Screenwriter David Nicholls: We've Changed the Ending to Great Expectations, Made it a Thriller

Posted on November 18, 2011

At the launch of the British Film Institute's Dickens on Screen season, screenwriter David Nicholls discussed his new film version of the Dickens classic Great Expectations. The film is directed by Mike Newell and stars Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, Jeremy Irvine as Pip, Robbie Coltrane as Mr Jaggers, Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Joe, Holliday Grainger as Estella, Ewen Bremner as Wemmick, and David Walliams as Uncle Pumblechook. The BBC said the audience gasped when Nicholls revealed that he has written a new ending to the story. He also says it's being filmed as a thriller.

Dickens himself wrote two endings for the story -- he abandoned the more depressing ending he penned saying audiences wouldn't like it. Newell said his ending is "somewhere in between" the two written by Dickens. Newell said of the story, "It's very fast moving - with all kinds of twists and turns - so we're very much approaching it as a thriller."

Helena Bonham Carter plays Miss Havisham. Newell said that "when Pip goes to see Miss Havisham it's a bit like going to see Hannibal Lecter - it's a real set piece." We have no idea what he means by this, and if he was deliberately trying to wind up the crowd. He certainly got a reaction, though. We'll have to see the film now. s