The Jane Austen film industry knows no bounds. Most of her six novels have been remade several times. There has been a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, a movie on a Jane Austen book club in the US and a speculative picture of the romantic life of the young Austen.
Now Elton John's production company has announced a radical spin on Austen. Will Clark is set to direct Pride and Predator, in which an alien crashlands in England and sets about butchering the novel's protagonists, who find they have more than marriage and inheritance to worry about. Shooting will begin in London later this year.
John’s partner, David Furnish, who is co-producing the film, says: “It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect.”
Meanwhile, Revolutionary Roaddirector Sam Mendes will produce the movie based on the recent ITV series, Lost in Austen, a time travel tale in which an ardent Austen fan switches places with Elizabeth Bennet, the fictional heroine of Pride and Prejudice.
