Craig Gillespie confirmed as director for PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES

 

Craig Gillespie has been hired to direct the Lionsgate's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Earlier we reported on the possibility and now the studio has confirmed the announcement. Gillespie directed the critical and audience hit Lars and the Real Girl, and is also directing the upcoming Fright Night, starring Collin Farrell and Anton Yelchin hitting theaters this August.

Natalie Portman is producing the film under her handsomecharlie films shingle with Annette Savitch, who arranged for Darko Entertainment to acquire the rights from publisher Quirk Books. The book was co-authored with Jane Austen by Seth Graham-Smith, and was a New York Times bestseller, a top seller on Amazon.com and was placed on "Oprah's Summer Reading List." Darko's Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm are also serving as producers. President of Motion Picture Production Alli Shearmur and Lionsgate Senior Vice President of Production Jim Miller are overseeing the project for the studio.

Here is what Shearmur had to say in a statement:

"We are so excited to have Craig Gillespie on board this film. His sensibility spans from genre bending horror to elegant character driven comedy, which is perfect for this movie. 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' is precisely the kind of movie I came to Lionsgate to make: sophisticated yet youthful and edgy. Our movie will be all of those things – with zombies- and it will benefit enormously from Craig's unique perspective."

Lionsgate will retain worldwide distribution rights. The deal was negotiated for Lionsgate by Robert Melnik, Lionsgate Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs.

Gillespie will do a great job of directing. Fright Night looks awesome in these pictures so I am interested to see how he'll do with zombies. Stay tuned for more news on casting when it becomes available.

What are your thoughts?