Armageddon Time: Anthony Hopkins & Jeremy Strong Join James Gray-Directed Pic

It has been more than a year since we’ve last heard an update regarding James Gray’s Armageddon Time, and now Deadline brings word that Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins (The Father) and Emmy winner Jeremy Strong (Succession) have signed to star opposite Anne Hathaway. In addition, Banks Repeta (Lovecraft Country), Jaylin Webb (The Wonder Years), and Ryan Sell (Broadway’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) have also been cast. Inspired by Gray’s life in a pre-Reagan America, Focus Features’ coming-of-age drama has just started its production in New York.

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Loosely based on his childhood memories, Armageddon Time is written and being directed by James Gray. It is a coming-of-age story that explores friendship and loyalty against the historical backdrop of Ronald Reagan’s presidential election.

“Every film you make is different, but I’m trying to do something that is the opposite of the vast, lonely and dark void of the movie I just directed,” Gray previously said. “I’m anxious to make something that is very much about people, about human emotions and interactions between people, and I want it to be filled with warmth and tenderness. In some sense, yes it’s about my childhood, but an illustration of familial love really on every level. I’m of the belief that most people do their best and that they try their best under difficult circumstances and in some sense that’s a beautiful thing and very moving to me.”

Hathaway is the only one from the first assembled cast that is still currently attached to the project. Robert De Niro, Cate Blanchett, Oscar Isaac, and Donald Sutherland were all initially set to star, but are now no longer part of the movie. It’s unclear as to why the film wasn’t able to retain most of its first main cast.

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Armageddon Time is produced by Gray, Anthony Katagas, Marc Butan, and Rodrigo Teixeira, with Lourenço Sant’Anna and Rodrigo Gutierrez serving as executive producers.

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