From PRINCE CASPIAN to "Prince Charming"? Now that Narnia is safe or whatever, Brit star Ben Barnes is putting his chiseled good looks and large hair to good use in another literary adaptation, this one a bit more classic.
Barnes will take the lead role in an update of Oscar Wilde's hedonistic cautionary tale THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. The Faustian parable follows a handsome young lad who successfully wishes that his aging and sinful indulgences are reflected in a painting of himself, leaving him free to commit all sorts of debauchery without consequence. Which, of course, doesn't last.
The project comes from producer Barnaby Thompson and director Oliver Parker, the team behind the girlschool comedy ST. TRINIAN'S (of which a sequel is also in the works). They plan to make GRAY a "visceral, dark horror story" about the themes of stardom.
Extra Tidbit:
In features and TV movies, Dorian Gray has at different times been portrayed by TRANSFORMERS star Josh Duhamel, undergone a gender-swap, been French, and betrayed the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.
