Deadline is reporting that Mike White has dropped out of the directing gig for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the upcoming Lionsgate adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s literary mash-up novel.
White had previously replaced The Fighter director David O. Russell, who left the project after developing the film’s script. White’s departure is due to a preexisting commitment with HBO that conflicted with the film’s scheduled production start.
While quite frankly I’m feeling a little burnt out on the zombie genre at this point, I have to admit that a Victorian zombie project is at least novel and could provide something new and interesting. With White’s departure, Lionsgate is in a position of having to find a new director quickly in order to keep the film on its fast-tracked production start. Who do you think should tackle the project? David Slade, Mike Newell, Neil Marshall, Jonathan Demme and Matt Reeves were all previously considered for the job.