Craig Gillespie Talks ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’

Describing it as a “Gothic tale along the lines of Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow”; the director behind the Fright Night remake, Craig Gillespie, sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss his role in the direction of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Here’s what he told EW about his thoughts on the project: “There’s a lot of action in this. There are a lot of big set pieces in this film, which is exciting. Basically, as I said to the studio, at the core it’s a love story between Elizabeth and Darcy. If that’s not working, and we’re not rooting for those two get together through all this craziness, the movie is not going to work. That’s key to me, to have this great emotional story going on, and all this craziness. I love the propriety of the Jane Austen novels, which you want to keep. The language, what’s appropriate and not appropriate. The customs, and the hierarchy. They had very witty dialogue with a lot of undertones to it. You need the juxtoposition. There’s going to be a strong gothic undertone, which ties the two genres together. It’s more in the world of Tim Burton’s ‘Sleepy Hollow‘, where it’s somewhat stylized. We have that creative license because of the zombies. I’ll certainly do my homework and explore genres to see what might work, but it’s going to have that strong gothic sense, I think.”

Filming for the production will begin the end of this summer and stars in the running have included but are not limited to James McAvoy and Anne Hathaway or Bradley Cooper and Scarlett Johansson.