First Images from “Great Expectations”
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They aren’t called classics for nothing. One of Charles Dickens’ most famous novels, Great Expectations just celebrated its centennial anniversary, and a revival of sorts has begun.
Ever since Christopher Nolan casually mentioned that A Tale of Two Cities was an inspirational source for The Dark Knight Rises, allusions to Dickens’ works and remakes have been cropping up everywhere.
Last week during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, they got Kenneth Branagh to dress up in Victorian dress, clearly meant to represent Dickens, and then he quoted from another famous English writer, Shakespeare.
Now we learn that not only is someone remaking Great Expectations again, even though it was just remade into a British mini series starring Ray Winstone and Gillian Anderson, but they’re getting half the cast of Harry Potter to star in it.
Mike Newell, who directed the fourth Harry Potter film, will be directing the Victorian period piece, while Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter star in the film. Okay so maybe that isn’t half of the Potter cast, but it is a nice reunion for the few who have previously worked together.
Like its predecessors, this adaptation will stay true to the original material, which follows the story of a young orphan, Pip, who through mysterious means finds himself an heir to a large fortune, and thus begins a life worthy of “great expectations”. While remodeling himself as a gentleman, Pip begins to pursue a beautiful young woman Estella, when he suddenly discovers the unfortunate truth and origin behind his fortune, which has disastrous consequences.
Jeremy Irvine (Warhorse) will play Pip as a young man wandering the streets of London, while Holliday Grainger (The Borgias) will play Estella. Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter will play Magwitch and Miss Havisham, the respective benefactors of each of these young people, and equally repulsive in character.
This casting is perfect, especially since Fiennes and Carter tend to choose roles less becoming to others but unusually self-serving for themselves.
The film will debut next month at TIFF, and although no one has picked it up for distribution yet, they will. Great Expectations will probably exceed my expectations when it arrives in theaters everywhere in November.
