David O. Russell To Direct PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES?

When it was announced that Natalie Portman will star in the twisted adaptation of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, Rama’s SCREEN reader David challenged me to read the book by Seth Grahame-Smith and Austen. He said it’s pretty much the same deal as the original classic “the social equality themes, men vs. women, love against prejudice and pride, things like that. Obviously the zombies throw in a different style”. I’ll still need to go to the book store and find out for myself but David and those of you anticipating this project would be pleased to know that Panjiba has heard that a certain angry filmmaker might be taking the directing job…

The website heard it from a reliable source that David O. Russell (We Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) might be writing the screenplay and directing as well. Russell is known for his temper. It was a big deal when James Caan walked out of Russell’s project Nailed, which by the way still hasn’t finished post-production.
Russell also wrapped THE FIGHTER starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams.
I’m not sure yet if Russell is the right guy for PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES but I hope Natalie Portman can put up a fight if her director starts acting like a total A-hole on set.

Based on the bestselling book written by Seth Grahame-Smith and Austen. Lionsgate will finance and distribute the project.
I’m just hoping Portman’s Elizabeth doesn’t get bit and turned into one of them cursed brain eaters.
Here’s the official synopsis…
“‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.’ So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.”