Cast Begins to Board "Orient Express"
Friday, September 30, 2016 at 12:30AM Chris here. Remember what fun we had awhile back fantasy casting Kenneth Branagh's upcoming Murder on the Orient Express remake? Well, now some official names have been added to the cast and it should be just as much of a delight.
The two biggest names come as something of an unexpected Dark Shadows reunion (sorry for the reminder about that Tim Burton misfire): Michelle Pfeiffer and Johnny Depp will be the headliners to Branagh's own Poirot. Pfeiffer becomes the natural successor to Lauren Bacall as Mrs. Hubbard, a casting coup that feels both inspired and accurate. With Beat-Up Little Seagull and Darren Aronofsky's next film which is also probably coming in 2017, we'll be grateful to be seeing quite a bit of her. Depp will be playing Ratchett, the victim of the titular murder.
But they weren't the only names signing up, and the others make for quite an exciting assemblage: Daisy Ridley, Dame Judi Dench, Michael Peña, Derek Jacobi, and Hamilton's Leslie Odom Jr. are all coming on board. That may sound like a lot of names, but this massive cast still has quite a few roles to fill. Stay tuned!
Reader Comments (41)
Cast is OK... but still hate the idea of a remake of a very fine film... never happy with retreads...
only ones I am excited about are Dench, Jacobi and Pena...
Michael Pena !
2017 is going to so exciting for someone here i can't think why but I just think someone's 'comeback' is so wanted.
Pfeiffer is going to have quite a year next year. The Wizard of Lies (possible emmy nom) and the 3 you mentioned. I cannot wait.
I don't feel good about this. But at least Depp will have one of the smallest roles. He'll never live up to richard widmark though.
Does Pena have a good role?
Anonny: They're all good roles!
Peña is the casting choice that excites me the moat so far. He's such an underrated actor.
I hope this film works. I like Branagh and am optimistic. The 1974 film is a fave and anyone will have a hard time coming close to it. Branagh will need a top crew if he us going for the elegance of the previous version. All in all, I'm very much looking forward to seeing it.
2017 The Year Of Michelle Pfieffer,fantastic casting although i knew he'd have Dench in Hiller's old role.
moat=most. us=is. Me=No typos next time, hopefully!
Who gets Bergman's old role I wonder.Winslet is my choice.
With most I would be nervous, but Brannagh gives me confidence. Thank heavens we didn't get an America like Spielberg who has just *several* times that he just does not have the eye for this sort of material with its more British and European air about it.
The cast is intriguing - Pena and Odom Jr wonderfully unexpected additions, and Pfeiffer a definitely upgrade from Angelina Jolie.
Eeew! I don't even like the original movie.
All these people lining up to stab Johnny Depp for his recent movie choices! Makes sense.
"This is for Mortdecai!"
"This is for The Tourist!"
"This is for Alice in Wonderland 2!"
YES MICHELLE!!! So happy she's back working again.
(other than Depp) I'm loving this cast! I have no issue with this being remade. It's in safe hands with Branagh, he'll deliver exactly what's needed.
The vast majority of Branagh-directed features have been adaptations of classics (or "classics"), and he's been pretty good at it. So I wouldn't be too worried. The jury's still out on the cast, though, but I am intrigued so far.
I kind of saw Emma Thompson in Sybil Trelawney mode as the Bergman character, but Branagh wouldn't cast his ex, would he?
@James from Ames--that is the funniest thing I've read all morning!
James from Ames -- Count me in!
The original will not be topped. This will probably be as big a disaster as his remake of Sleuth
Color blind casting, possbly with an interracial romance, which would be an oddity if still set in the 1930s. Could this be modern retelling?
They'll never be able to improve on the '74 version but at least the cast looks interesting.
Michelle Pfeiffer is a much better fit for Mrs. Hubbard than Angelina Jolie would have been. She would have thrown the whole thing off by being too young. Plus I can see Michelle biting into the role and having fun with it.
Branagh must be moving the setting's period up otherwise the casting of Odom won't work, in the original time the story takes place an interracial relationship would never be approved of as the Arbuthnot/Debenham is by all. It would be more of a scandal than the one Arbuthnot is trying to avoid.
This isn't meant to be a rap at Dame Judi because I do love her but yawn. I had really hoped he would reach beyond the expected pool of Judi/Maggie/Helen to cast the Princess Dragomiroff with someone fabulous like Glenda Jackson, Julie Christie or Vanessa Redgrave.
Thank goodness they cast Depp as Ratchett so that he's killed off early and won't be in the film long enough to ruin it.
I adore the original. This whole thing makes me ill. Pena isn't even playing a character from the book. Hate this.
OMG there is so much negativity on this post people need to stay positive OMG I'm so happy it's all about PFEIFFER and I love it! 😃
@ ALEX I do not think it is necessarily negativity... but rather FEAR .. whenever
excellent movies are remade, they are usually a disaster ..
It really depends on your age and the amount of movies from the past you have been able to see...
PLEASE people do not give way the ending ... for the people who have never seen it... it has been almost totally given away in an earlier blog
Alex, brace yourself for more negativity. Unfortunately, Mrs. Hubbard is not a huge role, so it's not all about Pfeiffer. And it's bad enough to remake a beloved film. But adding insult to injury is that they're not even making the slightest attempt to be true to the book. Branagh is all wrong as Poirot, who is supposed to be short, fat and Belgian. Further, they're using new characters. I wouldn't be surprised if they changed the ending. Sigh.
Wendy Hiller. Ingrid Bergman, Rachel Roberts. John Gielgud. Albert Finney. Lauren Bacall. Richard Widmark. Vanessa Redgrave. Sean Connery. Jacqueline Bisset. Jean-Claude Brialy. Michael York. Anthony Perkins.
The 1974 is about glamor and star-power. The great acting is almost like an afterthought. Sorry, but this new cast just doesn't compare.
Wendy Hiller. Ingrid Bergman, Rachel Roberts. John Gielgud. Albert Finney. Lauren Bacall. Richard Widmark. Vanessa Redgrave. Sean Connery. Jacqueline Bisset. Jean-Claude Brialy. Michael York. Anthony Perkins.
The 1974 version is about glamor and star-power. The great acting is almost like an afterthought. Sorry, but this new cast just doesn't compare.
ken s.--cosign. that cast is incredible. what's even more astonishing is that with that slew of heavy hitters, all those legends of stage and screen, Finney is still able to hold the spotlight. Epic.
At the risk of trying your patience with my 4th! post, I have to correct myself> Not Jean-Claude Brialy but Jean-Pierre Cassel. Hey, why not bring his son Vincent, if they just have to do this remake (and I'm not saying they should)?
And let's not even contemplate the chasm between Kenneth Branagh as director and Sidney Lumet.
I'd rather they cleaned up the original prints and release it back on the big screens where it belongs.
I promise this is my last post on this topic.
Getting Vanessa Redgrave to play the Countess Dragomirov would have been great as she would have nailed the character and been a link to the last movie. But as a Communist, I'm not sure she would have wanted to play a Russian Countess.
ken, ITA. I told my friends the same thing this summer when they released the Ben-Hur remake. Why not just re-release the original? I guess they thought rampant ADD would preclude the presentation of a near-four-hour movie, but I still think that's just sad.
Also, why remake Murder On the Orient Express, when they're are about a hundred Agatha Christie novels that have not been filmed, nearly all of them dazzlingly clever. Makes no sense at all.
Isabella Rossellini should play Greta the role her mother did. If that is too weird I would still root for Lena Olin.
So will this be correct?
Branagh - Finney
Depp - Widmark
Pfeiffer - Bacall
Ridley - Bisset
Jacobi - Gielgud
Pena - Quilley
Odom Jr. - Perkins
smile folks
Any film that brings back the glorious Michelle to the screen is good news- a lot of people can't wait to see Depp getting murdered on screen after all this recent crappy movies
glorious?????
Ralph -
I read that Odom is Connery, and Ridley is....Redgrave?! Seems too young for that role to me, but paired with Odom, that's certainly interesting...
Countess Andrenyi (Jacqueline Bisset) is played by Lucy Boynton of Sing Street, while Tom Bateman (Da Vinci's Demons, Jekyll & Hyde) will play M. Bouc (Martin Balsam in the original).
Curious with Branaugh but this sounds cheesy. Michelle and Depp together is no bon voyage if not done well.
Just be happy guys shut the fuck up
beyond excited
excited
Not excited
negative brooksboy indeed