A movie adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's unsettling bestseller Never Let Me Go featuring three of Britain's brightest stars – Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield – is to open this year's London film festival, it was announced yesterday.The film has three of Britain's brightest acting talents in the central roles. Knightley is well established while Mulligan had an Oscar nomination and Bafta win for An Education. It will be the second film based on an Ishiguro novel to open the festival after Merchant-Ivory's The Remains of the Day in 1993. "It is a fantastic privilege, I feel very lucky," Ishiguro said. "To some extent it is a showcase for British talent and it's a tremendous honour." Ishiguro's 2005 novel was adapted into a screenplay by Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later) even before it was published.Garfield is set for superstardom when he replaces Tobey Maguire in the next Spider-Man movie."I think the film is a great showcase for a new young generation of British actors," Ishiguro said. "I feel they act in a different way to the old guard that's hard to put your finger on: it's less theatrical, there's a real jagged edge."Never Let Me Go tells the story of three young adults at a English boarding school where there is a dark secret. It is a co-production between DNA Films, Film4 and Fox Searchlight and is being talked of in terms of Oscars and Baftas.Sandra Hebron, the festival's artistic director, said the film had originality and ambition. "I'm generally disastrous at predicting what might win prizes but I would be surprised if the film doesn't feature in the nominations."The film will get its European premiere at the festival on 13 October.