Gordon-Levitt and Johannson to star in zombie romance (rumor)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlet Johannson are "loosely" attached to star in Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, according to Pajiba. The script, written by Diablo Cody, is adapted from a novel of the same name. In a twist from the many other zombie films out there, this one will be about love, of all things. The book follows an undead man (Gordon-Levitt) who must come to grips with living as a decaying mound of flesh in a society that denies zombies basic rights. Johannson, I assume, falls in love with the dead guy. Sheesh. Women will fall in love with anything these days.

First Showing was smart enough to nab the book description from Amazon:

"Andy Warner reanimates after the car accident that kills his wife, but is too mangled from his injuries to talk. He lives in his parents' wine cellar, occasionally attending a zombie support group and struggling to rejoin a society that offers the undead no rights, bans them from working and doesn't even punish those who destroy them. When Andy and his fellow zombies—notably Rita, a sexy suicide victim with a lipstick fetish, and Jerry, a Playboy-obsessed stoner—learn why they're so driven to consume human flesh, the repercussions are both tragic and hilarious."

If this wasn't coming from Diablo Cody, I'd be fairly worried. I still might be. Cody is the Oscar-winning writer behind Juno. She's also written The United States of Tara TV series and Jennifer's Body, which had an interesting, albeit odd, script. Still, I can't stand stories that call fully intelligent reanimated beings "zombies." To me, zombie implies a lack of intelligence. Call them undead, sure, but we need to differentiate and not just call everything "zombie" because it's a popular buzzword. 

There is no word on a release timeline yet.