Zombies director Burr Steers: Yes, they are frightening, a threat!

MANILA, Philippines – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a fresh twist on Jane Austen’s widely-celebrated novel. A mysterious plague has fallen upon 19th century England, the land is overrun with the undead and feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is a master of martial arts and weaponry. Casting aside personal pride and social prejudices, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy must unite on the blood-soaked battlefield to rid the country of the zombie menace and discover their true love for one another.

The cast includes Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet; Sam Riley as Mr. Darcy; Jack Huston as Mr. Wickham; Bella Heathcote as Jane Bennet; Douglas Booth as Mr. Bingley; Matt Smith as Mr. Collins; Charles Dance as Mr. Bennet; Lena Headey as Lady Catherine de Bourgh; Suki Waterhouse as Catherine “Kitty” Bennet; Emma Greenwell as Caroline Bingley; Dolly Wells as Mrs. Featherstone; Tom Lorcan as Lieutenant Denny; Ellie Bamber as Lydia Bennet; Millie Brady as Mary Bennet; Sally Phillips as Mrs. Bennet; and Jess Radomska as Annabella Netherfield.

Here’s an interview with Burr Steers, the movie’s director:

How did you interweave themes of class with fighting zombies?

“Well, the class thing, there was another thing with themes and issues that Jane Austen had, class and money which were really different, but also young women being empowered were themes that we kept in this. And then the class thing, specifically for the Bennet sisters not having any brothers, that their father who’s lower gentry had to train them to defend the house because they had no option.”

How much of a fear factor are you putting into the zombies?

“They’re frightening. Yeah, the whole idea is that you’re afraid of them, that they’re a threat. My idea was to do everything as well as I possibly could — do the zombie movie as well as I possibly could and do Pride and Prejudice as well as I could. Why not? (Laughs) As far as plans go, you know?”

Zombie movies are so popular nowadays. Was there anything that you consciously wanted to avoid?

“One of the big influences on this for me was Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend and having them see themselves as a race that was competitive with the human race and to have them more cognizant and more formidable, that they’re not just wandering around waiting to be decapitated.”

What kind of direction do you give to someone playing a zombie in that kind of situation? Just so we can get a picture of how they’re behaving.

“There’s a great documentary on meth addicts (laughs), and also the way they deteriorated, but that need for it, that need, that itch, that horrible itch and that these guys were getting that itch squared. It was incredibly intense for them.”

You chose to set this, 70 years after the outbreak. How does that affect the design of the Regency period we’re seeing here?

“Well, one of the things of age of industry and that happening with this in mind and protecting people from the plague and the sort of flight from London, which I use the Black Plague as a model of, and the people moving out to far, far country. But then it really just exaggerates all the themes that were in it as far as the female/male dynamics and class dynamics, the idea that you have this one percent that’s controlling everything while the rest of the country is in jeopardy. Truly it’s the British Revolution that never happened, and they’re undead (laughs), but other than that it’s happening.”

What are the zombies doing in their off hours when they’re not fighting the Bennet sisters?

“Well, the idea is that it’s a disease and there are different stages of the disease. We have four stages of it, so you’d be infected and then you’d become a full-blown zombie and then you’d start deteriorating from the point where you were bitten. And then you have crypto zombies (who) are the zombies that haven’t gone fully over, they’re sort of in between.”

So they can still talk?

“Yeah. The idea is that it’s evolved, the virus or whatever you call it has evolved and the ones that are able to maintain more of the human intelligence are the ones that are sort of becoming the leaders amongst the zombies.”

If you were to do another film, will that then be completely new or would that be following another book?

“The great thing about this, and one of the other things I was thinking about, I was aware as I wrote this was Death Comes to Pemberley and the idea that you take these great characters and you take them on to different stories and different adventures. You know, they’re fantastic characters. So they’d be Bridget Jones. (Laughs)”

Speaking of the violence, has it been challenging to keep things in the confines of a PG-13 rating?

“It always seems so arbitrary, but as far as not having spreading blood, I’ve avoided that. But then there are things when you suggest violence and it’s so much more frightening than showing everything. You become so desensitized to it when you see it. I still think one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve seen recently in a movie was in The Proposition where Danny Huston stomps the guy’s head. That’s totally off camera and you just hear the sound effect and that’s worse than any graphic shot I’ve seen recently.”