Helen Mirren and Pete Postlethwaite have signed on to join the cast of Brighton Rock, the new adaptation of the Graham Greene novel that stars Sam Riley and Andrea Riseborough.
The book was, of course, previously filmed back in 1947 with a young Richard 'Dickie' Attenborough as baby-faced gangster Pinkie. Riley now takes that role; Andrea Riseborough is Rose, the waitress he marries because she could (unknowingly) destroy his alibi for his crimes. We're guessing that Mirren is Ida and Postlethwaite Fred Hale, the salesman linked to Pinkie's gang and its former leader, with the action this time set in 1964 instead of 1939 (cue Quadrophenia-style Mods?).
Roland Joffe is directing, with filming due to start in October. With two of Britain's most accomplished actors now onboard, this is looking better by the day.