Armando Iannucci already has his Death of Stalin follow-up planned. The Veep creator will next helm a David Copperfield movie movie that updates the classic Charles Dickens novel in present day. And now Iannucci has his leading man: Dev Patel.David Copperfield is the novel Dickens regarded as his ‘favourite child’ and is considered his most autobiographical. As David recounts his experience from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist, Dickens draws openly and revealingly on his own life. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters are David’s tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his brilliant, but ultimately unworthy, school-friend Steerforth; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble, yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature’s great comic creations.

Iannucci wrote the script for The Personal History of David Copperfield with Simon Blackwell. Blackwell and Iannucci have previously worked together on Veep, In the Loop, and The Thick of It. This new take on Copperfield was first announced back in 2015. At that time, Christine Langan, head of BBC Films, said:

“It’s an amazing story and Armando Iannucci is hugely passionate about it. He has a very fresh way of tackling it. He is a Dickens aficionado, so he wants it to be very authentic but it will have his own sensitivity.”

When asked about the project last year, Iannucci said:

“I’m going to be very true to the spirit of the book and use as much of Dickens’ dialogue as possible, but I want it to feel very contemporary.”