'The Secret Garden' trailer: Colin Firth and Julie Walters star in colourful adaptation of children's classic
A new adaptation of The Secret Garden is headed to cinemas from the producers of Harry Potter and Paddington.
Dixie Egerickx stars as Mary Lennox, the young protagonist of the period drama who is sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven in Yorkshire after her wealthy parents die.
Upon arrival she meets her sickly cousin Colin (Edan Hayhurst), who has been shut away in a wing of the house, and together they discover a secret garden, lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor, that helps to heal their hearts.
Colin Firth plays Mary’s uncle Archibald while Julie Walters stars as Mrs. Medlock, the head housekeeper at Misselthwaite, with Amir Wilson joining the cast as Dickon, alongside Isis Davis as Martha.
This new adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel of the same name has brought the story forward to a new time period of 1947 England, on the eve of Partition in India, and in the aftermath of WW2 in Britain.
National Treasure director Marc Munden directs a screenplay from Jack Thorne who co-wrote the hit play Harry Potter and The Cursed Child.
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David Heyman and Rosie Alison are producing alongside co-producer Jane Robertson.
The book was last adapted for the screen in 1993 and was directed by Agnieszka Holland, with a screenplay by Caroline Thompson and executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
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It starred Kate Maberly as Mary, Heydon Prowse as Colin, Andrew Knott as Dickon, John Lynch as Lord Craven and Dame Maggie Smith as Mrs. Medlock.
HarperCollins Children’s Books will be releasing a range of movie-tie in books in Spring 2020 to coincide with the film’s release.
This will include a paperback novelisation of the film, a paperback sticker activity book and Mary’s Journal – a gift hardback journal as written by Mary and reflecting the beauty and discovery of the garden.
All three titles will publish in March 2020.
The Secret Garden will be released in UK cinemas on 17 April.