Disney and David Lowery's live-action Peter Pan has cast its Peter and Wendy. Far from being strangers, the studio and filmmaker previously collaborated on 2016's Pete's Dragon, a re-imagining of Disney's 1977 live-action/animated musical that many consider to be by far their best remake from the past decade. Lowery actually signed on to helm a live-action retelling of the studio's animated Peter Pan (which debuted in 1953, based on J.M. Barrie's creation) a few months prior to Pete's Dragon releasing in theaters. He shifted his attention elsewhere after that, but is now gearing up to begin shooting Peter Pan & Wendy - as the movie's been retitled - as soon as next month.
According to Variety, Disney and Lowery have cast Ever Anderson and Alexander Molony to play, respectively, Wendy and Peter in Peter Pan & Wendy. The former made her screen debut playing a younger version of Alice, the character portrayed by Anderson's real-life mother Milla Jovovich, in 2017's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and will similarly play a younger Natasha Romanoff in Marvel's Black Widow this May. Molony, meanwhile, has previously worked on TV shows like the animated Claude and The Reluctant Landlord.
While it was previously reported Peter Pan & Wendy would be a Disney+ exclusive, Variety's sources say the film is expected to receive a theatrical release. That would make sense, seeing as a traditional version of the Peter Pan story would be difficult to realize on a Disney+ mid-budget. At the same time, Pete's Dragon (at $65 million) was much less expensive to develop than other recent Disney re-imaginings and Lowery has only continued to churn out visually resplendent films (A Ghost Story, The Old Man and the Gun) on a lower budget since then, so Peter Pan & Wendy shouldn't cost anything extravagant. He's also amassed a fascinating and eclectic body of work that includes the upcoming Arthurian fantasy The Green Knight, so it'll be interesting to see if Lowery can come up with a fresh take on a tale as well-known - and often retold - as Peter Pan.
Here is the synopsis for Disney's animated Peter Pan:
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers nightly with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars to the lush jungles of Neverland.
Source: Variety