Craig Gillespie 3rd Director to Bail on “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”

The film adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is, appropriately enough, stumbling around Hollywood like a brainless undead creature hungry for brains.

Craig Gillespie has vacated the director's chair after a dispute with Lionsgate over casting, reported Deadline. It's a shame, because after seeing Gillespie's fantastically entertaining "Fright Night" remake, we were looking forward to his take on this material.

The usual suspects--Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Mia Wasikowska--have been mentioned as possibilities for the lead, as has Natalie Portman, whose Handsomecharlie Films is one of the project's producers. Most recently Blake Lively's name has been kicked around.

David O. Russell left the film after a dispute last October over the budget, telling the Wall Street Journal, "The studio budgeted it as a genre zombie movie and gave me $25 to $28 million. I was like, that’s not cool."

In January it was Mike White's turn to jump ship, saying, "I loved the project and looked forward to working with Lionsgate. Unfortunately, the timing could not be worked out. I wish them the best with the movie."

To review: Budget's too low, timing's lousy and no one wants the lead role. This is gonna be great!

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