Helen Mirren joins remake of "Arthur"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Helen Mirren ("Teaching Mrs. Tingle," "The Queen," "The Last Station") has joined Russell Brand "Bedtime Stories" in Warner Bros.' remake of 1981 romantic comedy "Arthur."

Mirren will play the lead character Arthur's longtime nanny, replacing the butler's character named Hobson, which was played by John Gielgud in the 1981 comedy. Gielgud won the supporting actor Oscar for the part.

Brand plays the Arthur character that Dudley Moore portrayed in the 1981 original film, about a boozing playboy who falls in love with a working class woman while he was supposed to marry a girl his family expected in order to inherit a vast family fortune.

Jason Winer "Modern Family -ABC TV series" is set to direct Warner Bros.' big-screen remake of romantic comedy "Arthur" from Peter Baynham's ("Borat," "Bruno") script.

Larry Brezner, Chris Bender and Kevin McCormick will produce under the Langley Park banner, while Brand, Scott Kroopf, J.C. Spink and Nick Linnen will executive produce.

In the original, Dudley Moore's Arthur turned to Gielgud's Hobson for advice after his family threatens to cut off his inheritance unless he marries a woman he doesn't love.