Dev Patel Flaunts Dickensian Style in ‘David Copperfield’ Trailer

Dev Patel stars as the legendary writer in The Personal History of David Copperfield, in theaters May 8th. The clip arrives on the same day as the trailer for Patel’s other upcoming film, The Green Knight. 

Based on the classic novel by Charles Dickens and directed by Veep creator Armando Iannucci, the trailer features Patel’s Copperfield recalling his life from an early age in Victorian England. “My boyhood days seem now like a scarcely believable fiction,” he says, as scenes of him as a child working in a factory flash across the screen.

Copperfield meets his wealthy Aunt Betsey (Tilda Swinton), and desperately tells her she’s the only family he has left. They form a bond, and he meets her lodger, Mr. Dick (Hugh Laurie). The rest of the clip shows his life blossoming as he falls in love, engages in a fight, flies a kite, and pursues his dream of becoming a writer.

The Personal History of David Copperfield premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. It also stars Peter Capaldi, Gwendoline Christie, Aneurin Barnard, Morfydd Clark, and Daisy May Cooper.