PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES gets its director?
The chatter today is that David O. Russell has been tapped as director and screenwriter of the film adaptation of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES. Just last week, Natalie Portman signed on as our (slightly tweaked from the original, wink wink, nod nod) heroine, Elizabeth Bennett.
Russell is more than just an interesting choice for this gig, especially given the variance of the films he has under his belt. He is best known for his work on I HEART HUCKABEES and THREE KINGS (both films I loved). Both films also have a very distinct, and very off-beat, sense of humor running through them. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES is not to be taken, well, very seriously.
The book, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," is almost perfectly written to get the film treatment - "penned" by Seth Grahame-Smith, it'ss a reworking of the classic Jane Austen novel. Grahame-Smith kept most of the story and characters of Austen's work, but interjected his own plotlines - mainly that the Bennett girls were all trained zombie killers (yes, even those two idiots Kitty and Lydia), and that the English countryside they called their home was constantly overrun with zombies. While Grahame-Smith stuck pretty closely to Austen's novel, he did also offer some clever twists (the Charlotte Lucas story in particular is excellent).
The book itself is certainly fun, and Grahame-Smith's idea is definitely unique enough, but a film adaptation will benefit from not only its inherent humor, but even typically "cheap shots," like sight gags. The zombies in the book are so matter-of-factly presented that they lose their impact as the story goes on. Seeing Natalie Portman alternately engaging in battles of wits and snark with Mr. Darcy and battles with the undead should give enough laughs to ice over any of the other deficiencies in the story (and there are some).
If Russell is onboard, he has the off-kilter wit to bring PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES above its original material. And, for an Austen fan and a zombie fan like me, this is nothing but good news. Now, can we find out who our Darcy is?
Source Slash Film
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