Pretty much everything we’ve heard about the big-screen adaptation of the Jane Austen/Seth Graham-Smith book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, has been unconfirmed rumors. These rumors have included David O. Russell (The Fighter, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune) helming the film, and Natalie Portman (Black Swan, THOR) starring in the film. The only thing we are certain of at this point is that David O. Russell was in-fact set to direct the film at one point, and has since been replaced by Mike White (Enlightened, Them).
Sadly, this is yet another unconfirmed rumor but, it’s better than nothing, right? Pajiba reports that Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs) and James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class) are being considered for the lead roles of Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy respectively, in the upcoming adaptation.
The irony of these two particular actors being chosen for this film is that they previously starred side-by-side in the 2007 film entitled, Becoming Jane (pictured above). That film was a biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen (author of Pride and Prejudice), played by Hathaway, and her romance with a young Irishman, played by McAvoy.
Book Summary:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen’s classic novel to new legions of fans.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is slated to hit theaters in 2011.
