Like the living dead, the movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies refuses to die. Three directors and multiple leads have left the project over the years, but it now looks like the zombies will finally shamble onto the big screen, as the film's three leads have been cast and a start date for principal photography is now set.
Deadline reports that Lily James, Sam Riley, and Bella Heathcote have signed on play the lead roles in Cross Creek Pictures' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is scheduled to begin shooting in September. Mirroring the characters from Jane Austen's 1813 classic novel, James will play Elizabeth Bennett, Riley will portray Mr Darcy, and Heathcote shall play Elizabeth’s sister, and it's been revealed that Jack Huston could also join the project.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies will be directed by Burr Steers (Igby Goes Down, 17 Again) off a screenplay by himself and David O. Russell, who, along with Craig Gillespie and Mike White, was once attached to direct.
An adaptation of the 2009 Seth Grahame-Smith novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies put a zombie spin on the Jane Austen classic:
“So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.”
Lily James:
Sam Riley:
Bella Heathcote:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
