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Hollywood Studios Battling Over Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

by Alex Billington
February 9, 2009
Source: Times Online

Hitting bookshelves this May is Seth Grahame-Smith's "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", an "updated" version of the Jane Austen classic that includes new portions featuring violent, flesh-hungry zombie hordes. It's already gaining quite a bit of early buzz, because it's such an awesome concept. The UK's Times Online is saying that "Hollywood studios are bidding to turn a radical reworking of Austen’s most popular book" into a blockbuster movie. As much as I hate period pieces, this is definitely one I can support! No word on exactly which studios are bidding, but I'm sure it's a few of the bigger ones in town.

"Desperate for new ideas, studio chiefs hope 'P&P&Z' will mark the bloody birth of a feral offspring of classic British literature: 'monster-lit'." I'm digging the concept and already want to pick up "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", especially considering I've never really read Austen's original but would prefer to start with the zombie infested version anyway. "It quickly became obvious that Jane [Austen] had laid down the blueprint for a zombie novel," said Grahame-Smith, a television comedy writer. "Why else in the original should a regiment arrive on Lizzie Bennet's doorstep when they should have been off fighting Napoleon? It was to protect the family from an invasion of brain-eaters, obviously." Oh yea, I can't wait for this!

The next big question now is: Who? Not who will end up with the rights, but who will adapt, who will direct, and most importantly, who will play Elizabeth Bennet? In the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice, Keira Knightley played Bennet, and wouldn't it be delicious if she came back for this version. I doubt it would happen in a million years, but we can dream, can't we? As for writers and directors, we already have J. Michael Straczynski and Marc Forster doing World War Z, which should result in one hell of an awesome film there, so I hope they find some other talented people. Maybe even Joe Wright can come back?

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