Just last week we reported to you that Blake Lively (Gossip Girl, Green Lantern) had been offered the starring role of Elizabeth Bennet in the big-screen adaptation of the Jane Austen/Seth Graham-Smith book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. But it seems that the search for Elizabeth Bennet continues on.

Variety reporter Justin Kroll broke the news via Twitter that Lively had turned down the role. Will the project continue to have casting troubles to find their leading lady? Even though Natalie Portman is producing, she passed on the role. Emma Stone of Zombieland fame had also passed on the role.

Who would YOU cast as Elizabeth Bennet?

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.