Here is our first look at Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham in the new adaptation of Great Expectations. Usually when we see Helena Bonham Carter in abnormal clothing it’s in a Tim Burton movie, but on this occasion Mike Newall (Prince of Persia, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) is directing.

The movie, written by Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later, The American) follows the orphan Pip (War Horse‘s Jeremy Irvine) across the span of thirty years as he rises to wealth, deserts his true friends, and becomes humbled by his own arrogance. It also features one of Dickens’s more colorful characters in literature: Miss Havasham. She is a wealthy spinster who sits in her mouldering mansion still wearing the wedding dress she wore when she was jilted at the altar. Although she has often been portrayed in films as very elderly, Dickens’s own notes indicate that she is only in her mid-fifties, so Helena Bonham Carter is well suited for the role.

Also among the cast are Ralph Fiennes as escaped convict Magwitch, Robbie Coltrane as London lawyer Mr. Jaggers, Jason Flemyng as Pip’s brother-in-law and father figure, and Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Joe Gargery, Pip’s, hot-tempered adult sister.

Lionsgate aim to release Great Expectations in late-2012 in the UK, and the search is on for a US distributor.

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Universal has just set a December 7, 2012 release date for Les Miserables, a new version of the classic novel and Broadway musical set in 19th-century France. We’ve previously heard that The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper is on-board, as is Hugh Jackman, and now they look set to be joined by Russell Crowe and Helena Bonham Carter.

According to THR Crowe will play Javert, the uncompassionate police inspector who will stop at nothing to recapture Jean Valjean (Jackman), the man who steals bread to feed his sister and spends the ensuing years in prison (or trying to escape it) while also becoming the guardian of a young woman named Cosette. Carter, who just worked with Hooper on The King’s Speech, will play Thenardier’s greedy wife.

William Nicholson (Gladiator) has adapted the screenplay based on Victor Hugo’s sprawling 1862 novel. Working Title (Atonement) are producing, as is Sir Cameron MacKintosh who produced the stage version of the musical. Filming will begin later this year.

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Heat Vision reports that Helena Bonham Carter, Dwight Yoakam and Barry Pepper are all in talks to join Johnny Depp in Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger.

Helena Bonham Carter, currently seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, will play “the madam of a brothel who deals with gentlemen and scoundrels.” Dwight Yoakam (Crank: High Voltage) will play Butch Cavendish, leader of the gang that attacks the ranger and leaves him for dead, while Barry Pepper, Emmy-nominated for his turn as Bobby Kennedy in The Kennedys, will act as a military officer.

Disney will be releasing The Lone Ranger on December 21, 2012. The Social Network actor Armie Hammer will play the title character, with Johnny Depp playing the Ranger’s Native American companion Tonto.

Filming is scheduled to begin in mid-October in Texas and New Mexico.

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Following on from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 poster we got earlier this week featuring Harry, Ron and Hermione in the rubble of Hogwarts, Warner Bros. has released one for the villains, namely Voldemort, Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy, with Narcissa in the background.

Check the full poster below:

In related Deathly Hallows news Dark Horizons tweeted today that a new trailer “should hit early Friday morning U.S. time.” We knew one was coming, and it looks like Warner Bros are attaching it to Green Lantern. I can’t wait.

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Johnny Depp is a busy guy. Once he’s finished promotion for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides he’ll be heading to London to start shooting his 8th collaboration with Tim Burton, Dark Shadows.

Today Warner Bros. sent out a press release announcing the start of production, along with the official synopsis for the movie.

Filming begins this week on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “Dark Shadows,” which brings the cult classic television series to the big screen under the direction of Tim Burton. The film’s all-star ensemble cast includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloe Moretz, and newcomer Gulliver McGrath.

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

It’s also worth noting that cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is working on the film so at least it will look great, even if Burton delivers another average film like he did with Alice in Wonderland. Burton has been hit and miss over recent years so hopefully he makes something along the lines of Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd.

Dark Shadows is scheduled for release on May 11th, 2012.

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Last week we heard Jeremy Irvine, the young actor chosen by Steven Spielberg to lead his WWII epic War Horse, was in talks to play the lead character of Pip in Mike Newell’s adaptation of the classic Dickens novel Great Expectations alongside Helena Bonham Carter, who was in talks to play Miss Havisham.

Now it looks like we may see a Voldemort/Bellatrix reunion as according to The Daily Mail Ralph Fiennes is in discussions to play Magwitch, a father-figure to Pip who has spent his life as a criminal. It’s not a done deal though, as Fiennes is currently set to play Prospero in Trevor Nunn’s version of The Tempest on stage, so there may be scheduling conflicts.

Director Mike Newall (Prince of Persia, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) plans to shoot in and around London in August, so if Fiennes takes the role he would have to shoot his scenes during the day and then do his stage performances in the evening. The actor is also in talks to play a ‘darkly complex’ role in Bond 23, but filming won’t begin until November.

The script, which is being written by Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later, The American) follows the orphan Pip (Irvine) across the span of thirty years as he rises to wealth, deserts his true friends, and becomes humbled by his own arrogance. It also features one of Dickens’s more colorful characters in literature: Miss Havasham. She is a wealthy spinster who takes Pip on as a companion and whom Pip suspects is his benefactor.

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According to Variety Jeremy Irvine, the young actor chosen by Steven Spielberg to lead his WWII epic War Horse, is in talks to play the lead character of Pip in Mike Newell’s adaptation of the classic Dickens novel Great Expectations.

The site also mentions Helena Bonham Carter, who recently received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Oscars for The King’s Speech, is in talks to play Miss Havisham.

The script, which is being written by Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later, The American) follows the orphan Pip (Irvine) across the span of thirty years as he rises to wealth, deserts his true friends, and becomes humbled by his own arrogance. It also features one of Dickens’s more colorful characters in literature: Miss Havasham. She is a wealthy spinster who takes Pip on as a companion and whom Pip suspects is his benefactor. Although she has often been portrayed in film versions as very elderly, Dickens’s own notes indicate that she is only in her mid-fifties, so Helena Bonham Carter seems perfect for the role.

If everything comes together filming is expected to start later this year for a 2012 release.

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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts displayed their unabashed favoritism toward British films this Sunday by showering The King’s Speech with seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Colin Firth. The biggest surprise is probably the fact that Tom Hooper did not grab the directing prize after his DGA win. Instead, he watched David Fincher (The Social Network) walk away with that one.

The other huge shocker was Christian Bale’s (The Fighter) Supporting Actor loss to Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech). Bale has swept almost every single Supporting Actor prize, big and small, this awards season, so it was unexpected to have him go home empty handed, especially this close to the Academy Awards. I truly hope it doesn’t hurt his chances at an Oscar win.

The King’s Speech also nabbed the Supporting Actress award for Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as Queen Elizabeth. It makes me wonder if the BAFTAs would have blindly given The King’s Speech the Best Actress prize too, had there been a nominee.

Most of the rest of the awards were predictable: Darren Aronofsky (director of Black Swan) accepted Natalie Portman’s Best Actress award (she’s super pregnant and didn’t attend the ceremony); Aaron Sorkin was honored for The Social Network’s Adapted Screenplay; Toy Story 3, of course, won Best Animated Film; and Inception was given three of those awards that nobody is very interested in (Sound, Production Design, and Special Visual Effects).

It’ll be interesting to see how much of an impact the BAFTAs have on the Academy Awards. You can see the full list of BAFTA nominees and winners here.

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Update: The King’s Speech is now available to pre-order from Amazon on:

- DVD
- Blu-ray

The King’s Speech has been gaining a lot of momentum over recent weeks and it is looking likely that it will be crowned Best Film at the Oscars next month. The film garnered the most Oscar nominations of any other 2010 release with twelve in total, including: Best Picture, Directing (Tom Hooper), Leading Actor (Colin Firth), Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush), Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter), Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score and Sound Mixing.

Anchor Bay and The Weinstein Company today announced that The King’s Speech will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 19th.

Special features include:

- Commentary with director Tom Hooper
- The Making of The King’s Speech (20 minutes)
- Archival footage of the actual King George VI

The movie follows the story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

The King’s Speech is now available to pre-order from Amazon on:

- DVD
- Blu-ray

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It is as though the British Academy of Film and Television Arts heard my cry.  Just as I was beginning to get bored with the awards season, the BAFTA nominations show up and rattle the crowd a bit.

The King’s Speech grabbed the most nominations with 14, including Best Film, Director (Tom Hooper), Leading Actor (Colin Firth), and Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter).  Firth will more than likely still win his category if no other reason than he’s British and the BAFTAs inevitably favor British nominees.

It seems I spoke too soon regarding the Supporting Actress category, as I deemed Melissa Leo (The Fighter) this year’s frontrunner after her Golden Globe win on Sunday.  As it turns out, the BAFTAs didn’t even nominate her.  They also neglected Mila Kunis (Black Swan) and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom), both who have been around for much of the awards season.  It’ll be hard to predict a winner in this category now, as three of the nominees – Barbara Hershey (Black Swan), Lesley Manville (Another Year), and Miranda Richardson (Made in Dagenham) – have hardly shown up in most awards shows.

Likewise, the Leading Actress category got shaken up.  The two heavyweights, Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) are still present, but other strong contenders such as Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) are noticeably absent.  It is also interesting that both Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right) and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) wound up in the Leading Actress as oppose to Supporting Actress category.

Another conspicuous absence is Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor (The Social Network) in the Original Music category, as they also just won a Golden Globe and have often won that category this season.

In fact, it looks like The Social Network might be losing momentum, getting only 6 nominations.  While that is nothing to scoff at, it appears underwhelming standing next to The King’s Speech with 14 and Black Swan with 12.  I still think The Social Network is the movie to beat for Best Film, but with the BAFTAs being a British based awards show, and with the strength of The King’s Speech and its nominations, we might just have an upset on our hands.

You can see the full list of nominations here.

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