Only yesterday I mentioned that we were about to move into the next phase of zombie movies but even I couldn't imagine this one. The Sunday Times report that Hollywood studios are eyeing the upcoming horror book PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES as a big screen movie... And it's a genius idea that a studio could make insane money from. We all know PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. How many times have we had this piece of classic literature shoved down our throats as an actress showcase vehicle in an attempt to win Oscars. It's about time someone shook up the applecart. Imagine for a second this kind of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE movie. It starts off the same, the same way all these corset movies do and then suddenly it takes a drastic change and well, can you imagine this zombie horror being played out in a straight 19th century environment? I'm not talking a SLEEPY HOLLOW or Hammer Horror environment. I'm talking a very authentic 19th century period setting where the only gimmicky thing, the only supernatural presence, is the zombies themselves. It's as straight as a dice in every other arena. It could be a wonderful movie. Especially if whichever studio wins this title goes after the Judi Dench's etc to fill out the supporting roles, the kind of actors they would usually cast for a Jane Austen adaptation. And could they convince Keira Knightley, Oscar nominated for playing the part of Elizabeth Bennett in 2005 to play the same role again but now in a completely different genre? How huge could that be? The novel, due out in April, is being cheekily advertised as being written by Jane Austen and it's real author Seth Grahame-Smith (who wrote the fun novel HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR MOVIE), who proclaims 85% of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES novel is his originality. But of course it's out of copyright, so it's fair game. You could do the same to DRACULA if you were so inclined and make it a chick flick novel. Grahame-Smith says...
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Why else in the original should a regiment arrive on Lizzie Bennets doorstep when they should have been off fighting Napoleon? It was to protect the family from an invasion of brain-eaters, obviously. We shall keep you posted on this movie, I can't imagine it will take long for a big studio to pick it up.
Thanks to /film for bringing the story to our attention.