Horror/classic romance mash-up project Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has been one of the hotter projects stumbling around Hollywood’s halls looking for talent to bring it (back) to life. David O. Russell was attached for a long time, with Natalie Portman producing and starring. Now they’re both out, and, after a search, Lionsgate has locked in Mike White to get the ball rolling again.
White has been in contention for a while, up against the likes ofSpellbound’s Jeffrey Blitz and Empire favourite Neil Marshall. But Deadline reports that White was formally offered the job on November 5 and he’s now firmly in the folding chair.
Pride is, of course, adapted from Seth Grahame-Smith’s comedy splicing of Jane Austen’s story with legions of brain craving undead. The film will need to track down an actress to play the feisty, zombie-slaying Elizabeth Bennet and the aloof, axe-wielding Mr Darcy. While Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper had been on Russell’s list, it remains to be seen if either of them will actually jump aboard, assuming they still have space in their schedules.
So for anyone reading the lines above and asking just who this Mike White fella is anyway, a quick catch-up. He’s the writer behind C****huck & Buck, The Good Girl, Orange County and School of Rock, and he also worked on Nacho Libre. He made the move to writing/directing with dead pet comedy** Year of the Dog** and has cropped up from time to time in front of the camera, most notably in Rock, G****entlemen Broncos and, in what could almost be called research for his next gig, Zombieland (he gets slaughtered by zombies while on the loo). Oh, and no, he’s not related in any way to our Man In LA. At least, not that we know of…