Matt Smith joins cast of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Whovians rejoice! Matt Smith may have retired from the classic BBC show this year, but fans will get the chance to see him on the big screen; The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Smith has joined the cast of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as Mr. Collins. The adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel has been an on-again, off-again project in Hollywood for the past five years, but with a director and cast in place it is scheduled to finally start filming on September 24^th.

The Grahame-Smith novel is just what it sounds like; it’s a parody, a mash-up of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice with some zombies thrown in. In the story, Smith’s character Mr. Collins is a clergyman looking for a wife when he proposes to the protagonist, Miss Lizzy Bennett. We already know Smith looks dashing in period attire, that’s just one of the reasons he will be a good fit for a character that is bound by decorum and bumbles his way through his interactions with the Bennett family. Hopefully, he will also add some tongue-in-cheek humor to the story. The last time Hollywood took on one of Grahame-Smith’s novels, we got Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, a movie that took itself too seriously. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is at risk of going the same way, unless director Burr Steers finds a way to add a dose of silliness.