Watch the Trailer for 'Their Finest' based on Lissa Evans 'Their Finest Hour and a Half' Coming in March

If you loved Bill Nighy in Love Actually—and how could you not?—you might be as interested as I am in seeing Their Finest based on Lissa Evans book Their Finest Hour and a Half. As a British period film set during WWII—a period of history that was pivotal in my parents’ lives—it ticks a big personal box for me. I’m a little perplexed that I missed hearing/reading about this adaptation sooner. I do pay more attention to this stuff than the average bear. 

As much as I love Nighy, Gemma Arterton is the film’s lead along with Me Before You’s Sam Claflin. The cast includes Jeremy Irons, Jack Huston (The Yellow Birds) and Helen McCory (Peaky Blinders). Their Finest comes to American theatres on March 24th.

About the book

From the author of the acclaimed Crooked Heart comes another “smart, funny, ingenious, revealing tale of London life during the Second World War” (The Independent)—longlisted for the Orange Prize upon its original publication in England.

It is 1940. France has fallen, and only a narrow strip of sea lies between Great Britain and invasion. The war could go either way and everyone must do their bit. Young copy writer Catrin Cole is drafted into the Ministry of Information to help “write women” into propaganda films—something that the men aren’t very good at.

She is quickly seconded to the Ministry’s latest endeavor: a heart-warming tale of bravery and rescue at Dunkirk. It’s all completely fabricated, of course, but what does that matter when the nation’s morale is at stake? Since call-up has stripped the industry of its brightest and best, it is the callow, the jaded and the utterly unsuitable who must make up the numbers: Ambrose Hilliard, third most popular British film-star of 1924; Edith Beadmore, Madame Tussauds wardrobe assistant turned costumier; and Arthur Frith, whose peacetime job as a catering manager has not really prepared him for his sudden, unexpected elevation to Special Military Advisor.

Now in a serious world, in a nation under siege, they must all swallow their mutual distaste, ill-will, and mistrust to unite for the common good, for King and Country, and—in one case—for better or worse....

Also interesting as you’ve likely heard Christopher Nolan is currently working on the film Dunkirk, based on the same famous WWII battle. 

Here’s the trailer