Colin Firth and Dame Julie Walters have joined the cast of the big screen adaptation of The Secret Garden, it has been announced.
The classic children’s book tells the story of a young girl sent to live at her uncle’s remote country estate on the Yorkshire moors following the death of her parents.
Oscar-winner Firth will play Archibald Craven, the uncle, while Dame Julie will play Mrs Medlock, the house’s head housekeeper.
The film, to be directed by Marc Munden, will begin shooting on Monday.
Munden said: “This is a fantastical reimagining of The Secret Garden. I can’t wait to explore it.
“It’s an opportunity to immerse ourselves in an uncanny and wondrous world, which will play to the imaginations of adults and children alike.”
The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, tells the story of Mary Lennox, who will be played by Dixie Egerickx in the latest adaption.
She is sent to live with her uncle at Misselthwaite Manor following the sudden death of her parents.
Mary discovers her sickly cousin Colin – played by Edan Hayhurst – shut away in a wing of the house and uncovers a secret garden.
The novel was set in the Edwardian era but the big screen adaption will move it forwards to 1947, on the eve of Partition in India, and in the aftermath of the Second World War in Britain.
The film is written by Jack Thorne.
