Gillian Anderson is excited to be cast as Magda, it would seem. I am not sure of the company producing this, but I wonder if this going to be an American or British production? Some of the actors are American, and others are English, because the studio handling this project could predict whether this will be a good film-- I just hope if it is Americsn it is more along the lines of Witness for the Prosecution than some of the 1980s films, and if it is English, I hope they try to stray from changes that the ITV films and recent BBC adaptions seem to have done. however, I have faith in this film. It has great source material, a coherent and strong writing team, phenomenal producers and crew as well as actors, but the director I am unsure of as well as the studio. It will release in Spring or Summer of next year, by the looks of it.
What has happened to the other couple? The guy who wasn't very good at business, and who was afraid of upsetting his father, and the scientist wife who had no interest in possessions?
Is it possible, d'you think, CrookedQuin, that the directors will leave out the other couple completely? I hope not, as the list of suspects will be too small, in my opinion, if they do.
@Griselda It could be possible, as the radio play left out a few characters, but I do think it would be best if they kept the characters. I think it is likely they will keep them, but I am unsure about Laurence Brown, the schoolteacher, and the Nanny Janet Rowe. I hope they have all of them, or else the suspect list will only be six, and that's counting Eustace and Gaitskill, of which I believe their parts are to enlargen here. If they include the others, it is ten, and then I believe the twist would be possibly more surprising, but hopefully the murderer is not shadowed by any other characters, as they need a balanced screen time. If it is around two hours and not one and a half, I believe they could make this work.
If it is around two hours and not one and a half, I believe they could make this work.
The film can only work well if it's in competent and skillful hands, with a competent scriptwriter, director and actors/actresses who can flesh out these roles on screen. They can really pull it off and I hope they do. I hope they can show that they can pull off a faithful adaptation of an Agatha Christie mystery on the big screen and do it without resorting to the cheap, smoke and mirrors tricks of modern film-making.
Here's hoping all the characters stay in. Not productive to speculate, but nevertheless, interesting. Here's my view. That will be absurd if they leave out Laurence Brown, the tutor. The whole point of his little romance is that it is what the high and mighty family would have seen in those days and social times as petit bourgois, and naff: sharing poetry; sneaking around; being sentimental. Brenda's (is that Aristide's wife's name?) temperament contrasts with Sophia's more upper middle class, stiff upper lip, practical nature. The social dimension will be removed, and the sense of the difficulty of Brenda's (is she the younger wife?) situation as a not very well-educated woman, but a decent one, nevertheless. Well, at least, that interpretation of her character is open to readers, which gives the story some depth and nuance - some readers will choose to see her as a schemer, but that's there choice, and we have a nice ambiguity. With significant characters left out - characters, which though inadequately developed, give balance, we are left with one of the stronger themes of the story, and, I'm afraid to say, that if the directors are breaking up the jigsaw of the family itself, and ignoring the interest therein, you have one strong theme: the unnatural child. Some of we posters had hoped the directors would not make a sort of horror story out of this, and I still hope that they do not., and I hope all the characters stay in. It is all jus speculation at this stage.
@ChristieFanForLife what i had meant by the time frame was to say that I believe it is already in competent hands, but they will need a longer running time to develop the characters. This will be the first Christie film in theaters in 31 years, so here's hoping it's good!
I'm glad that after all this time they are finally doing a film version of Crooked House (which is one of my personal favorites). It looks like it's going to have an interesting cast though the only one that I definitely recognize is Glenn Close. It looks like they still need to cast someone to play Roger (the eldest son), his wife Clemency, Philip (the second son), Laurence Brown (Brenda's lover and tutor to Eustace and Josephine), Sir Arthur Hayward (Charles' father), and Janet Rowe (the children's nanny). I hope they find someone to play these remaining parts. I hope they don't do too many drastic changes in the upcoming film especially towards the ending and most importantly the killer's identity. I know this may be hard because of the killer's age and probably disturbing in today's times but that's what makes this novel such a chilling and suspenseful Christie classic. I think it's interesting how she made no concessions to her killers and in this case it's understandable. In real life there were such killers as (Spoiler Alert) .Josephine who commits a cold-blooded crime for such a pathetic and "childish" motive. Also remember Lily Gamboll from Mrs. Mcginty's Dead who (spoiler alert) killed her small frail elderly aunt with a meat chopper just because she said she wouldn't let her go the movies. Whether in today's times or in Christie's time children have been know to kill for strange, stupid, or terrifying motives and I don't think we should hide or ignore that fact for this new film version. Anyway I hope we find out gets to play Roger, Philip, Clemency, Laurence Brown, Sir Arthur Hayward, and Janet Rowe.
@cameronjhw, I completely agree. There have been other ideas here about the story and how it might be altered to appeal to audiences as well as stay true to the classic, and I find them very intriguing. Griselda mentioned how they might have--
(spoilers)
Josephine's death scene be changed so she dies earlier, like when she is about to fake her "accident" to divert suspicions from here and it leads to her demise, and this can either take place after Nanny's death (and she pretends to have seen who Nanny's killer was so that the audience believes she was murdered because of her knowledge instead of an accident) or before (like she puts the poison in her hot chocolate, does the accident and ends up dying after hiding her notebook in Topsy's dog kennel, and after a delay with the hot chocolate as everyone is looking for Josephine, they find her body. Nobody is in the mood for the beverage, so Nanny drinks the rest in remorse for Josephine's death, and dies, making it appear as if Nanny was destined to be murdered after Josephine. And as all of the material and psychological clues have been planted beforehand, they could do it like such. Edith eventually cleans out the kennel, finds Josephine's notebook in surprise, then takes all of the evidence of Josephine to dump out in the river so the family name is not tarnished of Jospehine's evil having run through the family's bloodline. She drives there, and her car slips off the edge of the ravine, and she dies, so everyone who died in the novel does in this situation, but it prevents the audiences from being as disturbed. Then at the end Charles finds everything, pieces it together, and tells Sophia about how she usurped the best traits and Josephine the worst, and the movie ends with the marriage to balance out the deaths to provide an edge of hopefulness in the story.
(End Spoilers)
--for the last five roles, I hope they cast them as well! They seem to reveal a new cast member each day, as they are in the middle of filming. I'm excited as well!! It is one of my favorite Christie novels as well for the audacity brought into its solution and denouement. Here's hoping to a good film!
Has there been any updates yet on who's going to play Roger Leonides, Clemency Leonides, Philip Leonides, Laurence Brown, Sir Arthur Hayward, and Janet Rowe in the new upcoming film version? I do hope these characters will be included in the film at least have Roger, Philip, and Clemency because they are also members of the family and at least have Laurence Brown because he's the tutor to the two younger grandchildren and also is Brenda's lover. I suppose the character of Sir Arthur Hayward doesn't necessarily have to be in the film but he does give Charles some valuable assistance in the case. Also Janet Rowe, the nanny is a minor character but she kind of gives Charles some help too and also becomes the second murder victim. Anyway hope these characters won't be left out of the film and I'm anxious to see the film once they are doing with filming and see one of Christie's personal favorites enacted on the big screen.
@cameronjhw I believe Cheif Inspector Tavener is going to replace Arthur Hayward along with the Sergeant Glover character, also which has been casted. I believe Charles in this adaption is going to be the sole 'main' investigator as they are changing his role and his relationship to Sophie from it being an engagement to it being broken off, and how she returns to him, imploring him to solve the murder. Albeit Gaitskell seems to have a larger part than in the movie rather than the book, making him a additional suspect. The film will come out in Early to Mid 2017 as they have already begun filming and I believe they are drawing to a close. They will reveal the other actors/actresses later, maybe because they haven't casted yet and they will just film their scenes after being done with all the others, or because it is a surprise casting, though the former one seems likelier unless they have big names they have in the film other than Glenn Close that they want to increase the hype for.
@cameronjhw they cast a role known as Cigarette Girl, according to the IMDB page, to be played by Ani Nelson. I have no clue who this is supposed to be, but it seems that they are casting smaller roles as well!
I saw that someone was cast as a dancer. However there still has been no mention of anyone playing Roger, Philip, Clemency, and Laurence Brown. I'm kinda worried if these characters aren't going to be featured in the upcoming film. It would seem odd if they cut out of the film version because Roger and Philip are the victim's only surviving sons, Laurence besides being the tutor to Eustace and Josephine is also Brenda's lover, and Clemency is Roger's wife. They along with the rest of the family are all under suspicion for Aristide's murder. I guess it's okay if Sir Arthur Hayward won't be included in the film but I wonder about Janet Rowe, the nanny. Even though she's not all that important she unwittingly becomes murder victim #2. Anyway I know there's still some more work to be done for the movie I just hope that the film will include all the unique and unusual members of the Leonides family in Crooked House.
@cameronjhw they are probably filming the scenes with the actors they have on hold right now. This has happened with movies before, like they have an actor or actress they want to cast, but they are filming for another movie so they have to wait to cast them and they film all of the scenes without these characters because maybe, like .Glenn .Close may be busy with other films later so they film it now and wait for other actors as they will not have access to Glenn, or maybe another actor/actress later on as they wait for this other actor. This may be that they are considering popular actors/actresses for the other role,s which I am intrigued of.
Has there been any recent updates on casting the parts of Roger, Philip, Clemency, and Laurence Brown? I've been seeing different names on various online websites and I'm curious as to whether or not it's true or not. I wonder if the nanny Janet Rowe will be included in the film or not. Anyway hope to hear some new information on these remaining characters.
@cameronjhw No, I'm afraid there have been no new names on IMDB What are these other websites? I'd like to see what new information they might offer. IMDB can be edited by the fans, so they may not have been updated yet.
I don't remember the names of the other websites but I do remember they mentioned other names that apparently maybe in the new film version like Amanda Abbington, Julian Sands, and Christian MacKay. Those are the only new names I saw on those other websites. Julian Sands played Thomas Royde in Towards Zero on the Marple series, Amanda Abbington played Miss Blake in Cat Among the Pigeons, and Christian MacKay played Jefferson Cope in Appointment with Death; the last two on the Poirot series. If the other websites are to be believed then I could see Abbington play the role of Clemency, Julian Sands I could see play Philip, and MacKay probably Roger. Anyway hope it's true and that we'll see their names on IMDB as the remaining roles are added to the list.
It has been finally confirmed. Today I saw on IMDB that Amanda Abbington will play the role of Clemency, Julian Sands will play Philip, Christian Mackay will play Roger, an actor named John Heffernan will play Laurence Brown, and Jenny Galloway will play the role of Janet Rowe (the nanny) in the new upcoming film version of Crooked House next year. Finally they were able to cast the remaining roles with the exception of Sir Arthur Hayward but I can over that it's okay. Anyway here's luck that the new Christie film Crooked House becomes a success on the big screen next year.
@cameronjhw those are all great actors and actresses! I remember seeing Amanda Abington in season 3 of Sherlock and she was fantastic, especially in the final episode of that season. Most of who they have fasted are very wise choices indeed, and them all interacting as a family will be amazing! They have the whole cast and crew together. They are just about ready to complete filming by the looks of it, likely by the end of the year. I foresee a release date probably in mid May 2017. The first trailer/piece of marketing will arrive likely in January or February, but it seems closer to the former as this project has been longer in the running and likely is close to completion of editing
With the entire cast and crew together (as seen on IMDB which is unfortunately closing its discussion board) how long does anyone here think before we get a trailer? The filming seems to be wrapping up (it began in September but I believe some actors were cast during the production, throughout December). It is definitely coming out in 2017, likely before Murder on the Orient Express due to the former likely being in the editing stage. This is also a theatrical release. Maybe a trailer in March and release in June? This seems to be a smaller scale production.
@CrookedQuin, I'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping that this will be a first-rate production, remaining faithful to the book and not veering off into unnecessary changes trying so hard with modern, contemporary themes losing the "feel" of an Agatha Christie story.
Comments
Witness for the Prosecution than some of the 1980s films, and if it is English, I hope they try to stray from changes that the ITV films and recent BBC adaptions seem to have done. however, I have faith in this film. It has great source material, a coherent and strong writing team, phenomenal producers and crew as well as actors, but the director I am unsure of as well as the studio. It will release in Spring or Summer of next year, by the looks of it.
Crooked House (2017)
Full Cast & Crew
Directed by
Writing Credits
Cast
Produced by
Cinematography by
Casting By
Production Design by
Art Direction by
Set Decoration by
Makeup Department
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Art Department
Camera and Electrical Department
Casting Department
Transportation Department
Other crew
(spoilers)
Josephine's death scene be changed so she dies earlier, like when she is about to fake her "accident" to divert suspicions from here and it leads to her demise, and this can either take place after Nanny's death (and she pretends to have seen who Nanny's killer was so that the audience believes she was murdered because of her knowledge instead of an accident) or before (like she puts the poison in her hot chocolate, does the accident and ends up dying after hiding her notebook in Topsy's dog kennel, and after a delay with the hot chocolate as everyone is looking for Josephine, they find her body. Nobody is in the mood for the beverage, so Nanny drinks the rest in remorse for Josephine's death, and dies, making it appear as if Nanny was destined to be murdered after Josephine. And as all of the material and psychological clues have been planted beforehand, they could do it like such. Edith eventually cleans out the kennel, finds Josephine's notebook in surprise, then takes all of the evidence of Josephine to dump out in the river so the family name is not tarnished of Jospehine's evil having run through the family's bloodline. She drives there, and her car slips off the edge of the ravine, and she dies, so everyone who died in the novel does in this situation, but it prevents the audiences from being as disturbed. Then at the end Charles finds everything, pieces it together, and tells Sophia about how she usurped the best traits and Josephine the worst, and the movie ends with the marriage to balance out the deaths to provide an edge of hopefulness in the story.
(End Spoilers)
--for the last five roles, I hope they cast them as well! They seem to reveal a new cast member each day, as they are in the middle of filming. I'm excited as well!! It is one of my favorite Christie novels as well for the audacity brought into its solution and denouement. Here's hoping to a good film!