Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet, and dashing Mr Darcy race against time to stop a zombie plague pandemic from toppling 19th century England society.

Visual Effects Supervisor for the production, based upon the bestselling book by Seth Grahame-Smith, was Cinesite’s own Simon Stanley-Clamp, who oversaw around 200 shots for the production, ranging from environments to digital make-up enhancement, crowds of computer generated zombies, decapitations and limb removal.  Work was shared across Cinesite’s London and Montréal teams.

In a dramatic flashback sequence where Darcy recounts his time in the army fighting zombies to protect the population, we see a night-time apocalyptic vision of London.  The visual effects team built a 3D section of the City, including St Paul’s and appropriate period architecture ablaze.  The foreground was shot at night against blue screen at Shepperton Studio’s backlot.  Additional zombies were added as animated CG figures.

The Bennet’s House was fortified with the addition of a defensive wall and tower; digital enhancements were added to several locations throughout the film.

At the climax, the zombies converge on Hinckley Bridge in an attempt to escape London.  Apart from the 100ft bridge set piece, which was filmed at Shepperton Studios’ backlot, the shot includes extensive digital environment work, FX elements and CG assets including zombies, flames, explosions and debris.

• Release date: 05.02.2016
• Studio: Cross Creek / Lionsgate
• Director: Burr Steers