This past summer, we brought you news that Zombieland actress Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man, Easy A) had turned down starring role in the big-screen adaptation of the Jane Austen/Seth Graham-Smith book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Other names like Mia Wasikowska and Scarlett Johansson were tossed around, but this role of Elizabeth Bennet has not found the right actor until perhaps now.
Twitchfilm reports that Blake Lively (Gossip Girl, Green Lantern) has been offered this starring role in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Sources say that director Craig Gillespie had a meeting with Lively recently but no confirmation has been made whether or not Lively has accepted the role yet. Will Lively be the Elizabeth Bennet Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is looking for?
The Lionsgate film is to be directed by Craig Gillespie with the script being penned by both the book author Seth Graham-Smith and Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mad Men), who collaborated with Gillespie on Fright Night. Natalie Portman will be producing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies along with Annette Savitch, Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Tedd Hamm.
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 2013.
