20th Century Fox have today debuted the first look at director Kenneth Branagh’s star-studded remake of Agatha Christie’s Murder
A new version of the classic story, Branagh directs the film as well as taking the film’s lead, as the legendary sleuth Hercule Poirot. On board the famous train, Poirot must solve a murder onboard with everyone a suspect and the detective sifts through 13 strangers to find the killer. The film is produced by Ridley Scott (Alien: Covenant) and Simon Kinberg (The Martian) and written by Alien: Covenant scribe Michael Green.
With a release date set for November time across the globe, it’s fair to say that the studio will be pushing the film into contention for the awards season its release precedes and judging from the first trailer, that may well be the case. Also, with a prime Fall release, the film go play gangbusters to both the multiplex audiences and the independent ones as well.
Co-starring are Oscar Nominees Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Michelle Pfieffer (Dark Shadows), Penelope Cruz (Ma Ma), Willem Dafoe (Aquaman), and Dame Judi Dench (Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children as well as Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Josh Gad (Beauty and the Beast),Lucy Boynton (Sing Street), Derek Jacobi (Hamlet) and Olivia Colman (Broadchurch).
The famous novel has been remade countless times, with the first film version released in 1974 and directed by Sidney Lumet. Albert Finney then starred as Poirot alongside a similar eclectic cast including Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, Sir John Gielgud, Michael York, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave and Ingrid Bergman, who won the Supporting Actress Oscar for the film.
Murder on the Orient Express opens in UK cinemas on November 3rd before a US release on on November 10th.