Jeremy Irvine to Star with Helena Bonham Carter in Adaptation of Dickens Novel Great Expectations

Jeremy Irvine, the British young actor specially selected by Steven Spielberg to star in upcoming War Horse, is now in talks to play the lead role of Pip in Mike Newell‘s adjustment of the classic Dickens novel Great Expectations — Helena Bonham Carter is also in negotiations to play Miss Havisham.

Writer Rowan Joffe is set to pen the screenplay of a stray who becomes a notable chap through an unknown patron.

Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen are producing through Number 9 Films banner.

Production is targeted to start this fall and film is scheduled for a 2012 release as a part of Dickens’ bicentenary celebration.

Irvine is the British novice who was picked by Spielberg to star in WWI drama War Horse, which hits theaters Dec. 28. Besides the stage, his only screen appearance to date has been in the British TV series Life Bites.

Much experienced Helena Carter bagged second Oscar nomination for the role of Queen Elizabeth in The King’s Speech. She newly played the Red Queen in Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland, and will before long rejoin with Burton and Johnny Depp on Dark Shadows. She also next stars as Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which opens July 15.

Mike Newell’s credit includes critically acclaimed films such as comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and a number of films in Hollywood – Donnie Brasco, Pushing Tin, and Mona Lisa Smile. In 2005 Newell directed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. His last feature was sword-and-sorcery action film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

There have been several big screen adaptations of the novel including David Lean’s in 1946, Alfonso Cuaron’s in 1998 and Julian Jarrold’s Masterpiece Theatre version in 1999.

Along with previously posted Andrew Adamson’s project, it seems Pip will be the popular name next year.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bq8BsIZejE[/youtube]

Great Expectations Trailer (1998)