Prince Of Persia director Mike Newell has been drafted in to direct a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.
Deadline report that the filmmaker has a “fresh take” on the novel, which suggests that it’ll be different from the numerous adaps that have gone before.
Will he be adding a touch of Persia to proceedings by relocating the action to a dusty exotic land, where Pip is a young thief who dreams of marrying a princess?
Dickens’ original tome, of course, was a far more serious affair. It follows young orphan Pip’s miserable life, as he’s raised by his cruel sister and forced to spend time with the manipulative niece of the tragic Miss Havisham.
Previously, Expectations was adapted in 1948 by David Lean, and then again in 1998 by Alfonso Cuaron, with a starry cast that included Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, Robert De Niro and Ethan Hawke.
Newell’s crack at the story is due in 2012.
