Matt Smith a scene stealer

LOS ANGELES Matt Smith is famously remembered for portraying the 11th Doctor Who on the longrunning BBC sci-fi series. But he might add another portrayal to his honour roll.

Smith plays bumbling Parson Collins in the monster mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to great comic effect. In fact, he steals scenes.

Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote the 2009 bestselling novel the film is based on, takes the adoration one step farther.

“He practically walks off with the movie,” says Grahame-Smith who is with the cast promoting the film.

When the information’s passed on to Smith, he very nearly blushes. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” says the 33-year-old.

In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the original Jane Austen classic story is adhered to but with the addition of flesh-eating zombie hordes interrupting the 18th-century English country romances.

So the Bennet mother (Sally Phillips) still tries to marry off the Bennet daughters, but they are also sword-wielding zombie killers, including the always determined Elizabeth (Lily James).

That’s where Smith’s Parson Collins enters as the hilariously inept suitor of Elizabeth, and then the other Bennet siblings.

“The characters in the Austen (novel) are really strong and clear,” Smith says. “The interesting thing about my character is that no one will marry him.”

Give credit where it is due, however. The actor, and his considerable talents, elevate the parson into a quintessential ninny focused more on baked goods than impressing the daughters.

“I read the original, and then I tried to build up my part,” Smith says. “I found that the parson was interested in meetings, muffins and scones.

“So I tried to get some of that into the piece. One of the virtues of the film is that the girls do all the fighting while I’ll just sit there and eat muffins.”

He shrugs: “But you don’t really know if people are going to notice that or not.”

If Smith had stayed around long enough to enjoy the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies preview screening at the recent Hollywood premiere, he would have realized the audience noticed his moments with waves of laughter.

“I snuck out halfway through the movie,” he admits. “I find the whole process of watching myself quite weird anyway. And I don’t know whether it’s vanity or insecurity. It’s somewhere between the two.” What did he do? “What I did was go to the bar and have a few beers,” Smith says.

Meanwhile, there is life after Doctor Who. Besides the zombie film, he had a co-starring role in Terminator Genisys last year. He’s plays artist Robert Mapplethorpe in an upcoming biopic and he is featured in Patient Zero.

If Smith has any regrets about leaving Doctor Who sooner than many had anticipated, he’s not showing it.

“It was a wonderful job and four very interesting years of my life,” he says of the acclaimed series. “It dominates your life, and it’s a very difficult part to give up, but I felt I had to go on to something else.”

Deep down he knew: “Yes, it was time to say goodbye.”