Pitchfork

In a role one suspects won't be too great a stretch for the sassy (and very funny) British songstress, Lily Allen will portray Lydia Bennet, the bratty, class-obsessed younger sister of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in the forthcoming "parody" flick Jane Austen Handheld, according to RollingStone.com.

Though it's unclear at this point what kind of liberties will be taken with Austen's beloved narrative, in the book, Lydia Bennet (spoiler alert-- though you should really read more) runs off under false pretenses with a George Wickham, to be portrayed in Handheld by British TV/radio personality Russell Brand. No word on who'll take the other roles in the film or just who's directing this thing, but shooting is set to begin next spring.

Apart from lining up acting gigs, digging on Chrissie, and kicking it with Common, Lily's been keeping fairly quiet lately. Though she's doing Fashion Rocks (hosted by Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson!) at London's Royal Albert Hall on October 18, no proper live dates have been announced for the fall, and no new jams have emerged as yet. A recent MySpace blog mentioned that she'd "spent the past couple of weeks in a twee little cottage in the cotswolds starting on the next album," which has "gone so well." She added that "I won't say much but it's a different musical direction and really quite exciting. Everything just seems to be falling into place." Well, good! Remember, Lils, we fell in love with your music, not your way around a cue card.