Daniel Day Lewis or Ben Whishaw: Who should play Charles Dickens?

Keen-eyed Ben Whishaw fans, among whom I count myself, will have seen a story circulating this week that Daniel Day Lewis and the man himself are both being considered to play literary giant Charles Dickens in a biopic about his secret affair with a young woman, Nelly Ternan, called The Invisible Woman.

Naturally I'm excited about any potential new project for Mr W and this one has the makings of a corker not only because it has the expert hands of Abi Morgan writing but also thesp Ralph Fiennes directing.

But I'm curious as to why our Ben would be up against Daniel Day Lewis. While similar in their approaches to acting - Day Lewis is very picky about projects - they are both very different in age: 30 and 54.

According to the fount of all knowledge that is Wikipedia, Charles Dickens was 45 when he met the 18-year-old Nelly so neither is a perfect fit age-wise and either choice is going to bring a very different dynamic to the story.

Dickens was a fascinating man, extraordinarily talented, hard-working and successful. He was also intensely romantic but got frustrated with his marriage and wasn't particularly nice to his wife, with whom he had 10 children. His relationship with Nelly only came to light after his death.

Fiennes has apparently met with Imogen Poot, Felicity Jones and Abbie Cornish as potential Nelly's. Mr W has of course worked with the latter two (The Tempest and Bright Star), he has also worked with Abi Morgan too (The Hour). So there is already a bit of chemistry there which might put him in a good position.

And he can also grow and look good with a beard but then so can Mr Day Lewis.

Of course anything that Mr W chooses to do would be both exciting and an inevitable joy but I'm thinking that Mr Day Lewis might be a more natural fit here.

I'm also starting to hunger after seeing Ben play a character that is a bit more extreme. I'm sure I've said it before in a blog post but I'd love him to play a real villain.

Fiennes is playing Prospero in the West End and then shooting the new James Bond so it will be next year before filming could actually starts on The Invisible Woman, so it may well be a while yet before we find out whether it is Daniel or Ben that bags the part.

Comments

[Rev Stan]

I agree. Thought crossed my mind too about another role - it would be great to get hold of the script and see. The only thing I can think of, without knowing what other characters there are, is if they have flashbacks and he plays the younger Dickens. But I would be surprised by that.

[Eliza]

I remember when this story first surfaced last year and thinking to myself that someone really had something wrong. It would be slightly surprising, but not impossible, to think that Ben Whishaw and Daniel Day-Lewis would be up for the same role. But the story of this film, itself, revolves around a 45 year old man running off with a teenager. I'd buy DDL at 45 far before I'd believe it for Ben, who at 30 hardly looks into his late twenties.

I actually have a theory about this news story. Perhaps they are both up for the film, but in different roles? I just looked into Nelly Ternan's story and was disappointed to find that she had neither a young jealous husband nor a protective brother or something Ben could play. I'd love to get my hands on a script to see what other roles there are. It does all add up now that he's tight with writer Abi Morgan, but I have a feeling he's not up for the role of Dickens.