Just yesterday I reported that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is seeking a new director since David O. Russell has left the project, and today the director’s race is heating up!
Yesterday we knew Mike Newell (Prince of Persia), Neil Marshall (The Descent), and David Slade (30 Days of Night) were contenders for the director’s chair. Now, the Wrap has revealed Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), Mike White (Year of the Dog), the directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs), and Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) are throwing their hats in.
The list of contenders is dizzying! It’s a fascinating mix of directors known for comedy and auteurs heralded for their dark turns. It’s exciting to speculate on which direction each potential director would take the project. Newell has experience with period pieces, and has gone PG-13 dark before with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Marshall has become a favorite of horror fans for his stylized and terrifying films. Slade has brought a lethal teenage girl to screen before with the brutal and thrilling Hard Candy. After the disappointing box office of his Let Me In, Reeves must be hoping for a chance to win back the horror audiences that reveled at Cloverfield, and so would likely bring gore and fun to the film. White would guarantee more dark comedy than zombie horror, so if he or team Lord/Miller are selected, we’ll have an early clue as to what’s in store. But really, it’s mind-boggling to consider what the iconic director of Silence of the Lambs would bring to the adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel. Demme is reported to have read the script, and his involvement could raise the feature from a potential hokey horror comedy aimed at teens and twentysomethings to a whole new level.
With Lionsgate hoping to go into production on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by early next year, the director is expected to be selected by the end of the month.
We’ll keep you posted.
Who do you want to helm Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?