Demme, Reeves Join Crowded Field for “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” Directing Gig

Despite Natalie Portman having abdicated the lead role, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" remains a hot property, with a bizarre array of directors under consideration.

Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") likes the script and is eager to direct, reported The Wrap. But Matt Reeves ("Let Me In"), Mike White ("Chuck and Buck") and the tag-team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller ("Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs") are all eager to take the job as well.

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is based on the Seth Graheme-Smith novel about a young Elizabeth Bennet's bloody battle with Victorian Era zombies--think "Zombieland" set in early 19th-century England. The film is being produced by Portman, who had at one time wanted to play the lead, but recently recused herself for being too old.

Demme is an Oscar-winning director who's mostly avoided feature films of late, White is a gifted writer who specializes in off-beat character studies--though he did pen "School of Rock"; Reeves' just released "Let Me In," which we enjoyed immensely but which inexplicably tanked; and Lord & Miller made a cartoon. Whomever Portman and her team choose will tell us volumes about what kind of mood their going for.

David O. Russell had been on board to direct at one point, even going s far as adapting the book, but he and Portman apparently couldn't make nice (a recurring theme in Russell's career), and so he;'s moved on to helm the video-game adaptation "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune."

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