Film gearing up for April start…
Kathy Bates (‘Tammy,’ ‘Harry’s Law’), Glenn Close (‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Albert Nobbs’), Octavia Spencer (‘Snowpiercer’ ‘The Help’), and Danny Glover (‘Tokarev,’ ‘Extraction’) have all joined the cast of ‘The Great Gilly Hopkins,’ an adaptation of Katherine Paterson’s multi-award-winning young adult novel that has up-and-coming actress Sophie Nélisse (‘The Book Thief,’ ‘Monsieur Lazhar’) in the title role.
The book, published in 1978, tells the story of “a wisecracking, gum-chewing 11-year-old, who is well known in the foster system. Totally unmanageable, Gilly has stayed with more families than she can remember and has outwitted them all. After all, how can she settle down when her real mother, the beautiful and glamorous Courtney, might be out there waiting for her?
When Gilly is sent to live with the Trotters, the weirdest family yet, she isn’t planning to stick around. However, cheerful, affectionate Maime Trotter (Bates) isn’t giving up on Gilly just yet – she is sure there’s a hurt little girl in there somewhere. Gilly knows she has to escape, and if she can’t run then she’ll lie her way out. But her grand plan doesn’t go as intended, and she starts to think maybe she was wrong about Trotter. Maybe wrong about everything.”
Stephen Herek (‘101 Dalmatians,’ ‘The Three Musketeers,’ ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus’) is behind the camera for the film, with William Teitler (‘What Maisie Knew,’ ‘The Polar Express,’ ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus’) producing.
Production is scheduled to commence April 9th.