Screen Gems Taps Oscar-Winner to Direct ‘Patient Zero’

Putting a new twist on the tried and true outbreak formula, Screen Gems has pegged an Oscar-winning director to helm their new film “Patient Zero.”

According to Deadline, Stefan Ruzowitzky has come aboard to direct “Patient Zero.”  Ruzowitzky received critical-acclaim when he won the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language film in 2008 for “The Counterfeiters.” Ruzowitzky will be working off a script written by Mike Le.  Here’s how Deadline describes the plot:

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.

Deadline is also reporting that the original version of the script had a zombie element that has since been removed.  In all honesty, this sounds similar to “28 Days Later” and their version of a “zombie outbreak.”  It’ll be interesting to see how the film distances itself from that concept.  Filming is expected to start this summer.