Watch: first trailer for lavish and dark “Great Expectations” starring Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger

August 15, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

Mike Newell‘s “Great Expectations” adaptation has been one of our most anticipated films of the year, and we’ve been eagerly awaiting something new, following a first image late in 2011 and follow up images earlier this month.

Starring Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger, the film follows Irvine’s Pip, a kind orphan who grows up to be a distinguished gentleman of society through the generosity of an anonymous benefactor, who longs for the unattainable and cold beauty Estella (Grainger) and must face the dark places that his mysterious fortune originated from. The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter as Estella’s eccentric guardian Miss Havisham and Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, the ex-convict who sponsors Pip’s transformation into a man of means.

This first trailer (which comes with German subtitles) looks lavish and dark, with a haunting soundtrack and focusing on providing an overview of the entire plot. But the big challenge of adapting a beloved and oft-adapted Charles Dickens’ tale is coming up with something new. We’ll find out if Newell has succeeded when the film premieres at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival this September.

Click below to the view the trailer and let us know in the comments what you think of this first trailer.