He has cast a fresh-faced 23-year-old unknown, Ben Whishaw, as the tortured prince.

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Her film Bright Star, which starred Skyfall star Ben Whishaw as the poet John Keats, also showed at Cannes in 2009.

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In 1818, a half-educated but boldly self-possessed beauty named Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) captures the admiration, and then the love, of a tubercular young man (Ben Whishaw).

NEWYORKER: Bright Star

They are also offering odds on Sherlock star Martin Freeman, on Skyfall's Ben Whishaw and on former assistant Billie Piper returning to the series as the Doctor's new incarnation.

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Other stars on the red carpet included Ralph Fiennes, who plays a senior government official, Bond girls Naomie Harris and Berenice Marlohe, and Ben Whishaw as the new Q.

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Ben Whishaw is a breath of fresh air as a youthful Q, and Craig himself remains the first 007 who might conceivably take down Sean Connery in hand-to-hand combat.

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Ben Whishaw plays the glowering Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born among the fish stalls of eighteenth-century Paris, who follows his nose and becomes the assistant to a noted Italian perfumer (Dustin Hoffman).

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The first shot in the series is a closeup of an intense young man, Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw), practicing his pitch to the head of the news department, to try to get on the new show.

NEWYORKER: Empire State of Mind