'Nanny McPhee' sequel shooting soon

LONDON, April 28 (UPI) -- Universal Pictures and Working Title Films say principal photography is set to begin next month in England on "Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang."

Oscar-winning actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson is returning to the title role she originated in the "Nanny McPhee," the tale of a magical caretaker who appears when she's wanted the least and needed the most.

The new family comedy will be directed by Susanna White, whose credits include television's "Bleak House," "Generation Kill" and "Jane Eyre."

Also returning for the second entry in the "McPhee" film franchise is producer Lindsay Doran, who previously worked with Thompson on the Victorian era-set "Nanny McPhee," as well as the contemporary comedy "Stranger Than Fiction" and the big-screen adaptation of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility."

In addition to starring in and writing the "McPhee" sequel, Thompson will executive produce it.

"In the latest installment, Nanny McPhee jumps forward in time and appears at the door of a harried young mother who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war," Universal said in a news release. "But once she's arrived, Nanny McPhee discovers that Mrs. Green's children are fighting a war of their own against two nasty, snobby cousins who have just moved in and refuse to leave."

Joining Thompson in the cast are Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rhys Ifans, Asa Butterfield, Maggie Smith and Ralph Fiennes.