Hugh Laurie to star in new movie

(HMG Celebrity News) – House star Hugh Laurie will get a chance to ditch his American accent and show his softer side again.  Laurie has been cast in the film adaptation of Lloyd Jones’ 2006 book, “Mr. Pip,” Hollywood Reporter reports. Shortlisted for Britain’s coveted Booker Prize, “Mr. Pip” tells the story of the last white man Mr. Watts to be played by Laurie, left on the strife-torn island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, who volunteers to reopen a school as the natives defend their land from invaders. He  reads his favorite novel, to  the students Charles Dickens’ classic novel, “Great Expectations,” inspiring a gifted 14-year-old, Matilda.  Andrew Adamson, “Shrek” and “Chronicles of Narnia,” will direct.  Laurie, who is currently in theaters as part of the voice cast for the animated film “Hop,” commented on his new role saying:

“From the first words of the novel, and the first image of the screenplay, I was hooked on ‘Mr. Pip.’ It’s an immensely touching, unique, yet completely unsentimental story of love. It is unlike any script I have read, or any story I have ever heard. Plus I get to go to Papua New Guinea and call it work. I am a very lucky man.”