Natalie Portman will be able to soon add “Period piece zombie film” to her body of work as she is now set to star in and produce Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Variety describes the film as telling “the timeless story of a woman’s quest for love and independence amid the outbreak of a deadly virus that turns the undead into vicious killers.”  The story takes much of the classic novel by Jane Austen and mashes it together with what is clearly the most likely of situations — a terrible zombie outbreak. Portman, who will surely be classically beautiful as always, will play Elizabeth Bennet, a fiery zombie killing version of her novel born counterpart.

Richard Kelly will be a co-producer on the project with Portman and the film will be financed and distributed by Lionsgate, but as a director has still not been chosen, the approach taken with the direction and tone of the story will be interesting to discover. Will it be more romance and drama focused or more straight horror?

Either way, something about Natalie Portman in 19th Century English attire (a tattered corset perhaps?) slaying zombies makes me feel all giddy and tingly in a way that let’s just say I probably wouldn’t explain to my grandmother.

Are you as excited as I am? If so, have you read the book?

Source: Variety

Warner Brothers | USA | 115 min.

I am still living in the enjoyable world of Donnie Darko when it comes to writer/director Richard Kelly. But after seeing his latest film, The Box, the film adaptation to Richard Matheson’s short story Button, Button, which Kelly adapted himself, I am beginning to fear that he’s never going to be able to achieve that level of filmmaking again. While The Box does deliver on the classic confusion aspect that the young director is so well known for, and does look pretty good doing it, much of the film is left unanswered and becomes intolerable.

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Warner Brothers | USA | 115 min.

The Box is a sci-fi thriller with old school style and sensibility. Richard Kelly’s latest is reminiscent to films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and other classic paranoia driven films. Similar to those genre classics, this is a buildup that doesn’t disappoint. His third feature is ambitious and a highly entertaining drama with science fiction elements as a backdrop.

Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz) and her husband Arthur (James Mardsen) live a normal and average life together with their only son.  They’ve recently hit hard times though, they don’t have the biggest cash flow. Norma is a private school teacher and Arthur works for NASA. One morning a mysterious box is left on their doorstep with no explanation to be found. Soon they find out what power the box truly holds when Norma is visited by a mysterious scarred stranger named Arlington Steward (Frank Langella). Steward simply explains that when you push the red button on the box, you’ll receive one million dollars a long with a dead corpse on your hands. They’ll have to live the consequence of having someone they’ve never met die while they get the benefits. Like most people probably would, they push the button. Soon they find themselves caught in way over their heads with Arlington, his employees, and even his employers. Read the full story

Warner Brothers has just officially released the first trailer for Richard Kelly’s The Box. The film stars Cameron Diaz, Frank Langella, and James Mardsen. The story revolves around a struggling couple, played by Cameron Diaz and James Mardsen, in need of money who’s problems may be solved when a mysterious box is left on their door step. After being visited one day by a mysterious stranger, Frank Langella, he offers them a dangerous opportunity. If one of them pushes the button on the box an unknown stranger will die while they will receive a million dollars. The Box is set to open up on October 31st, 2009.

While I am still very excited to see this and I think this trailer features some fantastic imagery, I do have some problems with it. Cameron Diaz’s accent sounds really odd and annoying, so that will probably take some time to get used to. The trailer also seems to be cut exactly like the trailer for Valkyrie, it features the same song towards the end and also uses the same dramatic cutting style. This still is a good trailer for what looks to be like Kelly’s come back, which hopefully is the case.

What do you think of this trailer? Are you still excited for The Box?

Director Richard Kelly (Southland Tales, Donnie Darko) has just debuted a new poster for his upcoming thriller The Box over at his Myspace page. The Box opens up on October 30th, 2009.

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Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) has posted a new update on his blog, and gave a bunch of updates on his new film The Box:

* WB is releasing the film on October 30, 2009. The release date has been shuffling around a bit, but this is common with studios, and everyone feels like this is the best date for the film
* The film is completely finished. Principal photography was completed in March 2008, and it was officially delivered to WB right before Christmas 2008. A March 2009 release was briefly considered, but a Fall 2009 release was always a better fit.
* We shot in Massachusetts and Virginia. The film takes place predominantly in Virginia, 1976.
* The running time is 1 hour 55 minutes long including end credits.
* The film was digitally photographed using the Panavision Genesis camera. In my audio commentary on Tony Scott’s Domino, I mentioned that I would never shoot a 1970s period piece using a digital camera. My position on this changed when I saw David Fincher’s extraordinary Zodiac. It can be done.
* There is more than 300 visual effects shots, which required eight months of post-production. The digital work-flow of the Genesis was essential to completing these visual effects properly.
* Win Butler, Regine Chassagne (of Arcade Fire) and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy, frequent collaborator with Arcade Fire) recorded more than 80 minutes of score for the film.
* Here is a list of artists whose songs appear in the film: GRATEFUL DEAD, DEREK & THE DOMINOS, WILSON PICKETT, THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND, SCOTT WALKER
* The official website for the film is www.thebox-movie.com – it will unveil sometime this summer.
* This is my most personal film to date, and I’m very proud of how it turned out.

[via /Film]

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Here is our second episode of The Film Stage Podcast. In the beginning of the podcast we mention we will review Adventureland, but as a bit of good and bad news; we are now officially part of the Washington, D.C. and Buffalo, NY press. This means we can no longer post or talk about reviews until the day of their release. This podcast will only include a Duplicity review. Recorded by Jordan Raup and Dan Mecca, you can stream it below or download the mp3 (right click and save as)

Download The Film Stage Podcast Episode 2 – Duplicity Review

You can also now follow us on Facebook!

Check out the contents of the podcast >>

The Box, the next film from director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales), has moved up from a Thanksgiving release date to a Halloween release. The thriller starring James Marsden (Sex Drive, Enchanted), Cameron Diaz (What Happens In Vegas), and Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon) is now scheduled to open on October 30th opposite Saw VI.

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