Exclusive picture from new Mike Leigh film

Click here to see the first picture from the forthcoming Mike Leigh film, 'Happy-Go-Lucky'

More details are emerging about Mike Leigh's first film since being nominated for several Oscars for 'Vera Drake' in 2005.

Leigh's new feature is called 'Happy-Go-Lucky' and will be released in the UK in the spring 0f 2008 – after having its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

'Happy-Go-Lucky' stars Sally Hawkins as a teacher in north London – a performance which, we're told, sees her 'in every single frame of the film'.

Hawkins previously had smaller roles in Leigh's 'Vera Drake' as well as his 2002 film, 'All or Nothing'. She will appear soon as Colin Farrell's wife in Woody Allen's 'Cassandra's Dream'.

Hawkins is joined in the film by the actor Eddie Marsan, who also appeared in Leigh's 'Vera Drake'.

We're told that 'Happy-Go-Lucky' is a comedy – as this exclusive still for the film might suggest – but we also hear that it's not a film without a dark side.

Time Out will report further on the film in the New Year.

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