With Angelina Jolie dropping out of Kenneth Branagh's Murder On the Orient Express and Charlize Theron not signed, the film could use a dose of star power. So how does Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer sound?
The Dark Shadows duo are being sought to join the adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic murder mystery. THR calls them "names of interest" like they are suspects in a murder investigation themselves. So far neither is on board and who knows if they ever will be. No matter what the movie will indeed leave the station despite some complaining that we don't need new version when Sidney Lumet's 1974 film was so good.
“One of the criticisms that I keep getting levied at me is that [the previous film adaptations] were so amazing. ‘How can you remake ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ ?’", Hillary Strong, CEO of Agatha Christie Limited told the trade. “They’re iconic films, but they are of their time, and there is a new cinema audience that won’t watch films that were made in 1957 or 1974, and we want them to hear her stories.”
Like it or not she isn't wrong. Most audiences today have zero interest in some movie that came out 30 or 40 years ago, and the only way to introduce them is with a modern update. If they dig it, they'll go out in search of the original. Or at least that's the hope.
