Helen Mirren and Danny Devito have been added to the voice cast of Disney’s The One And Only Ivan.
The British actress and Matilda star have signed on to voice animated characters in the film, which centres on a silverback gorilla named Ivan and other animals who live in a cage in a shopping mall. Further details about their roles have not been revealed at this stage.
They join the likes of Sam Rockwell, who will voice the titular Ivan, Angelina Jolie, who will portray Stella the elephant, and The Florida Project’s breakout child star Brooklynn Prince, who will voice a baby elephant named Ruby, a newcomer to the mall who inspires Ivan to plot their escape from captivity.
The movie will be a blend of live-action and CGI animation, and Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston leads the acting cast, which also includes Ariana Greenblatt, who plays the young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War, Ramon Rodriguez, Indira Varma, and Eleanor Matsuura.
The Disney adaptation went into production at Pinewood Studios outside of London this week (begs30Apr18) and is being directed by Thea Sharrock, who helmed the 2016 tearjerker Me Before You.
Ariana shared a behind-the-scenes look at the production on social media by sharing a picture of her getting her hair touched up as she reads a document while in a chair labelled “Julia”, her character.
“Set life #TheOneAndOnlyIvan,” she wrote in the caption alongside clapperboard and U.K. flag emojis.
Screenwriter and actor Mike White, whose previous work includes Pitch Perfect 3, School of Rock and The Emoji Movie, has written the script based on Katherine Applegate’s Newbery Medal-winning book. Jolie is producing the project alongside Brigham Taylor and the late Allison Shearmur, who passed away in January.
