The Personal History of David Copperfield, directed by the multi-award-winning writer, filmmaker and broadcaster Armando Iannucci and starring BAFTA Award winner Dev Patel as David Copperfield will open the 63rd BFI London Film Festival. This fresh take on Charles Dickens’ classic novel, boasts a stellar British cast, led by Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw, Paul Whitehouse and Gwendoline Christie.

The film will receive its European Premiere at the festival on Wednesday October 2 at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square.

An avid Dickens fan, Armando Iannucci (the award-winning writer/director of The Thick of It, In the Loop, Veep and The Death of Stalin) adapts here, alongside frequent collaborator Simon Blackwell, employing his comedic mastery and vivid characterizations to bring to life one of Dickens’ most cherished characters in The Personal History of David Copperfield. From birth to infancy, from adolescence to adulthood, the good-hearted David Copperfield is surrounded by kindness, wickedness, poverty and wealth, as he meets an array of remarkable characters in Victorian England. As David sets out to be a writer, in his quest for family, friendship, romance and status, the story of his life is the most seductive tale of all.

Armando Iannucci, director, producer and co-writer, commented “It’s a huge thrill and honor to be asked to open the fantastic BFI London Film Festival. The Personal History of David Copperfield is a film about compassion, humor, generosity and friendship, and I couldn’t have asked for a more welcoming setting in which to premiere it.”

The 63rd BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express takes place from Wednesday October 2  to Sunday October 13, 2019.