Lily James will star as the free-spirited Elizabeth Bennet in the modern Jane Austen remake "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," which is due out in February this year.
But surprisingly, James admitted that she has never even read "Pride and Prejudice" prior to landing her role in the film. What did not come as a surprise, however, is just how much she loved the book when she finally got down to reading it.
"I hadn't heard of it in fact, so when I saw the title I thought, 'What the hell is this?' I wasn't so sure and then I read the script, which I thought was really brilliant and funny. Within 10 pages, actually within the first opening sequence when Darcy sort of gallops up on a horse and gets stripped down and all that stuff, I thought, 'Yeah, this is cool.' And then I read the book. And also I read it in like three days or two days on the set of 'Downton' (Abbey)," she shared with Collider. "I was pissing everyone off because I had 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' up. And I thought the book was also just brilliant. It shouldn't work, but it does."
Aside from loving the story, James enjoyed the fact that she had to work out in order to prepare for her role as a zombie-killing lady.
"That's been really fun. I've loved that. When I do 'Downton' I become like a sort of podgy little sludgy thing because you don't really need to exercise, so it's been really good getting fit. And working with (fight coordinator) Moe (Lee) and the stunt guys on this has been awesome," she said. "Yeah, I feel like I can sort of get into some fights now and be a little bit more victorious."
James said she has been lucky that she did not sustain any injuries while filming, but the same cannot be said for her co-star Sam Riley, who plays her on-screen love interest Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.
"I haven't gotten any injuries, but I've definitely injured other people. Like, poor Sam, we had the proposal scene where suddenly I start beating the (expletive) out of him and I just get really swept away in the moment, and even though they're plastic swords they really hurt if you jab them at someone," she said. "And actually, to be fair though, I had bruises all up my arm after that. I was kicking him in the shin, and actually really near his face, so when we were rehearsing I was like, I just can't give him a black eye, because we won't be able to shoot!"
