Trivia / Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • Sally Phillips jumped at the chance to play Mrs Bennet and described it as her favourite role.
  • Lily James accepted the role after reading just seven script pages.
• Box Office Bomb: The film was expected to gross $10-15 million in its opening weekend (against a budget of $28 million). It grossed $15.4 million worldwide in a little less than a month. Possible factors include tough competition from movies like Hail, Caesar!, Kung Fu Panda 3, and Deadpool, its premiere happening in February, and its poor critical reception.
• Dyeing for Your Art: The actresses playing the Bennet sisters exercised up to five times a week with boxing and stunt training.
• Fake Brit: Australian actress Bella Heathcote as Jane Bennet.
• Follow the Leader: Quite a few other authors have attempted this sort of thing since, including "Mr. Darcy, Vampire."
• Irony as She Is Cast: Matt Smith plays Mr Collins, an Abhorrent Admirer to Lily James's Elizabeth. Behind the scenes, the two actors started dating during the production and ended up in a five-year relationship together.
• No Stunt Double: Lily James and Sam Riley did their own stunts during their fight scene.
• The Other Marty: Natalie Portman was meant to play Lizzie, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. She was replaced by Lily James.
• Playing with Character Type: Lily James got known for starring in various period pieces - Downton Abbey, War and Peace (2016) and Cinderella (2015). Here she plays with her English Rose image, portraying Elizabeth Bennet as a zombie hunter.
• Romance on the Set: Lily James (Lizzie) and Matt Smith (Collins) started dating during production.
• Saved from Development Hell: The movie adaptation struggled to get produced for years, due to the Girl-Show Ghetto. The successes of The Hunger Games, Lucy and Divergent convinced executives to finally greenlight it.
• Throw It In!: Lily James accidentally hit Sam Riley during their fight scene.
• What Could Have Been:
  • David O. Russell was the original choice for director, but like Portman, he too had to drop out.
  • Among the actresses courted to play Lizzie but who chose not to - Blake Lively, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Mila Kunis, Blake Lively, Rooney Mara, Emma Stone and Mia Wasikowska.
  • At one point Lily Collins, Jennifer Aniston and Rowan Atkinson were all attached to star.

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