Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is one of those projects that just can't seem to catch a break. After multiple director and lead actor changes, it looked like things were finally moving forward when Craig Gillespie (Fright Night remake) signed on to direct the film. While planned to begin shooting later this year, it is being reported that filming has been pushed back to early 2012.
The reason? Apparently they are having problems locking down a female lead. Emma Stone had been offered the role in June, but turned it down and we haven't heard any casting news since. When David O. Russell was on board as director, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson were going to star in the film, but schedule and director changes forced both actresses to drop out. It is possible that filming was pushed back to accommodate the schedule of a particular actress. If so, we can expect a casting update in the near future.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies will be an adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel, which puts a zombie spin on the Jane Austen classic. For fans of the novel wanting to know what to expect, Gillespie talked earlier this year about his interest in the material and keeping the humor/horror mix:
“No, we have a really great script that we’re just going to do a polish on and then get going, really…. David Russell wrote the script off the book, and it has such a great mix of humor and horror. I just love being able to juggle those two aspects. The humor is inherent in the Pride and Prejudice side, but taking that and accenting it with zombies is just a brilliant and fun idea. And there are such strong female characters, which is nice to have. It’s a great clash.” [Thanks STYD]
After spending more than 10 years as a consultant in the tech and entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his interest in horror and sci-fi. Since then, it has grown into an online magazine with a staff of writers that provide daily news, reviews, interviews, and special features.
As the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Dead, Jonathan is responsible for bringing the latest horror news to millions of readers from around the world. He is also consulted with as an expert on zombies in entertainment and pop culture, providing analyses of the zombie sub-genre to newspapers, radio stations, and convention attendees.
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