It was officially announced yesterday that Natalie Portman will be starring in the big screen version of the bestselling novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Portman will be producing the film through her Handsomecharlie Films with Annette Savitch, as well as Darko Films' Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm. Lionsgate will be financing and distributing.
"Natalie and I are longtime passionate fans of Jane Austen's books and this a fresh, fun and thought-provoking way to approach her work," Savitch told Variety magazine. "The idea of zombies running rampant in 19th Century England may sound odd, but it lends a modern sense of urgency to a well known love story."
The book, about a young woman's quest for love during an outbreak that turns the undead into mindless, flesh-eating zombies, was published by Quirk Books earlier this year, and immediately shot up the charts as word of mouth spread. Perhaps through sheer curiosity, people wanted to see how Grahame-Smith re-worked the classic Jane Austen tale.
Natalie Portman will play Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine who is thrown off her quest in order to destroy the zombies at the arrival of the smug Mr. Darcy.
With other Jane Austin classics being twisted around, like Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and Emma and the Werewolves, look for more big screen versions of these films, as the books continue to be a success. Whether you like them or not, Hollywood and Quirk Books seem to have found a winning combination.
Comments
I haven't read any of the zombie/classic mash-up books, but I'll admit that I'm less than thrilled with the idea of a movie.
I could be totally wrong, but it strikes me as one of those things that's fun the first time, but the novelty wears off quickly, and becomes increasingly annoying and stupid, like the spoof movies (Scary Movie and the like).
I didn't really cotton to the book - too much of the original P & P was left for my tastes, and I couldn't get behind the writing style. It's a great, clever idea, though, so a movie, especially with Natalie Portman, might just work.
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