Jennifer Love Hewitt Developing Modern Retelling of 'Pride and Prejudice' For Lifetime

BY Justine Ashley | December 12 2012 3:42 PM

It's a concept so bad it's good. Jennifer Love Hewitt is set to team with Lifetime to develop a present day retelling of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Virginia set "Darcy Town" is being written by "Charmed" scribe Sheryl Anderson and executive produced by Hewitt.

(Photo: Reuters)
Hewitt in June 2011.

Sponsorship Link

Published in 1813, "Pride and Prejudice" follows a headstrong young woman named Elizabeth Bennett and her love/hate relationship with the brooding Mr. Darcy. The timeless love story has inspired numerous film and TV adaptations.

One of the most popular versions of "Pride and Prejudice" includes the 1935 film starring Lawrence Olivier and Greer Garson and the 1995 BBC miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, who rose ! to fame after the film aired. The 1995 book and subsequent film adaptation of "Bridget Jones' Diary," also starring Firth, was inspired in part by Austen's novel.

A modern version of the classic tale, the largely forgotten indie "Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy" was released in 2003. In 2004, the novel received the Bollywood treatment for the musical comedy "Bride and Prejudice," starring Aishwarya Rai.The following year, Keira Knightley starred in a highly-acclaimed Oscar-nominated version of the story. The film marked the stars first collaboration with director Joe Wright.

In April, the comedic, vlog style web series "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries" made its debut as has gradually acquired a following.A screen version of Seth Grahame-Smith's 2009 novel "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" has also been in the works but no production dates have been announced as of yet.

Hewitt, who rose to fame as a teen, began producing in 1999 while starring in the short-lived drama "Time of Your Life." In 2000, she starred in and co-executive produced the guilty pleasure biopic "The Audrey Hepburn Story" and in 2005 began producing and starring in "The Ghost Whisperer."Last year Hewitt produced the CBS TV movie "The Lost Valentine."The actress currently executive produces and stars in Lifetime's raunchy drama "The Client List," and is set to collaborate with the network on an adaptation of her dating-advice book "The Day I Shot Cupid: My Name Is Jennifer Love Hewitt and I'm a Love-acholic."