Role Call: There’s a New Ghost in Town – Who You Gonna Call?

There have been many adaptations of Oscar Wilde’s tale, The Canterville Ghost, including a musical version in 1966 and an animated version in 1988. However, animation has come a long way since the late 80s and it seems that a newly animated version is currently in pre-production. Announced on Monday during the Cannes Film Festival, Content Film is tackling Wilde’s tale, which will feature the voice talent of Stephen Fry as the ghost at the center of the story, Sir Simon de Canterville. Imelda Staunton and Toby Jones will also lend their voices to the film, but their roles have not been announced yet. For those unfamiliar with the story, here is the synopsis:

The ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville, who has been haunting his ancestral home in rural England for over 300 years, has never met an owner he couldn’t scare off – that is, until the Otis family moves in from America.

Additionally, Deadline reports that BBC Films has added The Lady in the Van to its Cannes schedule, starring Dame Maggie Smith. The film is an adaptation of Alex Bennett’s memoir about his experiences with Miss Shepherd, a vagrant who parked her old van in his driveway and stayed for 15 years. Smith will play Miss Shepherd in the film adaptation, which she previously played on stage.

Variety reports that casting has begun on the previously canceled film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. In a Q&A session at the Derby Film Festival, actor John Hurt indicated he may be attached to the project after being approached by director Terry Gilliam to star as Quixote, according to a blogger in attendance. For now, this remains in rumor status, as financing is still underway even though producer Adrian Guerra is trying to raise funds and Gilliam is scheduled to meet with actors in the running for roles in the film later this week. The film, if financed, is scheduled to begin filming this year.

The first official still from Domhnall Gleeson‘s film Brooklyn has been released, showing the actor in an embrace with co-star Saoirse Ronan.

Filming is beginning to wrap in Canada on the film, which centers around Ronan’s love triangle with Tony, an American she met in New York and Jim, an Irishman in her hometown, played by Gleeson. Other stills were released from the set, which you can see in our previous Role Call post from last month.

Shooting began last week for Cooking Cats, a drama that will star Jim Broadbent as a British ambassador. The film will center around the schemes of international aid workers who use money raised to live the high life while they should be funding humanitarian aid projects. Filming is slated to continue through June.

Set your DVR! Actress Dawn French, known to many Harry Potter fans as The Fat Lady from the third film in the franchise, will be a guest on The Graham Norton show this Friday, May 16 per a tweet sent out from the show.

Also set for an appearance this month is Ralph Fiennes, who will attend a special screening of Schindler’s List on May 22 at the JFF Zagreb – Tolerance Festival. Fiennes portrayed a Nazi war criminal in the film, which garnered him an Oscar nomination, a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In addition, it was announced this week in Cannes that Fiennes has signed on for an as-yet untitled project for Studiocanal, which is described as “a sexy thriller” by Studiocanal chairman-CEO Olivier Courson. Filming for this project is set to begin sometime this summer in Italy.

UK series Broadchurch has been given a second season, which will run concurrently with the US version, Gracepoint. David Tennant is set to star in both series, according to ITV’s director of drama, Steve November. Gracepoint will air this fall on Fox in the US, with Tennant in the role of Detective Emmett Carver, while filming is set to begin in Dorset for the second season of Broadchurch. Tennant will continue to play DI Alec Hardy in the UK version.

That’s all for this week’s edition of Casting News – tell us what you think about the upcoming projects and don’t forget to check out what all your favorite HP alum are taking on in the coming year by visiting our Cast Pages!