor with the ability to speak their new language spearheads a hunt for Patient Zero in order to find a cure to save his infected wife and humanity.

So no zombies, just a “new species” – which I’m going to guess will resemble zombies in one form or another. (That’s just my cynical speculation, though.)

More on PATIENT ZERO as news bleeds in.