Armando Iannucci’s new retelling of Charles Dickens’ “The Personal History of David Copperfield” is rounding out its cast.
Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie,”Dunkirk” breakout Aneurin Barnard, Ben Whishaw, Morfydd Clark, Anthony Welsh, and Rosalind Eleazar have all joined Dev Patel, who will play the title character. FilmNation could not be reached for comment.
The project will offer a modern take on Dickens’ title character as he navigates a chaotic world to find his elusive place within it. The original “David Copperfield” was first published in 1850 and describes the journey of the titular protagonist — who was modeled after Dickens himself, from impoverished childhood to becoming a successful author, thanks to perseverance and despite a lack of personal discipline.
Kevin Loader and Iannucci will produce the feature, which was developed with FilmNation. Iannucci is directing from a script he wrote with Simon Blackwell.
Iannucci created HBO’s political comedy “Veep” as an adaptation of his British sitcom, “The Thick of It.” He was the showrunner on “Veep” for the first four seasons, from 2012 to 2015. He recently directed the 2017 feature film “The Death of Stalin” and co-wrote the script with David Schneider, Ian Martin, and Peter Fellows.
via Variety