Shooting has begun on the film adaptation of AlanBennett's The History Boys.

Like the award winning play, the film version will bedirected by Nicholas Hytner from a script by Bennett.

The project is financed by DNA and BBC Films anddistributed by Fox Searchlight. The film will shoot for six weeks onlocation in Watford and Yorkshire.

The History Boys is the first film collaborationbetween Hytner and Bennett since their Oscar nominated, BAFTA winning featurefilm The Madness of King George.

The History Boys tells the story of a group ofbright, funny history students in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxfordor Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English teacher (RichardGriffiths), a young and shrewd professor hired to up their test scores (StephenCampbell Moore), a grossly out-numbered history teacher (Frances de la Tour),and a headmaster obsessed with results (Clive Merrison), the boys attempt tosift through it all to pass the daunting university admissions process. Theirjourney becomes as much about how education works, as it is about whereeducation leads.

The key cast of the film will remain the same as for theoriginal stage version led by Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison, Frances de laTour, Stephen Campbell Moore, with Sacha Dhawan, Samuel Anderson, DominicCooper, Andrew Knott, Samuel Barnett, Russell Tovey, Jamie Parker and JamesCorden reprising their roles as the boys.

The History Boys will be produced by Kevin Loader,Damian Jones and Nicholas Hytner.

Joining the cast as new characters in Bennett'sadaptation are Penelope Wilton (Calendar Girls, Iris) as art teacherMrs. Bibby, Adrian Scarborough (Vera Drake) as sports teacher Mr.Wilkes, and Georgia Taylor (Blackpool) as Fiona, the Headmaster'salluring secretary.