Written and directed by Burr Steers (Igby Goes Down), the film is set in 19th century England and follows a group of sisters navigating the tricky waters of life and love amid the rigid social structure of the time and a zombie plague that has turned the British countryside into a bloody battlefield. Cinderella actress Lily James plays Elizabeth Bennet, a strong-willed master of martial arts and zombie-fighting weaponry who must contend with her feelings for the handsome Mr. Darcy (Control actor Sam Riley) and her desire to be both warrior and woman.
Along with James and Riley, the cast includes Jack Huston (American Hustle), Bella Heathcote (Dark Shadows), Douglas Booth (Jupiter Ascending), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), and Lena Headey (300).
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is one of two mash-up novels penned by Grahame-Smith that have been adapted for the big screen, with 2012’s Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter hitting the screen in 2012. That film featured a fictionalized retelling of Lincoln’s early days and rise to power in the U.S. government while waging a secret war against blood-sucking vampires bent on ruling the still-forming nation.
Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies mash-up novel was received well by critics upon publication in 2009, and was followed by author Ben H. Winters’ Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters later that year — another parody of a classic novel by Austen. Both novels co-credited Austen as author due to their lifting of much of the novels’ dialogue and other text directly from the original works.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is scheduled to hit theaters February 5, 2016.
