Max Brooks

{{about||the member of the Colorado House of Representatives|Max Brooks (politician)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Max Brooks

| image = Max Brooks at BookExpo (15957).jpg

| caption = Brooks in 2019

| birth_name = Maximillian Michael Brooks

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1972|5|22}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| occupation = Writer

| alma_mater = {{Ubl

|Pitzer College (B.A.)

|American University

}}

| module = {{Infobox writer

| embed = yes

| genre = Humor, horror

}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Michelle Kholos|2003}}

| children = 1

| mother = Anne Bancroft

| father = Mel Brooks

| relatives = Phyllis Italiano (maternal aunt)

}}

Maximilian Michael Brooks (born May 22, 1972){{cite book |last=Shelley |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qAuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA102 |title=Anne Bancroft: The Life and Work |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2017 |isbn=978-1476662428 |page=102}} is an American actor and author. He is the son of comedian Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft. Much of Brooks's writing focuses on zombie stories. He was a senior fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, New York.{{cite web|url=https://mwi.usma.edu/max-brooks/|title=Max Brooks|work=Modern War Institute |date=April 7, 2016|access-date=October 11, 2017|archive-date=February 16, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200216182318/https://mwi.usma.edu/max-brooks/|url-status=live |author1=Mwiadmin }}

Early life

Brooks was born on May 22, 1972, in Manhattan, New York City. He is the son of actress Anne Bancroft and actor, director, producer, and writer Mel Brooks.{{cite news|last=Brodesser-Akner|first=Taffy|author-link=Taffy Brodesser-Akner|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/max-brooks-is-not-kidding-about-the-zombie-apocalypse.html|title=Max Brooks Is Not Kidding About the Zombie Apocalypse|work=The New York Times|date= June 21, 2013|access-date=2014-04-30 }} His father is Jewish, while his mother was an Italian-American Catholic.{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/16/mel-brooks-is-always-funny-and-often-wise-in-this-1975-playboy-interview.html|first=Alex|last=Belth|title=Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview|work=The Daily Beast|date= February 16, 2014|access-date=July 4, 2015}}{{cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/The-cinematic-Zionism-of-Mel-Brooks|first=Robert|last=Gluck|title=The cinematic Zionism of Mel Brooks|work=The Jerusalem Post|date=August 12, 2012|access-date=January 31, 2017}}

Brooks is dyslexic,{{cite web|url=http://dyslexia.yale.edu/maxbrooks.html|title=Max Brooks, Author|publisher=The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity|access-date=March 19, 2016|last=Glader|first= Sue|archive-date=January 7, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200107183845/http://dyslexia.yale.edu/story/max-brooks-author/|url-status=live}} and recalled that during the time in which he was growing up:

{{blockquote|...they didn't even call it a disability back then; it was just "laziness," "goofing off," "you're not trying hard enough." "You can do it but you don't want to do it" — that was a big one of my teachers. And my mother, one of the greatest, most successful actresses of her day, gave up her career, put her career on the shelf, to raise me, to be my educational advocate and to teach herself about dyslexia. ... She took, every year, all of my school books that I had to read to the Institute for the Blind and had them all read onto audio cassette so I could listen to my reading list. And if I hadn't been able to do that, I wouldn't have graduated high school. I can literally say that not only did my mother give me my life, she saved my life.|source=NPR Fresh Air (2017){{cite news|url= https://www.npr.org/2017/08/15/543614192/novelist-max-brooks-on-doomsday-dyslexia-and-growing-up-with-hollywood-parents|title=Novelist Max Brooks On Doomsday, Dyslexia And Growing Up With Hollywood Parents|work=NPR|date=August 15, 2017|access-date=March 17, 2020|archive-date=March 11, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200311062712/https://www.npr.org/2017/08/15/543614192/novelist-max-brooks-on-doomsday-dyslexia-and-growing-up-with-hollywood-parents|url-status=live}}}}

Brooks attended Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California. He studied at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history. He also attended graduate school, studying film at American University in Washington, D.C.

Career

= Writing =

From 2001 to 2003, Brooks was a member of the writing team at Saturday Night Live.{{cite news |first=Jack |last=Sackman |date=February 24, 2016 |title=10 People you didn't know were writers on SNL |website=goliath.com |url= https://www.goliath.com/tv/10-people-you-didnt-know-were-writers-on-snl/ |access-date=March 25, 2020}}

In 2003, Brooks wrote his first book, The Zombie Survival Guide, a fictional survival manual about zombies. In 2006, Brooks wrote the follow-up World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, a novel on the same subject, set in the ten years following a zombie apocalypse. Paramount Pictures acquired the rights for a film adaptation, and Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, produced the film. In the October 2006 issue of Fangoria, Brooks stated that he would not be writing the screenplay for the motion picture, as he felt he was not an accomplished enough screenwriter to "do it right". J. Michael Straczynski wrote the first version of the screenplay.{{cite news |first=Don |last=Kaye |date=October 2006 |title='World War Z': The gore to end all gores |magazine=Fangoria Magazine |issue=257 |page=12 |url=https://issuu.com/comicscrazy/docs/fangoria_257 |access-date=April 17, 2020}}

Brooks wrote the introduction for the hardcover collected edition of Dynamite Entertainment's zombie miniseries Raise the Dead, released in 2007.{{cite web |title=Raise the Dead series collected in hardcover, with foreword by Max Brooks |date= August 10, 2007 |website=Comic Book Resources |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=11152}}

File:MaxMelBrooksApr10.jpg in 2010]]

In 2010, Brooks wrote the IDW comic book mini-series G.I. Joe: Hearts & Minds.{{cite web |last=Manning |first= Shaun |date=April 1, 2010|title=Brooks wins Hearts and Minds |website= Comic Book Resources |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25510}}

In 2012, Brooks published Closure, Limited and Other Zombie Tales, featuring the story of that name from The New Dead, along with three other short stories set in the World War Z universe.{{cite web |title=Max Brooks Closure, Limited and Other Zombie Tales review |date=December 4, 2014 |website=Horror Novel Reviews |url=http://horrornovelreviews.com/2014/12/04/max-brooks-closure-limited-and-other-zombie-tales-review/ |access-date=August 14, 2015}}

In 2014, Broadway Books published The Harlem Hellfighters, a graphic novel which portrays a fictionalized account of the African American 369th Infantry Regiment's experiences in World War I, written by Brooks and illustrated by Caanan White.{{cite web |last=Lo Wang |first=Hansi |date=April 1, 2014 |title=The Harlem Hellfighters: Fighting racism in the trenches of WWI |website=NPR |type=blog |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/04/01/294913379/the-harlem-hellfighters-fighting-racism-in-the-trenches-of-wwi |access-date=April 12, 2014}} Sony Pictures has purchased the rights to create a film of the novel, with Caleeb Pinkett and James Lassiter producing on behalf of Overbrook Entertainment.{{cite news |last=Ford |first=Rebecca |date=March 7, 2014 |title=Sony nabs Max Brooks' WWI graphic novel The Harlem Hellfighters |newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/sony-nabs-max-brooks-wwi-686887 |access-date=April 12, 2014}}

He wrote the story for the 2016 film The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon.{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Livingston |date=June 7, 2017 |title=Medieval Matters: The Great Wall, white saviors, and lizard dogs from space |website=Tor.com |url=https://www.tor.com/2017/06/07/medieval-matters-the-great-wall-white-saviors-and-lizard-dogs-from-space/ |access-date=April 17, 2020}}

In 2016, Brooks was invited to MineCon and announced that he was working on a new novel based on Minecraft,{{cite web |first=Marsh |last=Davies |date=September 24, 2016 |title=Max Brooks is writing a Minecraft novel! Oh yes! |website=Mojang |url=https://www.mojang.com/2016/09/max-brooks-is-writing-a-minecraft-novel-oh-yes/ |access-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160927083903/http://www.mojang.com/2016/09/max-brooks-is-writing-a-minecraft-novel-oh-yes |archive-date=September 27, 2016|url-status=dead}} titled Minecraft: The Island, and in 2021, he published the sequel, Minecraft: The Mountain.{{cite web | last=Ackerman | first=Dan | title=CNET Book Club: Max Brooks on his new Minecraft novel, The Mountain | website=CNET | date=March 12, 2021 | url=https://www.cnet.com/culture/cnet-book-club-max-brooks-on-his-new-minecraft-novel-the-mountain/ | access-date=March 31, 2022}}

In August 2019, Brooks announced a new book, entitled Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre, about the cryptid Bigfoot.{{cite news |last=Squires |first=John |date=August 29, 2019 |title=World War Z writer Max Brooks returning with sasquatch massacre novel Devolution |website=Bloody Disgusting |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/books/3581315/world-war-z-writer-max-brooks-returning-sasquatch-massacre-novel-devolution/ |access-date=September 19, 2019}} It was released on June 16, 2020.{{cite book |title=Devolution by Max Brooks |isbn=9781984826787 |series=new books |publisher=Penguin / Random House |language=en-US |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609523/devolution-by-max-brooks/ |access-date=2020-05-30|last1=Brooks |first1=Max |year=2020 }}

= Acting and voice-over work =

Brooks has a number of other creative credits. As an actor, he has been seen in Roseanne, To Be or Not to Be, Pacific Blue, and 7th Heaven. He also has a career voicing animation: his voice has been featured in the animated shows Batman Beyond, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Justice League, and All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series. During the start of the third season of Lost Tapes, he was cast as himself in the zombie episode, telling the audience about how zombies come to be. He also appeared on the Spike TV series Deadliest Warrior, in which he represented the zombie team in the "Vampires vs. Zombies" episode, as one of the zombie experts along with Matt Mogk, founder of the Zombie Research Society.{{cite episode |title=Deadliest Warrior |date=22 July 2011 |series=Comic-Con 2011 Panel |number=300a |network=Spike |url=http://www.spike.com/full-episodes/t46f6a/deadliest-warrior-deadliest-warrior-comic-con-2011-panel-season-3-ep-300a?xrs=synd_twitter |url-status=dead |access-date=15 June 2017 |archive-date=June 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614031434/http://www.spike.com/full-episodes/t46f6a/deadliest-warrior-deadliest-warrior-comic-con-2011-panel-season-3-ep-300a?xrs=synd_twitter }}

Personal life

Brooks has been married to playwright Michelle Kholos since 2003. They have one son and live in Venice, California. In October 2020, Brooks and his father appeared in a short video endorsing Joe Biden's presidential campaign.{{Cite web|author=Lauren M. Johnson|title=The legendary Mel Brooks takes to social media to share his support of Joe Biden|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/21/us/mel-brooks-biden-endorsement-trnd/index.html|access-date=2020-10-22|website=CNN|date=October 21, 2020 }}

Filmography

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Notes

1983

|To Be or Not to Be

|Rifka's Son

|Film

rowspan="2" |1992

|The Public Eye

|Teen at Thompson Street

|Film

Roseanne

|Snarky Customer

|Episode: "Terms of Estrangement"

1997

|Pacific Blue

|Marty Rosen

|Episode: "Avenging Angel"

rowspan="3" |1999

|7th Heaven

|Waiter

|Episode: "It Happened One Night"

Melrose Place

|Messenger

|Episode: "How Amanda Got Her Groove Back"

The Wild Thornberrys

|Lead Dog

|Voice, episode: "Polar Opposites"{{cite web |title=Max Brooks (visual voices guide) |url=http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Max-Brooks/ |access-date=June 7, 2024 |publisher=Behind The Voice Actors}} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.

rowspan="4" |2000

|Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles

|Lt. Bernstein

|Voice, episode: "Swarm"

Godzilla: The Series

|Uncredited voice

|Episode: "Underground Movement"

Batman Beyond

|Howard Groote, Drew

|Voice, 6 episodes

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

|Tech, Ranger, Punk-Goon

|Voice, 2 episodes

2001

|Justice League

|Howie

|Voice, episode: "Secret Origins"

2004

|Seen

|Short film

rowspan="2" |2010

|Satan Hates You

|Reporter

|Film

Lost Tapes

|Himself

|Episode: "Zombies"

Bibliography

=Prose=

The Zombie Survival Guide (2003){{cite magazine|last=Townsend|first= Allie|date=July 26, 2010|url= http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2006405,00.html|title=Q&A: Zombie-Survival Expert Max Brooks|magazine= Time|archive-date=July 28, 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100728232217/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2006405,00.html|url-status=dead}}
World War Z (2006)
Closure, Limited and Other Zombie Tales (2011)
Minecraft: The Island (2017)
Devolution (2020) Nominated for Locus Award's Best Horror Novel in 2021.{{cite web | url=https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_locus-h_index.asp | title=Locus Horror Award }}
Minecraft: The Mountain (2021)
Minecraft: The Village (2023)
Tiger Chair: A Short Story (2024)

=Comics=

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks (2009)
G.I. Joe: Hearts and Minds (2010)
The Harlem Hellfighters (2014)[http://7thavenueproject.com/post/95659466820/max-brooks-harlem-hellfighters Max Brooks discusses "The Harlem Hellfighters," World War I and his own life on the 7th Avenue Project radio show]
The Extinction Parade (2014)
A More Perfect Union (2016)
Germ Warfare: A Very Graphic History (2019)