Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English film and stage director, producer and screenwriter. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1994), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013).
For directing the play The Ferryman, Mendes was awarded the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2019.
Great Expectations has cast its Miss Havisham. Oscar winner Olivia Colman will star as the wealthy, wedding dress-wearing spinster in the FX and BBC limited series adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ novel, which comes from Steven Knight.Colman most recently starred in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter for Netflix, for which she received an Oscar nomination.
Next up for the Broadchurch and The Crown stars in Emer Reynolds’ comedy Joyride, Paul King’s Wonka alongside Timothée Chalamet and Sally Hawkins, and Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light.Fionn Whitehead, who has starred in Dunkirk and Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch will play Pip, the orphan at the center of the coming-of-age story.
The cast also includes Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Trystan Gravelle and Matt Berry.Them star Thomas plays Pip’s guardian Jaggers, This Is England ‘86’s Harris plays escaped convict Magwitch, Roadkill’s Brune-Franklin plays Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter Estella, I, Daniel Blake star Squires plays Miss Havisham’s relative Sara, Killing Eve’s McDonnell plays village blacksmith Joe, Lord of the Rings’ Gravelle plays criminal Compeyson who left Miss Havisham at the altar, and Toast of London’s Berry plays Joe’s uncle Mr.
Pumblechuck.Peaky Blinders creator Knight will write and executive produce the six-part series, which will also be executive produced by Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W.
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