Portman and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies December 19, 2009

Last week, Natalie Portman signed on to produce and star in the movie adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith/Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. And I am extremely excited at the prospect.

If you haven’t heard of the book (which is unlikely, as it’s topped the bestseller lists of 2009), it’s basically Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice with the added subplot of a zombie plague sweeping England. The novel’s heroine Elizabeth Bennet is, in this version, transformed into a trained zombie fighter. Jane Austen may be turning in her grave, but her novels are now in the public domain, which is how Quirk Books, who commissioned the series, are getting away with it.

The selection of Portman is quite encouraging – she’s proved she can do period dramas in The Other Boleyn Girl, and she’s not afraid to laugh at herself, as shown by her gangsta rap on Saturday Night Live.

I really must get around to reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I bought it months ago and it has been sitting on a shelf in my room gathering dust. Bad form.