Update: Deadline reports Emma Stone has passed on the role. Stay tuned for updates and check out the original story below.
Emma Stone is about to have one hell of a summer, with three different movies featuring the young actress all hitting theaters in the next two months. Couple that with what is most likely going to be her ascent to superstardom next year with The Amazing Spider-Man opposite Andrew Garfield, and it’s safe to say she’s become a sought after actress four years after hitting the public consciousness with her breakout role in Superbad. With the ability to pick and choose any project she wants at this point and if the stars align a certain way, she may be jumping back into the world of zombies.
Variety broke the news today that Stone has been offered the lead role in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the adaptation of the Seth-Grahame Smith‘s adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel. In Smith’s version, the characters of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet not only are falling in love, but also killing hordes of the undead to boot. The book became a national bestseller, and inspired Smith to do another book, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the movie version which is currently shooting as we speak.
Unlike Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has had a harder time getting started, with directors constantly changing and scripts being rewritten. Now the dust seems to have settled, with Craig Gillespie in the director’s chair.
A big thing to keep in mind when reading this news is that this doesn’t guarantee Stone will take the role. She’s already done the zombie thing (2009’s Zombieland) and odds are she has stacks of other offers waiting for her to sift through. Still, I think she’d make an excellent choice; she’s a versatile actress who has improved with age. She could play it straight enough to where it’d be hilarious.
If you can’t wait for this to potentially happen, and considering the turmoil it keeps facing I don’t blame you, you don’t have to worry since she’ll be showing up everywhere over the next year and change. First comes Crazy, Stupid, Love starring Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling, as well as a cameo in Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis in July, then her starring role in The Help the month after in August. Then there’s that whole Spider-Man thing next year.
Do you think Emma Stone would make a good choice for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? And for those who have been following the news on this adaptation, are you surprised people are still trying to get this made despite the turmoil it has repeatedly gone through?