Dev Patel to play David Copperfield in his next Hollywood film

Oscar-nominated actor Dev Patel has booked his next leading role, as David Copperfield, in director Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History Of David Copperfield.

The film will be an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s semi-autobiographical novel The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery, which was published in 1850.

Hollywood trade magazine Variety first reported the news that Patel would star in the film which “will offer a modern take on Dickens’ title character as he navigates a chaotic world to find his elusive place within it.” In the novel, the character of David Copperfield rises from poverty to become a lucrative author.

The film will be written by Iannucci and Simon Blackwell and the shoot will commence in June in the UK. The Oscar-nominated writer-director is known for films like In The Loop (2009) and Death Of Stalin (2017). He is also the creator of the award-winning HBO series, Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Patel received an Oscar nomination for his performance in Lion (2017) last year. His next film, Hotel Mumbai, starring Armie Hammer and Anupam Kher, is due to be released this year. The film will be based on the 2008 terror attacks in the city.

His first project as a director, a short film called Home Shopper, starring Sophie Kargman and his Hotel Mumbai co-star Hammer, recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018.

He is currently filming Michael Winterbottom’s The Wedding Guest in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Radhika Apte is also said to be a part of the the film.