Firth, Barnes sign for 'Dorian Gray'

Rex Features

Colin Firth and Ben Barnes will star in Oliver Parker's Oscar Wilde adaptation Dorian Gray.

The original novel centres around the handsome title character, who shows no signs of aging as he leads an increasingly corrupt life. However, evidence of his sins shows on his face in a portrait he keeps in his attic.

Barnes is cast as the lead, while Firth will play Lord Henry Wooton, an aristocrat who exerts a corrupting influence on Gray.

Firth worked with Parker previously on 2007 comedy St Trinian's. The movie begins shooting later this month.