Johnny Depp & More in Talks for Murder on the Orient Express

Johnny Depp & More In Talks for Murder on the Orient Express

According to The Hollywood Reporter, superstar Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland) is in early talks to join 20th Century Fox‘s new Murder on the Orient Express, adapting Agatha Christie’s acclaimed mystery novel. Depp would join five-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh (Cinderella, Thor, My Week with Marilyn), who is set to star as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot as well as direct.

THR has also revealed the robust supporting cast for the film, which will include Depp’s Dark Shadows co-star Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Michael Pena (Ant-Man) and Dame Judi Dench (Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children). Leslie Odom Jr. (Broadway’s “Hamilton”) is also set to co-star along with Tom Bateman (“Jekyll & Hyde”), Lucy Boynton (Sing Street) and Sir Derek Jacobi (The King’s Speech).

Depp is set to play the pivotal role of Ratchett, the man who is murdered. Odom Jr. is playing Doctor Arbuthnot and Ridley will play Mary Debenham, a working class woman in love with Arbuthnot. Tom Bateman will play the Frenchman Bouc. Pfeiffer will ply Mrs. Hubbard, a glamorous and opinionated passenger with a secret, and Dench will play Princess Dragomiroff, a member of Russian royalty, and Pena plays a Cuban passenger named Marquez.

“Christie’s Murder is mysterious, compelling and unsettling,” said Branagh. “I’m honored to have this fantastic group of actors bring these dark materials to life for a new audience.”

Agatha Christie’s novel, published in 1934, is considered one of the most ingenious stories ever devised. It revolves around a murder onboard the famous train, and Poirot must solve the case – but there are a number of passengers who could potentially be the murderer.

Ridley Scott (The Martian), Simon Kinberg (The Martian, X-Men: Days of Future Past), Mark Gordon (Steve Jobs) and Branagh will produce the Murder on the Orient Express movie. Michael Schaefer and Aditya Sood will also produce in some capacity. Michael Green (Blade Runner 2) is writing the screenplay, with Steve Asbell overseeing the production for Fox. James Prichard and Hilary Strong will both executive produce.

Although several TV versions have been made, Murder on the Orient Express was previously – and most famously – adapted by director Sidney Lumet in a lavish 1974 feature starring Albert Finney as Poirot along with Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Colin Blakely, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Martin Balsam and Michael York.

Depp will reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in next summer’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and has also been announced to play The Invisible Man in both a solo film of the same name and in Universal’s larger interconnected monsters cinematic universe.

Are you excited for the cast of the new Murder on the Orient Express movie? Let us know in the comments below!

(Photo Credit: WENN.com)

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