Mirren joins 'Brighton Rock' cast

Helen Mirren has joined the cast of 'Brighton Rock'.

The 'State Of Play' actress and 'Romeo and Juliet' actor Pete Postlethwaite are the latest stars to sign up to appear in Rowan Joffe's remake of the 1947 movie, which is based on Graham Greene's 1939 novel and was written by the author himself.

Sam Riley and Andrea Riseborough have already been cast in the film, with Sam playing Pinkie, a murderer who seduced Andrea's waitress character after she witnesses him carrying out a killing. The movie focuses on their relationship against a background of organised crime.

Rowan has also written the script for the film, which is believed to stick close to the novel than the first movie.

He said: "We're making Brighton Rock as contemporary as we possibly can because the story feels 'modern'. It's too alive, too vibrant and too relevant to be contained in the late thirties.

"Any form of adaptation is corruption. And Greene - who lovingly and pragmatically corrupted much of his own work to fit the big screen - would have been the first to understand that."

Filming is set to start in London and Brighton in October.