Dorian Gray (2009 film) of the story not following the original plot of the book. Dorian Gray (2009 film) Dorian Gray is a 2009 British fantasy-horror drama film based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray". The adaptation is directed by Oliver Parker, written by Toby Finlay (his first screenplay), and stars Ben Barnes as Dorian Gray and Colin Firth as Lord Henry Wotton. It tells the story of the title character, an attractive Englishman whose image is captured in an enchanted painting that keeps him from ageing. His portrait becomes tainted with every sin he commits, while he remains young
The Picture of Dorian Gray made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the story for book publication the following year. The longer and revised version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" published in book form in 1891 featured an aphoristic preface—a defence of the artist's rights and of art for art's sake—based in part on his press defences of the novel the previous year. The content, style, and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own right, as a literary and artistic manifesto. In April 1891, the publishing firm of Ward, Lock and Company, who had distributed