Dickens by Iannucci opens London Film Festival

The personal life of David Copperfield, adaptation by Armando Iannucci of the famous Charles Dickens novel, will open the London Film Festival this year.

Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire, plays the lead role, traditionally performed by white actors.

The director and co-author Iannucci said that it was important to ignore the ethnicity and choose the best performers.

"You should not have to flap your eyelids, and you will not have them, because the best people are chosen for the roles."

"I've noticed that it's something that's going on in the theater for a long time," he told the BBC.

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"Dev has the potential to fly in seconds from a vulnerable, cheerful and funny person to a dramatic and strong life."

The stars of the Avengers, Benedict Wong, Nikki Amuka-Bird and "The School of Theater", Rosalind Eleazar, will also be on the program.

Eleazar takes on the role of Copperfield's wife, Agnes.

Peter Capaldi, with whom Iannucci worked on The Thick Of It and In The Loop, is also part of the cast.

The film may be a costume drama of the time, but Iannucci 's golden rule was "no ladies nor cobblestones".

He wanted the film "to feel very much now, really" and to reflect society in all its aspects, from the casting to the questions it brings to light.

"I tried to give it a contemporary twist," he says. "The issues that are dealt with are all very relevant – it is about poverty, neglect, homelessness, wealth, anxiety, and relationships.

Cinema studio fire

"It's a story for all times and all times," he adds.

Many of Dickens' previous adaptations have not necessarily reflected the dynamism and diversity of London. In his film, Iannucci wants the capital to be seen as an exciting city full of potential.

"People flocked to London, it's scary, it's huge, it's iron, steel, machinery, and modern, you know, it's a place where people can get lost. It's a place where people come because they want to achieve something. "

Iannucci spoke at the BBC at Leavesden Studios, just outside London, less than a week after the fire that severely damaged one of the stages of his next project, the HBO Avenue 5 space comedy, starring Hugh Laurie.

"It was a huge game and we shot a lot of series," he says.

"We've come to understand how we're coming to the end of the season without this set, and I'm sensitive to people who have spent the last 18 months designing it, building it, building it and putting it on, really.

"We will get the last two [episodes] shot in the next few weeks. And season 1 will be over! "

As for David Copperfield's The Life Life, Iannucci said that being awarded to the London Film Festival's most prestigious slot is "very exciting and constitutes a tremendous endorsement for the film".

The European premiere of the film will take place at the opening night of the 63rd London Film Festival, which runs from October 2nd to 13th.

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