I just pre-ordered:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F510XXFxXXGL._SL500_AA240_.jpg&hash=eb6bfc86f8381078efc3b10efc39cd3b65ed7be7)
http://irreference.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies/
QuotePride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. 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. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans.
Jane Austen is the author of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and other masterpieces of English literature.
This should be fun. :lol:
I also read that Elton John's husband is working on Pride and Predator.
Austen is turning in her grave.
....
:ph34r:
I think these spoofs are hilarous in concept, but I rather doubt that the kinds of authors and directors they could attract to the projects can pull it off.
Quote from: grumbler on March 22, 2009, 07:44:29 AM
I think these spoofs are hilarous in concept, but I rather doubt that the kinds of authors and directors they could attract to the projects can pull it off.
That's my main fear. The novelty factor should be fun, but I doubt it'll be something I'd go back to after that.
For the Zombie book I think the concept is to leave as much of the original book intact, but adding zombie scenes to "fill gaps" (e.g. using zombies to explain why the soldiers are posted near the mansion in P&P etc.).
:D Looks great!
Apparently there's a fierce Hollywood bidding war going on over it! :D
http://www.cinematical.com/2009/02/11/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-finally-a-chick-flick-with-br/
Interesting concept, it could work.
Regarding the Pride and Predator movie:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/17/pride-and-predator-to-give-jane-austen-extreme-makeover
Quote
Pride and Predator to give Jane Austen an extreme makeover
The new film from Elton John's Rocket Pictures will have the seven-foot extraterrestrial give the characters from Pride and Prejudice something more immediate to worry about than making advantageous marriages
It might prove something of a boon to those who reach for the remote control when yet another costume drama comes on television: Elton John's Rocket Pictures is developing a new spin on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this time featuring a nefarious seven-foot extraterrestrial with hideous mandibles and a penchant for human blood. Yes, it's Pride and Predator.
Will Clark, best known for his award-winning gothic comedy short The Amazing Trousers, will direct the film, which is being produced by Rocket partners Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish.
"It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect," Furnish told Variety.
Both Pride and Prejudice and Predator have been twisted into a variety of new forms over the past two decades. Gurinder Chadha's 2004 musical Bride and Prejudice saw Austen's romance transplanted in Bollywood, while Alien vs Predator saw the monster from John McTiernan's 1987 original taking on Ridley Scott's murderous horrors.
The news does come as something of a surprise, however, as 20th Century Fox had reportedly been planning a solo reboot for its Predator franchise, following critical scorn for 2007's Aliens vs Predator – Requiem.
Rocket isn't averse to adding its own spin to iconic titles: it also has the animated Shakespeare spoof Gnomeo and Juliet in the works, featuring the voice of James McAvoy as a lovelorn pixie.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inquisitr.com%2Fwp-content%2Fpride-and-predator.jpg&hash=5afaa7b844d0dfd943f3643bf147bffd63c02f45)
Meanwhile, I'll be off to Somethingawful; their Photoshop Friday section should be full of ideas for bestsellers and blockbusters.
I read that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is being presented as a school edition with study questions in the back. :D
Whenever I see things like this they come off as them trying too hard to be funny. ::)
Oh well, hopefully they can make it work.
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 10:30:41 AM
Oh well, hopefully they can make it work.
I doubt it. It's full of Timmy Taint now. :(
Quote from: Syt on March 22, 2009, 10:41:43 AM
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 10:30:41 AM
Oh well, hopefully they can make it work.
I doubt it. It's full of Timmy Taint now. :(
You know, zombies could explain Tim, he was attacked by one that ate a chunk of his leg and his brain but he somehow escaped alive without getting infected. Or did he?
Quote from: Syt on March 22, 2009, 10:41:43 AM
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 10:30:41 AM
Oh well, hopefully they can make it work.
I doubt it. It's full of Timmy Taint now. :(
But the dream will live forever.
Natalie Portman is rumored to star.
http://www.pajiba.com/trade_news/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-portman.php
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2009, 12:07:15 PM
Natalie Portman is rumored to star.
http://www.pajiba.com/trade_news/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-portman.php
Unable to read the story, as you told me to leave in paragraph 2, which I gladly did.
That was you, wasn't it? It sounded exactly like you, except for the lack of misspellings.
Quote from: grumbler on March 22, 2009, 12:49:21 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2009, 12:07:15 PM
Natalie Portman is rumored to star.
http://www.pajiba.com/trade_news/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-portman.php
Unable to read the story, as you told me to leave in paragraph 2, which I gladly did.
That was you, wasn't it? It sounded exactly like you, except for the lack of misspellings.
:huh: ?
This sounds like me? I've never written a sentence like that before in my life, nor would I want to. It doesn't sound like anyone in Languish, expect perhaps for one of Sav's parodies.
QuoteGreetings, once again, fellow purveyors of the strange and wonderful!
I've never played vanilla Dungeons and Dragons either.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2009, 12:55:35 PM
I've never played vanilla Dungeons and Dragons either.
I also prefer the chocolate flavored Dungeons and Dragons. :P
An interview with the author.
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/02/monster-mash-up.html
Quote
'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' author talks about his literary monster mash-up
Feb 21, 2009, 02:00 PM | by Clark Collis
Categories: Books
l I've always said the problem with Jane Austen's novels is that there simply aren't enough zombies. But -- finally! -- that situation has been resolved. On April 1, Quirk Books will publish Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an updated, and much buzzed-about, version of Austen's classic novel, which injects her tale of mannered aristocratic Brits with great gory gobbets of undead mayhem. We spoke to PaPaZ author Seth Grahame-Smith -- well, technically, PaPaZ coauthor, along with Ms. Austen -- about why Pride and Prejudice is perfect for the zombie treatment.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did the book come about?
SETH GRAHAME-SMITH: I'm an aspiring screenwriter living in L.A. At the moment, I'm executive producing a pilot for MTV that I wrote which is a sort of updated Wonder Years-meets-Superbad. But I also wrote a book called How to Survive a Horror Movie and another called Pardon My President, which was letters of apology from George Bush to all the people that he had wronged. My editor at Quirk had wanted to do a mash-up of some type for a long time. He had all these lists of public domain titles and lists of modern literary devices. The robot phenomenon. The vampire phenomenon. And zombies. And we arrived at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because, when you take a look at the original book, it's almost as if, subconsciously, Jane Austen is laying out the perfect groundwork for an ultraviolent bone-crushing zombie massacre to take place. For instance, there's a regiment of soldiers camped out near the Bennett household. In the book, they're just there for characters to flirt with. But it's not that big a leap to say, Okay, they're there because the countryside has been overrun with what they call the "unmentionable menace."
The what, now?
"The unmentionable menace." They call zombies "unmentionables" because it's a very polite society and the word "zombie" is kind of like a curse word. These aristocrats are trying to get on with their lives as best they can, despite the fact that the country is being devoured around them. They still have their balls and their teas and their manners. It was terrific fun to write, in the style of Jane Austen, describing horrific deaths and entire villages being slaughtered and burned to the ground.
Just this week it was announced that that Elton John is executive producing a movie called Pride and Predator in which an alien butchers an Austen-esque bunch of characters. Were you aware of that?
I'm very aware of Pride and Predator. After I had turned in the book, I was having a meeting with someone and described Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and he said, "You know, I think there's a script out there called Pride and Predator." It had been languishing in development for years or something. And then, of course, we're all excited about the heat and the Internet buzz about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and, lo and behold, Sir Elton swoops in. But I don't feel it lessens our chances. For every Dante's Peak there's a Volcano. For every Step Up there's a Stomp the Yard. I say the more mangling of literary classics the merrier. And it does sound very different. In theirs an alien crash lands and starts picking people off. In ours, there's this zombie onslaught that's been going on for years and Elizabeth Bennett has spent her whole life training to become a highly efficient killer of the undead, as has Darcy. It's more about a love story between two headstrong independent zombie slayers.
It couldn't be more different!
[Laughs] Well, on paper, it may not sound different. But it really is!
Quote from: Tyr on March 22, 2009, 06:16:39 AM
Austen is turning in her grave.
....
:ph34r:
:D You know, that was pretty good. Nicely played.
Quote from: fahdiz on March 22, 2009, 03:36:13 PM
Quote from: Tyr on March 22, 2009, 06:16:39 AM
Austen is turning in her grave.
....
:ph34r:
:D You know, that was pretty good. Nicely played.
Actually I think there's a book coming out where Austen is Vampire with writer's block.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2009, 03:40:11 PM
Actually I think there's a book coming out where Austen is Vampire with writer's block.
That sounds completely retarded.
This whole story is more proof of the benefits of limiting copyright duration.
Or alternatively, disproof.
Quote from: fahdiz on March 22, 2009, 03:41:47 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2009, 03:40:11 PM
Actually I think there's a book coming out where Austen is Vampire with writer's block.
That sounds completely retarded.
I agree
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6568141.html
QuoteLiz Scheier at Ballantine won a four-way auction for Michael Thomas Ford's Jane Bites Back, taking world English rights to three books via Mitchell Waters at Curtis Brown. The novel presents an undead Jane Austen, frustrated by nearly 200 years of writer's block and 116 rejections of an unpublished novel she finished just before turning into a vampire; she's becoming increasingly irritated that the rest of the world seems to be getting rich and famous off of her works and her life. The two follow-up books will be derived from the first. Waters said Ford, the author of many books for young readers and adults, is likely to publish this under a pseudonym; pub date still undecided.
What is the fascination with Jane Austen and aliens/zombies/vampires? I don't get it. I just don't get it. :huh:
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 03:49:52 PM
What is the fascination with Jane Austen and aliens/zombies/vampires? I don't get it. I just don't get it. :huh:
Don't forget time travel
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25133482-5010800,00.html
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 03:49:52 PM
What is the fascination with Jane Austen and aliens/zombies/vampires? I don't get it. I just don't get it. :huh:
I think it is just the bandwagon effect. In essence, some people are seeing an opportunity for free publicity (by association with another product) and that has some value if you glom on fast enough.
Imagine this: Mary Shelley is writing Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. During the process, she meets a man who is chained to the seaside cliffs of Cornwall, and every day has his liver eaten by eagles, only to have Zeus restore the integrity of his body daily.
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 03:49:52 PM
What is the fascination with Jane Austen and aliens/zombies/vampires? I don't get it. I just don't get it. :huh:
Nerds + internet = stuff like this
Quote from: Scipio on March 22, 2009, 04:45:43 PM
Imagine this: Mary Shelley is writing Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. During the process, she meets a man who is chained to the seaside cliffs of Cornwall, and every day has his liver eaten by eagles, only to have Zeus restore the integrity of his body daily.
Make the chained dude a zombie and you can get rid of the Zeus character.
What will be the next stupid craze? Terminator 5: War and Peace?
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 05:14:41 PM
What will be the next stupid craze? Terminator 5: War and Peace?
Hmmmm. The battle of Auerstädt with Smurfs. Davout's III corps vs Papa Smurf's village.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2009, 03:40:11 PM
Actually I think there's a book coming out where Austen is Vampire with writer's block.
When I was young and foolish I occasionally watched the "Highlander" TV show. There was one very bad episode where George Gordon, Lord Byron was an immortal who had gotten into alternative rock and was now drugging people and killing them. There was a lot of flashbacks and in the end Duncan beheads him. This led to a competition between my brother and I to see who could come up with the worst possible idea for a Highlander show.
My idea: There's an immortal bull who has contracted mad cow disease. This bull had been a friend of Duncan's and had guarded his herd on the trail when Duncan had been a cowboy; so Duncan is faced with a moral dilemma of whether or not to kill his old friend. In the end he decides he must and faces the bull in a bullfight; killing and beheading the bull in the ring.
My brother's: Hitler and Stalin are both immortal; have put aside their differences and are now running a bagel stand in Buenos Aires. The Mossad kidnaps Hitler and Duncan and Stalin try to get him back, but Hitler and Stalin both end up getting beheaded and we learn that we should all get along.
I never thought I'd see a worse idea than those, but Jane Austen as an immortal with writer's block sounds like it might be a start. She could be trapped by an evil immortal; Duncan saves her from the other immortal and they share an all too brief, but happy tryst. They must part at the end of the episode as an issue from Duncan's past forces him to move on, but Jane's writer's block is cured.
Sounds unoriginal and tedious. Pass.
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 05:14:41 PM
What will be the next stupid craze? Terminator 5: War and Peace?
I think the idea works best when you take one genre (in this case a romantic 19th century novel) and contrast it with something pretty much the polar opposite (gory zombie fiction).
I'd imagine it'd be difficult with War and Peace, because it already has action/war and romance/peace.
You'd also want a piece of work that you can keep largely unchanged but can add stuff onto it - I'm rather curious to see how
Pride and Prejudice will work with the original story and the "added stuff" in between (also gives me an excuse to read P&P). I'd say it's a bit similar to
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead in a way that it keeps the original intact and fills in the blank spots of two secondary (or tertiary, even) characters to create something different.
However, using "small" characters and expand on them in their off screen time (RaGaD) is probably a lot easier than creating a whole new side plot and integrate it seamlessly into a narration (P&P&Z). If I were a professor of literature it'd be something I'd task students with in creative writing courses.
Austin overrun with Zombies! :o
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/Road_signs_warn_of_zombies
Quote from: Savonarola on March 22, 2009, 06:57:08 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2009, 03:40:11 PM
Actually I think there's a book coming out where Austen is Vampire with writer's block.
When I was young and foolish I occasionally watched the "Highlander" TV show. There was one very bad episode where George Gordon, Lord Byron was an immortal who had gotten into alternative rock and was now drugging people and killing them. There was a lot of flashbacks and in the end Duncan beheads him. This led to a competition between my brother and I to see who could come up with the worst possible idea for a Highlander show.
My idea: There's an immortal bull who has contracted mad cow disease. This bull had been a friend of Duncan's and had guarded his herd on the trail when Duncan had been a cowboy; so Duncan is faced with a moral dilemma of whether or not to kill his old friend. In the end he decides he must and faces the bull in a bullfight; killing and beheading the bull in the ring.
My brother's: Hitler and Stalin are both immortal; have put aside their differences and are now running a bagel stand in Buenos Aires. The Mossad kidnaps Hitler and Duncan and Stalin try to get him back, but Hitler and Stalin both end up getting beheaded and we learn that we should all get along.
I never thought I'd see a worse idea than those, but Jane Austen as an immortal with writer's block sounds like it might be a start. She could be trapped by an evil immortal; Duncan saves her from the other immortal and they share an all too brief, but happy tryst. They must part at the end of the episode as an issue from Duncan's past forces him to move on, but Jane's writer's block is cured.
Add Anne Frank, zombies and furries in there and you've got a winner
Also
The Forsyte Saga: Matrix Reloaded
Quote from: Syt on March 23, 2009, 02:00:42 AM
Quote from: FunkMonk on March 22, 2009, 05:14:41 PM
What will be the next stupid craze? Terminator 5: War and Peace?
I think the idea works best when you take one genre (in this case a romantic 19th century novel) and contrast it with something pretty much the polar opposite (gory zombie fiction).
Actually they aren't that different.
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on March 24, 2009, 12:37:47 AM
Add Anne Frank, zombies and furries in there and you've got a winner
:lol:
I don't think 90's televeison was ready for furries though...
Quote from: Razgovory on March 24, 2009, 08:43:14 AM
I think the idea works best when you take one genre (in this case a romantic 19th century novel) and contrast it with something pretty much the polar opposite (gory zombie fiction).
Actually they aren't that different.
[/quote]
Good point Jane Austen has all the qualities of the start to a good slasher movie: large manors in the deserted countryside, young people in love going off to the countryside for picnics. All you need is a homicidal maniac to slice up Emma and Mr. Knightly when they're on a walk, or Mansfield Park having the doorway to hell in the basement.
Quote from: Savonarola on March 24, 2009, 02:02:42 PM
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on March 24, 2009, 12:37:47 AM
Add Anne Frank, zombies and furries in there and you've got a winner
:lol:
I don't think 90's televeison was ready for furries though...
They are ready now,
Quote from: lustindarkness on March 24, 2009, 02:11:32 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on March 24, 2009, 02:02:42 PM
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on March 24, 2009, 12:37:47 AM
Add Anne Frank, zombies and furries in there and you've got a winner
:lol:
I don't think 90's televeison was ready for furries though...
They are ready now,
If only RockyHorror was here then you would learn how wrong you are.
Quote from: Savonarola on March 24, 2009, 02:10:59 PM
Good point Jane Austen has all the qualities of the start to a good slasher movie: large manors in the deserted countryside, young people in love going off to the countryside for picnics. All you need is a homicidal maniac to slice up Emma and Mr. Knightly when they're on a walk, or Mansfield Park having the doorway to hell in the basement.
I believe Jane Austin wrote a pseudo-Gothic novel herself. Though the modern concept of the zombie hadn't occured to most people yet, it likely would have been popular. The fears that a zombie movie alludes to,( mobs, disease, the lower classes) were very familiar with the people of her time.
Quote from: Razgovory on March 24, 2009, 04:43:33 PM
I believe Jane Austin wrote a pseudo-Gothic novel herself. Though the modern concept of the zombie hadn't occured to most people yet, it likely would have been popular. The fears that a zombie movie alludes to,( mobs, disease, the lower classes) were very familiar with the people of her time.
She parodies the Gothic novel in Northanger Abbey. Much women's literature in the 18th century was gothic and the gothic had an impact on later nineteenth century literature, most notably the Bronte sisters.
Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20267705,00.html
I've managed to find about a page and a half of text through my scouring of the net, and I've liked what I've seen. Not brilliant, but quite amusing.
I especially liked the opening paragraph.
:lol: :bowler:
QuoteIT IS A TRUTH universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead.