Matt Smith Joins the Cast of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'

Smith, courtesy of IMDB

It looks like a former Doctor is joining the cast "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" according to an exclusive over at The Hollywood Reporter. Matt Smith recently ended his run on "Doctor Who" but now he'll be taking on the role of Mr. Collins in the film based on the Seth Grahame-Smith adaptation novel.

The Burr Steers-directed and co-written film begins filming on September 24 and will also star Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston, Bella Heathcote and Douglas Booth. THR sums up the horror-comedy, "The movie is a horror-comedy spin on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The heroine, Liz Bennett (James), is pressured by her family to marry into a wealthy upper-class home but chafes at the stiff social mores of Victorian England. Instead, she feels that she should help defend the countryside against the onslaught of a horrifying zombie plague."

We'll keep you posted on any new details including when it'll hit theaters next year.

-Larissa Mrykalo

Disney Reviving Ray Bradbury’s ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’

By the pricking of my thumbs ... according to an exclusive over at Deadline, Disney is making yet another film version on the Ray Bradbury classic novel, "Something Wicked This Way Comes." In 1983, Disney released a film adaption of the novel that tells the story of traveling carnival owner, Mr. Dark. In the thriller, however, Mr. Dark doesn't just want to take you money in exchange for rides and popcorn, he'll grant your darkest dream in exchange for your soul. Beware those Autumn carnivals!

Although I remember loving the film, when I read the book I noticed several differences and so did 38-year-old Seth Grahame-Smith, who will be making his feature directorial debut on the project. According to Deadline, "Grahame-Smith said it was his favorite book as a child, but he doesn’t feel the movie is sacrosanct. Although the late Bradbury wrote the script, he later lamented that the movie lost a lot of the book. Grahame-Smith intends to put it back and plug a new generation into the tale."

Grahame-Smith revealed, “I have been so crazy about this book, and it was such a formative title in my life that I actually wrote a piece on NPR about why it is so important for young males to read. It is a classic coming-of-age, father-son story about the transition from childhood to adulthood and how kids can’t wait to be adults and adults romanticize their childhoods. I’m not remaking the movie; I want the haunted atmosphere that makes the book so chilling, and I want to reinstate some of the classic scenes from the book that were missing from the ’83 film.” Well this is great news for fans of the novel!

After Grahame-Smith writes a treatment for the film, the studio will hire the writer and Deadline adds that Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg’s KatzSmith Productions will be the producing banner and Katzenberg will produce the film.

The film is obviously in its early stages, but we'll be sure to keep you updated. The trailer for the 1983 film starring the late Jason Robards is below for you to check out.



-Larissa Mrykalo

'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' review

BY AARON SAGERS

At its core, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter delivers on the promises of the title – there is hunting (and gory killing) of the undead by the 16th, and many say greatest, president of the United States.

But it could have done so much more. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Day Watch, Night Watch), the film struggles with radical shifts between attempts to talk about the secret life of an important man while also encouraging the audience to have fun when it comes to kicking vampire butt.

Based on the 2010 Seth Grahame-Smith book of the same, the film follows Abe (Benjamin Walker) as a younger, then older, man who studies under the tutelage of self-loathing vampire Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper) to vanquish the undead. What begins as a Bruce Wayne-esque mission of angry vengeance against a particular vamp who murdered his mother, Abe goes on to become the Dark Knight politician fighting a legion of the bloodsuckers that use slaves as a convenient food source, and have eyes on ruling the entire country as their own U.S. of V. (Read more after the jump...)

Tim Burton talks 'Beetlejuice 2'

In an interview with MTV.com, Tim Burton - currently directing Dark Shadows and producing Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - spilled this bit of info about a long-rumored sequel to the 1988 comedy classic Beetlejuice (which starred Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis and Winona Ryder):

"Yes. I love that character, and Michael [Keaton] is so great in it ... I always think about how great and fun that character was, so I just said to [Vampire Hunter writer] Seth [Grahame-Smith], 'If you have some idea about it, go for it, and then I'll look at it freshly.' In the past, I tried some things, but that was way back when. He seemed really excited about it."

MTV goes on to report that no specific plot details have been developed yet, but that he, "told him to try some stuff, but he hasn't come back to me yet. Michael was so great in it. I'm sure he'd strangely tap right back into it."

In October 2011, Grahame-Smith (who also co-wrote the screenplay for Burton's Dark Shadows) told Entertainment Weekly he'd only do the sequel if it was a true sequel with Keaton returning, and that he envisioned it as continuing the story 26 years later.

As far as Michael Keaton's take on it, he told MovieHole in 2010 that he'd love to return to the role of the ghost with the most. "Oh I’d do that in a heartbeat. Absolutely, that’s the one thing I’d love to do again. That’s the only one I’d love to do."

An abandoned Beetlejuice sequel from the '90s actually exists in the "what if?" files of Hollywood. The plot had Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones) moving the family to Hawaii and building a resort on a burial ground, and Betelgeuse taking part in a surfing competition.

'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' behind the scenes footage

Four score and seven years ago, asses were kicked and bloodsuckers were staked.

On the same day a poster was released for the film adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's 2010 book about our 16th president re-imagined as a slayer-in-chief, MTV.com unleashed behind-the-scenes footage of Abe actor Ben Walker in action in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The flick is directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and is produced by Tim Burton. It will be released June 22, 2012.