Brit actor Hugh Laurie is best known on this side of the pond as the eternally cranky doctor on “House” who doesn’t know a weirdo medical condition that he can’t conquer. But the actor is now beginning to take strides into more prominent feature film roles. He’s got the ensemble dramedy “The Oranges” coming up with Catherine Keener, Adam Brody, Leighton Meester, Alia Shawkat, Alison Janney and Oliver Platt, and now a leading man effort is getting off the ground and in front of cameras, though with some dubious talent.
Andrew Adamson (who looks a bit like David Spade doesn’t he?), director of two ‘Shrek‘ movies and two ‘Chronicles of Narnia‘ flicks has come aboard to helm “Mister Pip,” a bit of a gear change for the helmer. Based on the best-selling and acclaimed novel by Lloyd Jones, the story follows the titular character, the last white man left on the war-torn island of Bougainville, who opens a school and connects with his students by reading them “Great Expectations.”
So white man uses whitey literature to heal all wounds? Hopefully it’s not as simplistic as that, though with Adamson himself adapting the screenplay our uh, expectations, aren’t so high. Filming will begin next month in New Zealand. [Deadline]
