Colin Firth And Julie Walters Explore Marc Munden’s ‘The Secret Garden’ Remake
The Secret Gardenwill bloom once again.The Secret Gardenremake is in the works, withMarc Munden(Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams) helming the “fantastical reimagining” ofFrances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel. And it already has the perfect, quintessentially British cast led byColin FirthandJulie Walters.
Firth and Walters are set to star inThe Secret Gardenremake for Studiocanal and Heyday Films, according toDeadline.David Heyman, who is best known for steering theHarry Potterfranchise, is producing.
But this won’t beThe Secret Gardenyou recognize. Instead of being set in the Edwardian era in which it was first published, the script byJack Thornetransports the story to 1947, on the eve of Partition of India and in the aftermath of World War II in Britain. This is an intriguing twist, since the beginning of the story sees Mary Lennox’s parents killed in a cholera epidemic, which leads to her being sent to live with her gloomy uncle Archibald Craven in the moors of Yorkshire, England. The Partition of India was marked by bloody and brutal riots in the aftermath of Britain relinquishing colonial rule and clumsily dividing the country into India and Pakistan. It’s a chaotic setting to kick off the story of a spoiled, wealthy girl who is suddenly thrust into the real world after the death of her parents, and will definitely make for a striking start to the movie. The 1993 feature film adaptation ofThe Secret Garden, which co-starredMaggie Smithin an BAFTA-nominated role, also upped the drama of Mary’s orphaning, killing her parents in an earthquake.
The Secret Gardenbegins principal photography Monday. In the announcement of the production start, Munden said:
After 10-year-old Mary (to be played byGeniusstarDixie Egerickx)is sent to live with her brooding uncle in the isolated Misselthwaite Manor, she begins to discover the secrets that her family and the vast grounds are hiding, including a sickly cousin named Colin (Edan Hayhurst,Genius) and a wild, walled-off garden. “Together, the two damaged, slightly misfit children heal each other — partly through their exposure to a wondrous secret garden, lost in the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor,” according to Deadline.
Walters will play Mrs. Medlock, the strict head housekeeper at Misselthwaite, while Firth will bring back familiar brooding skills (I’m expecting Mr. Darcy levels!) to play Archibald Craven.
I’m excited for a new take onThe Secret Garden. I grew up loving Hodgson Burnett’s book, fascinated by the unlikable protagonist Mary Lennox, and its kid-friendly approach to Gothic Romance. I even had a pop-up book that was tied with the release of the 1993 movie! This is a timeless story that has had many great adaptations — I also recommend the web series,The Misselthwaite Archives— and this new reimagining sounds like a bold new take on an age-old story.
