‘Peaky Blinders’ Creator Steven Knight, Olivia Colman on ‘Great Expectations’ Adaptation: ‘Quite a Few Bottom Slapping Moments’
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The talent behind FX and BBC series “Great Expectations,” “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ literary masterpiece, has spoken about it ahead of its premiere.
“Great Expectations” is the coming-of-age story of Pip, an orphan who yearns for a greater lot in life, until a twist of fate and the evil machinations of the mysterious and eccentric Miss Havisham shows him a dark world of possibilities. Under the great expectations placed upon him, Pip will have to work out the true cost of this new world and whether it will truly make him the man he wishes to be. A critique of the class system, Dickens’ novel was published in 1861 after first releasing it in a series of weekly chapters beginning in December 1860.
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Fionn Whitehead stars as Pip, leading a cast featuring Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Trystan Gravelle, Laurie Ogden, Rudi Dharmalingam, Tom Sweet, Chloe Lea and Matt Berry.
Knight serves as writer, and also executive producer alongside Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W. Zucker and Kate Crowe. Brady Hood and Samira Radsi serve as directors. “Great Expectations” is produced by FX Productions in association with the BBC, Scott Free and Hardy Son & Baker.
“I think that with any great writer like Dickens, the issues and the subjects that he deals with will always be timeless. They won’t be just of the time, they will be about the human condition. What I didn’t want to do – and I think Dickens never tried to do – was make something specifically political,” Knight told the BBC. “He was never banging the drum, he was just saying ‘this is what’s going on’ and people could draw their own conclusions. You couldn’t write about certain things in Dickens’ time: certain elements of sexuality, crime, disobedience against the crown and state. What I tried to do was imagine if Dickens was writing the story now and had the freedom to go to those darker places, what would he do? If he had been liberated to write the things that were going on that he wasn’t allowed to write about.”
Colman added: “The first time I read Steven Knight’s script, I thought it was much darker than what I had remembered from school. Quite a few bottom slapping moments, which I did not recall from the original Dickens. There were quite a few changes and I found it quite gripping.”
Whitehead said: “Pip is pretty scared of Miss Havisham at first. She’s an intimidating figure to him. He wants to learn from her and recognises that she is his only way into a world that he otherwise wouldn’t have access to. So, he bears her so that he can get as much information out of her, but is also really wary of her. When you see Olivia done up as Miss Havisham she is such an intimidating character, completely opposite to Olivia in real life, who is unbelievably lovely, kind and hilarious. I’ve had such an amazing time working with her.”
The six-part limited series will premiere on March 26 exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. and on the BBC in the U.K. Internationally, it will be available to stream on Star+ in Latin America and on Disney+ under the Star banner at a later date.
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