Warm Bodies is the debut novel of author Isaac Marion. The book was described as a "zombie

Zombie

Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...

 romance" by the Seattle Post Intelligencer, and makes allusions to William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

. The author, based in Seattle, originally self-published

Self-publishing

Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...

 the novel, selling it through his Web site. Atria Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, acquired the publishing rights in early 2010.

Plot

R is a young man who is a zombie. Set after a zombie apocalypse

Zombie apocalypse

A zombie apocalypse is a particular scenario of apocalyptic literature that customarily has a science fiction/horror rationale. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization....

, he slowly moves through an America made up of collapsed buildings, rusted cars, shattered glass, and hollowed-out high-rises. He can speak only in grunts and simple syllables and craves human brains to get high on the memories they contain. After eating the brain of a suicidal teen, R is overcome with love for the teen's blonde companion, Julie Grigio. R rescues Julie from certain death by his zombie pack and takes her back to his lair. She eventually leaves, and R follows her to back to Citi Stadium, the largest remaining human habitation.

Film adaptation

Actor Nicholas Hoult

Nicholas Hoult

Nicholas Caradoc Hoult is an English actor, best known for playing Marcus Brewer in the 2002 film About a Boy, Tony Stonem in the E4, BAFTA-winning television series Skins, and Beast in the X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class.-Early life:Hoult was born in Wokingham, Berkshire, the third of four...

 was cast to star as the zombie R in a feature film adaptation, written and directed by Jonathan Levine

Jonathan Levine

Jonathan A. Levine is an American film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Levine won the Audience Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival for his film The Wackness. In January 2010, it was announced that he will direct a project entitled Warm Bodies...

. The film also stars Teresa Palmer

Teresa Palmer

Teresa Palmer is an Australian actress. She made her film debut in the suicide drama 2:37. Palmer was seen in The Grudge 2 in 2006, in December Boys, alongside Daniel Radcliffe, and in the 2008 children's fantasy Bedtime Stories, with Adam Sandler...

 as Julie Grigio, Rob Corddry

Rob Corddry

Robert William "Rob" Corddry is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a former correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and for his starring role in the comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine...

 as M, and John Malkovich

John Malkovich

John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...

 as General Grigio. Dave Franco

Dave Franco

David John "Dave" Franco is an American television and film actor who played the role of Cole Aaronson for season nine of Scrubs.-Personal life:...

, Analeigh Tipton

Analeigh Tipton

Analeigh Christian Tipton is an American figure skater, actress, and fashion model, most noted for placing third on Cycle 11 of America's Next Top Model and for starring in the 2011 film Crazy, Stupid, Love....

 and Cory Hardrict

Cory Hardrict

Cory D. Hardrict is an American actor and film producer.-Life and career:Born in Chicago, Illinios, Hardrict began his career on television during the late 1990s, with appearances in weekly prime-time programs including Smart Guy, Felicity, Once and Again and ER...

 also joined the cast.

The studio behind The Twilight Saga

The Twilight Saga (film series)

The Twilight Saga is a series of supernatural romance fantasy films from Summit Entertainment based on the four Twilight series novels by the American author Stephenie Meyer. The films star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner. The series has grossed over $2 billion in worldwide...

, Summit Entertainment

Summit Entertainment

Summit Entertainment LLC is an independent film studio headquartered in Santa Monica, California with international offices in London.-History:...

, is backing the film. Bruna Papanadrea, David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing, with Laurie Webb and Cori Shepherd Stern executive producing the project. The zombies don’t really talk in the film, so extensive voice-over

Voice-over

Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...

 will be used to express their thoughts.

Warm Bodies began shooting in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

in September 2011, and has a scheduled release date of August 10, 2012.