‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’ Signs ‘Game Of Thrones’ Actors

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — the movie — is moving full speed ahead with the announcement of two Game of Thrones stars being added to its roster.

The book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, was written by Seth Grahame-Smith. Originally released by Quirk books in April of 2009, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a mashup, mixing the classic 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen with modern zombie elements. The book was successful enough that a deluxe version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was released later that year in October, which featured full-color images and added scenes.

An editor at Quirk books, Jason Rekulak, came up with the idea. He started thinking about modern “fanboy” fare mixed with elements of such public domain books as War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and Wuthering Heights. Finally, he stumbled on Pride and Prejudice, as well as the zombie craze, and the mashup idea became clear.

Seth Grahame-Smith told Time Magazine about the call he received from Rekulak.

“[Rekulak] called me one day, out of the blue, very excitedly, and he said, all I have is this title, and I can’t stop thinking about this title. And he said: ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.’ For whatever reason, it just struck me as the most brilliant thing I’d ever heard.”

And the plotline (that had multitudes of horror authors the world over smacking their foreheads in reaction to its simplicity and brilliance) was born. Once Grahame-Smith started looking at how to re-write Austen’s classic, he commented on how the original novel was almost begging to become Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

“You have this fiercely independent heroine, you have this dashing heroic gentleman, you have a militia camped out for seemingly no reason whatsoever nearby, and people are always walking here and there and taking carriage rides here and there… it was just ripe for gore and senseless violence. From my perspective anyway.”

A film version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was inevitable based on the success of the book. Burr Steers wrote the screenplay, and Lily James, Sam Riley, Bella Heathcote, Jack Huston, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, and Suki Waterhouse were signed as key actors. Now, Deadline has announced that Game of Thrones stars Charles Dance and Lena Headey have also joined the film version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Screen Gems will be distributing what will surely be a high-drama slash horror film — with a generous, humorous wink to the audience throughout.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is slated for a 2015 release.

[Image via Metrosphere]