JJ Abrams And Idris Elba Teaming Up For Christmas Movie
If your Christmas wish was a collaboration between J.J. Abrams and Idris Elba, we have some very good news for you.
The holidays are coming early for fans of JJ Abrams and Idris Elba as it’s been announced that the legendary director’s production company will be teaming up with the actor and a slew of other top-tier Hollywood names to bring a Christmas favorite book to on-screen life. The bestselling book in question is The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy, which has won over readers of all ages – something that it’s bound to do all over again when it makes moves for screens everywhere. According to Deadline, the project will also star the likes of Tom Hollander, Gabriel Byrne, and Jude Coward Nicoll.
The JJ Abrams-backed production will star Idris Elba as the fox, Tom Hollander as the mole, Gabriel Byrne as the horse, and Jude Coward Nicoll as the boy. The original story centers around a young boy who doesn’t fit in with the other children in his village. With no one to entertain him but himself, he decides to go for a long and aimless walk through the gorgeous countryside on a glorious spring afternoon. Soon, he comes to make new friends, first meeting the mole, followed by the others. The group forms a bond, leading the boy to find his first crew of tightly knit friends.
JJ Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions will join with NoneMore Productions’ Cara Speller to bring Idris Elba’s fox and the other animals to life through dazzling animations. The book is known for its gorgeous, loosely animated depictions of the title characters and their journey, so it will be exciting to see how the crew behind the production plans to adapt them for on-screen visualization. Mackesy and Peter Baynton will co-direct the feature which Mackesy will also co-adapt with Jon Croker. Isobel Waller-Bridge (Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s sister!) will add her musical talents as the film’s composer with Matthew Freud serving as the film’s lead producer.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse will mark the second time that JJ Abrams and Idris Elba have joined forces for a feature-length production. While Abrams has never directed the Hollywood superstar, Bad Robot Productions served as one of the companies backing 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. The film saw Elba doing what he does best – playing a bad guy. This time he starred as Captain Balthazar Edison who was ultimately transformed into the evil and powerful alien, Krall. Elba starred in the feature with the names now well associated with the newest imagining of the big-screen Star Trek franchise, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and the late Anton Yelchin.
With the folks associated with the retelling of Charlie Mackesy’s best-selling novel, we can expect a heartfelt, endearing, and warm story, great for all ages and perfect for the holiday season. While it won’t be the genre of film that either JJ Abrams or Idris Elba are known for, it will be fun to see how each leaves his mark on an animated piece. As of right now, the project does not have a specific release date.
