Hugo Weaving was born to play Old Georgie, I'm convinced.
I'm not sure how, but this movie isn't even on my radar. I just saw this preview and it looks bad ass. I take it you've seen the film?
Sounds like it is worth a look, if nothing else to see Tom Hanks in something "unusual". I have a hard time watching him sometimes and then others I really enjoy his work. Sounds like an interesting cast.
It only just came out a few weeks ago here in Ireland (having been out in the US for several months) and a friend of mine who loves the book got me interested in seeing it. It turned out to be fantastic. I really loved how you'd see a character and then think "Wait a minute... Is that Hugh Grant? That is Hugh Grant!" We watched the movie and then stayed up till five chatting, and even though I had an appointment at ten it was well worth it.
I would not have thought they could have done justice to the book (which I enjoyed quite a lot), but they really did. The two are very different in many ways, but both are really good. A more literal translation of the book to film just would not have worked as well.