Here’s an announcement I wasn’t expecting to receive this morning. Natalie Portman is set to both star in and produce the adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” which of course is an cheeky adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice,” but with horrifying brain eating zombies.
Playing the heroine Elizabeth Bennet, Portman will be a bad ass 19th century British socialite with an aching to bash in some zombies looking to spoil her precious tea time. The story won’t diverge too much from the original tale, there will still be the quest for love and independence… just it’ll all occur during a zombie outburst and anyone can be infected. Anyone…
Lionsgate will finance and distribute. Quirk Books published the tome. Portman will produce through her handsomecharlie shingle with Annette Savitch, plus Darko Films’ Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm.
“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 said.
“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.”