Dan Stevens (Beauty and the Beast) is set to star as Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas. Dickens, beloved English novelist in the Victorian era, wrote many famous classics including The Adventures of Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield. The Man Who Invented Christmas details the life of Dickens during six weeks in 1843 when he was writing A Christmas Carol.

Also in the cast are Jonathan Pryce (The Ghost and the Whale), playing Dickens’ father, and Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer (Remember) playing the ‘Scrooge’ character from A Christmas Carol. Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) will helm. Susan Coyne (Mozart in the Jungle) is adapting the screenplay from Les Standiford’s book of the same name.

Robert Mickelson and Ian Sharples are producing. Executive producers are Paula Mazur, Mitchell Kaplan, Andrew Karpen and Vadim Jean. Bleecker Street has acquired U.S. distribution rights for the film.

Stevens broke the hearts of Downton Abbey fans when he decided to leave the acclaimed British period drama series in its third season. He has since kept busy on the big screen, and will soon be seen opposite Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway (Alice Through the Looking Glass) in the sci-fi action thriller Colossal which opens February 23rd, and as the Beast/Prince Adam in Disney’s much-anticipated live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast opposite Emma Watson (Regression), bowing March 17th.