science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
Stefan Ruzowitzky
Stefan Ruzowitzky (born 25 December 1961) is an Austrian film director and screenwriter.
Early life
Ruzowitzky was born in Vienna. He studied drama and history at the University of Vienna and started directing music videos, for example for 'N ...
and written by
Mike Le
Mike Nguyen Le (also credited as Mike Le) is a Vietnamese American screenwriter, producer, and film director.
Screenwriting
Le wrote and co-executive produced the feature horror film ''Dark Summer'' (2014), directed by Paul Solet and starring ...
. The film stars
Matt Smith
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...
,
Natalie Dormer
Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982)Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in film ...
,
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...
, and
Clive Standen
Clive James Standen (born 22 July 1981) is an English actor best known for playing Bryan Mills in the NBC series '' Taken'' (2017–2018), based on the film trilogy of the same name, as well as Rollo in the History Channel series ''Vikings'' (2 ...
. The plot involves a group of survivors who set out to find an antidote for a highly contagious virus that turns the infected into a ravenous but highly intelligent new species.
After a bidding war between several studios over a script penned by Le,
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
eventually won the rights. Ruzowitzky signed on to direct in May 2014. Casting began in September 2014 and lasted until March 2015.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began on 3 March 2015 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, before ending on 18 April.
Originally set to be released in September 2016, ''Patient Zero'' was pushed back to February 2017, then was removed from the
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
release schedule. The film was finally released through
video-on-demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
on 14 August 2018, with a
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on 14 September by
Vertical Entertainment
Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012.
History
In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...
.
Plot
After an outbreak of a mutated form of
rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, vi ...
that spreads from animals to humans, over 7 billion humans are dead or infected. People who are bitten turn rabid in 90 seconds. Morgan (
Matt Smith
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...
) was riding in a car with his wife Janet when they were attacked. Both were infected, but he remained human with the ability to communicate with the infected.
Now with a large group of civilians,
CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency, under the United S ...
scientists and U.S. military in an underground nuclear base, Morgan and virologist Dr. Gina Rose (
The script, initially titled ''Patient Z'', was featured on the 2013
Black List
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
, an annual survey showcasing the "most liked" motion picture
screenplays
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fea ...
unproduced. Set in a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies, the story follows a man who speaks their language questions the undead in order to find a cure for his infected wife. The screenplay was the subject of a bidding war between several different studios including
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...
,
Silver Pictures
Silver Pictures is an American film production company founded by Hollywood producer Joel Silver in 1980. The Silver Pictures logo, also called The Chip, is modeled on a block pattern that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the exteriors of the Sto ...
,
Davis Entertainment
Davis Entertainment (also known as Davis Entertainment Company) is an American film and television production company, founded by John Davis in 1984.
Davis's three divisions–feature film, independent film, and television–develop and produc ...
, Broken Road Productions, Donners' Company, Vincent Newman Entertainment and Misher Films.
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
eventually won the bidding war and
Vincent Newman
Vincent Newman (born 1965) is an American film producer.
Filmography
Producer
*''Soundman'' (1998) (co-producer)
*''The Last Marshal'' (1999) (producer)
*''A Better Way to Die'' (2000) (executive producer)
*''In the Shadows'' (2001) (producer)
...
was set to produce through his company Vincent Newman Entertainment. Austrian director
Stefan Ruzowitzky
Stefan Ruzowitzky (born 25 December 1961) is an Austrian film director and screenwriter.
Early life
Ruzowitzky was born in Vienna. He studied drama and history at the University of Vienna and started directing music videos, for example for 'N ...
was set to direct the film on 2 May 2014. When the screenplay was first sold, the creatures were zombies, though this aspect was eventually removed during subsequent rewrites.
On 24 September 2014, it was announced that
Natalie Dormer
Natalie Dormer (born 11 February 1982)Matt Smith
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...
joining that November. Other roles were announced in early 2015 with
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in film ...
Clive Standen
Clive James Standen (born 22 July 1981) is an English actor best known for playing Bryan Mills in the NBC series '' Taken'' (2017–2018), based on the film trilogy of the same name, as well as Rollo in the History Channel series ''Vikings'' (2 ...
joining in February, and
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn (; born Laura Michelle Hollins; 16 February 1983) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from mod ...
joining in March.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
on the film began in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
on 3 March 2015. From 9 March, filming took place at
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused w ...
and would also take place in and around London through 18 April 2015.
Some filming took place in
Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
on 15 March 2015, where a SWAT van and car were seen on set.
Release
In August 2015,
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...
announced that ''Patient Zero'' would be released on 2 September 2016 in the United States. On 28 April 2016, the film was delayed to 17 February 2017. In January 2017, the film was removed from the release schedule. The film is scheduled to be released through
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
on 14 August 2018, before receiving a
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on 14 September 2018, by
Vertical Entertainment
Vertical Entertainment is an American film distribution and production company founded by producers Richard B. "Rich" Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012.
History
In 2012, Rich Goldberg & Mitch Budin founded Vertical Entertainment, a film distribut ...
.
Marketing
The film was promoted at
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...
2016, which was attended by Smith, Dormer, Standen, Bradley, Ruzowitsky and Le. On 11 July 2015, a rough cut of the film's trailer was screened during the
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
panel. Standen explained that the film's tension centers on the infected thinking they are "the new evolution of mankind" who want to wipe out the human race.
Reception
''Patient Zero'' holds an approval rating of on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on reviews, with an average rating of .
Geoff Berkshire, writing for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', described the film as "a post-apocalyptic pandemic movie that’s more grade-Z than ''
World War Z
''World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War'' is a 2006 zombie apocalyptic horror novel written by American author Max Brooks. The novel is broken into eight chapters: “Warnings”, “Blame”, “The Great Panic”, “Turning the Ti ...
''", and concluded: "A near future where a divided humankind is so full of anger at people different from themselves that they literally turn into monsters? It’s a frightful thought for frightful times. But it’s also the only thought this slipshod thriller contains in its not-so-pretty little package." Jeffrey M. Anderson of
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.
gave the film a score of 1 star out of 5, saying that it "eventually wanders cluelessly off track, but, as it consists mainly of yelling, sudden loud noises, and camera-shaking, it gets aggravating long before that happens."