Like Shakespeare, Charles Dickens is an author whose works continually keep being remade in one form or another and in some cases updated. Unlike Shakespeare though, the collection of stories is somewhat smaller so there's constant repetition to the point that there's been at least a dozen takes on "Great Expectations", seven "Nicholas Nickleby"s, even more incarnations of "David Copperfield", and countless reinventions of "A Christmas Carol".
But aside from 'Carol', the one that's seen the most screen time is of course "Oliver Twist" although a new incarnation of the tale looks unlikely to be confused with the others. Later this year indie distributor Strand Releasing is planning to release "Twist", a film which moves the classic tale from the 19th century London slums to 21st century Montreal and reimagines it as a tale of rough trade on the streets.
What we can expect it to entail is unsure, suffice it to say changing the characters from young polite beggar boys into French-Canadian gay street hustlers should prove an interesting challenge for Canadian actor turned debut director Jacob Tierney. Helping Tierney along will be Joshua Close as 'Oliver' and T3 actor Nick Stahl as 'Dodge'.
Those wanting a more regular version of the tale will have to wait for the next version of "Oliver Twist" - not too far off though, next year in fact and Director Roman Polanski is aiming to start work on that mid-2004.
Thanks to 'Boorish'
