Comic book geeks and English Lit majors rejoice: What started as a jokey send-up of a Jane Austin favorite will now be hitting a movie theater near year. According to Variety, actress Natalie Portman is lined up to produce and star in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the uber-popular horror romance tome (that depicts Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy falling in and out of love amidst an English countryside overrun by the undead) that hit bookstores earlier this year.

The novel, which is published by Quirk Books, proved to be wildly popular with internet bloggers and Classic Lit fans alike, and has gone on to recently spawn another “monsterous” Austin hybrid, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.  As Portman’s production partner, Annette Savitch explains, Austin’s romantic wit fits perfectly into modern audiences’ love of blood and gore.

“Natalie and I are longtime passionate fans of Jane Austen’s books and this a fresh, fun and thought-provoking way to approach her work,” she explains. “The idea of zombies running rampant in 19th Century England may sound odd, but it lends a modern sense of urgency to a well known love story.”

Pre-production on the film will begin next year, while the movie itself is set to open sometime in 2011.