STACK #136 Feb 2016

FEATURE CINEMA

By remaining faithful to Austen’s story, Steers is confident that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies will appeal to both horror fans and lovers of the original novel. “When we’ve screened it, it’s worked on both levels,” he says. However, all of this begs the question – would Jane Austen be turning in her own grave at this revision to her beloved masterpiece? “No, but I imagine the Janeites will be having kittens,” Steers offers. “I probably use more of Jane Austen in this than most of the recent versions of Pride and Prejudice , and actually went back to some of her other material. The fact that her characters and her themes are carried on in this, how could you not be proud of the fact that your novel could survive in any form?”

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is in cinemas from Feb 25 and will be reviewed in the next issue.

the movie has to turn because of the zombie story, but I kept the scenes and the characters true to the original, as bizarre as that sounds. I had a very basic approach to it, which was the title, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – and that’s what the movie is.” Personal pride and social prejudice are cast aside when an army of the living dead disrupts the Bennet family and plans to wed Elizabeth (Lily James) and her sister Jane (Bella Heathcote) to Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) and Mr. Bingley (Douglas Booth), respectively.

something that stuck with me,” he recalls. So how did he go about integrating the living dead into Jane Austen’s classic for the big screen? “The way I approached it was to create this alternate England where a zombie plague had happened, and staging Pride and Prejudice within it,” he explains. “There’s a point where

“All that’s still going on,“ he adds, “the romance and the dynamics of Darcy and Elizabeth’s sparring are still there. “I went back and mined a lot of Austen’s work to get the interstitial dialogue, as well. The big wink in this movie is that there is no wink – everybody’s playing it straight. You have to play it straight, otherwise it runs out of gas. “We’ve stayed true to the characters,” he continues, “but instead of just being the smartest people in the room, the Bennet sisters are the most formidable fighters as well.”

CINEMA

Consequently, marriage takes a backseat to killing

zombies. “As it should,” laughs Steers.

OTHER CLASSIC LITERARY MASH-UPS WE’D LIKE TO SEE … THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA MONSTER

An elderly and obsessed Cuban fisherman struggles to land the catch of a lifetime – a Kraken – in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida.

WITHERING HEIGHTS Heathcliff’s gypsy ancestry sees him stricken by an ancient curse, which causes him to slowly waste away in the arms of lover Cathy on the Yorkshire moors. THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN

WAR AND PIECES In an alternate 1812, it’s not Napoleon who invades Russia but rather a hungry zombie horde, leaving a trail of dismembered locals in their wake. • Apologies to Emily Bronte, Anne Frank, Ernest Hemingway and Leo Tolstoy

Hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic, a young Jewish girl attempts to create life in the form of an avenging Golem.

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