Peter Pan And Wendy: Disney Casts Jude Law As Live-Action Captain Hook
Disney is working on a live-action remake of their classic animated Peter Pan movie.
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Disney is working on a live-action remake of their classic animated Peter Pan movie. They’re calling it Peter Pan and Wendy. Following in the footsteps of their recent live-action Lady & The Tramp redo, their plan is for the new Peter Pan movie to skip theaters and go directly to Disney Plus.
It’s worth noting that Disney no longer owns the rights to Peter Pan. They don’t own them because no one does. Peter Pan is now old enough that the rights to J.M. Barrie’s classic story are in the public domain. As such, anyone can make anything they want with it now. So expect to see a slow of other companies trying to cash in on a character which was once the sole property of Disney. With this move to make a live action Peter Pan movie with Peter Pan and Wendy, Disney seems to be trying to beat all those would be Neverland competitors to market. Tinker Bell is on their logo, after all.
Casting Peter Pan And Wendy
Jude Law is officially in talks to play Captain Hook in Disney’s new Peter Pan movie, currently titled Peter Pan and Wendy, according to the trades. Not long ago Law was one of the most respected actors in Hollywood, but in recent years his star has faded significantly. He’s not the leading man he once seemed destined to become. Still, he’s a reliable and often above average performer, one whose specific talents lend themselves easily to playing a villain like Hook. Still, it’s a somewhat uninspired casting choice. It’s not exactly a Dustin Hoffman level casting decision. It’ll be hard for Law to top Hoffman’s performance as the character in Hook.
Early reports indicated that Disney had offered the part of Captain Hook in Peter Pan and Wendy to Joaquin Phoenix. But after he started racking up awards wins for his portrayal of a far less family-friendly villain: The Joker, he likely ended up being flooded other offers thanks to all the acclaim he reced. Also, Phoenix is not traditionally the kind of actor to do family movies. Offers from Disney, the most powerful media company in the world, are often hard to turn down, but turning down those kinds of offers is exactly what you’d expect from Joaquin Phoenix. So he’s out and Disney has hired Jude Law.
Word is that the studio is eyeing Margot Robbie, currently the star of Birds of Prey, to be their new Tinker Bell. Tink has been played by live humans on screen before, most notably Julia Roberts in Hook. And even though Hook is a really good, totally underrated movie… Margot Robbie seems like a much better fit for Tinker Bell in Peter Pan and Wendy.
So far the report is only that Disney has sent Robbie an offer. She hasn’t necessarily accepted yet. Coming off the success of the Oscar nominated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, she likely has her pick of offers.
Making Disney’s New Neverland Movie
Peter Pan and Wendy is set to begin production in April. David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks have been brought in to co-direct a script written by Halbrooks. Lowery and Halbrooks last worked for Disney directing and writing their 2016 live-action remake of Pete’s Dragon, a remake so forgettable we even forgot to put it on our live-action remake list.
