Anthony Hopkins’ next major role is a lead role in Eyes In The Trees, a reimagined incarnation of The Island of Dr. Moreau, the 1896 book by HG Wells.
The two-time Oscar winner, 86, will collaborate on the project with filmmaker Timothy Woodward Jr., whose credits include Till Death Do Us Part, The Call and Gangster Land.
The legendary Welsh actor will play the role of a geneticist who has been placed in isolation after the government stopped funding him when one of his test subjects suffers a violent outbreak.
The script for the new film was written by B. Harrison Smith and Mike Manning, according to Deadlineand producers include Artisha Mann-Cooper, Daemon Hillin and Sasha Yelaun, with Landon B. Gorman serving as executive producer.
The book has been adapted to film on multiple occasions, such as 1932’s The Island of Lost Souls, starring Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau.
Anthony Hopkins’ next major role is a lead role in Eyes In The Trees, a reimagined incarnation of The Island of Dr Moreau, the 1896 book by HG Wells. The actor, 86, was photographed in Los Angeles in 2019.
In 1977, the legendary Burt Lancaster took on the role of Dr. Paul Moreau, with a supporting cast that included Michael York, Nigel Davenport, Barbara Carrera and Richard Basehart.
The most recent incarnation came 28 years ago with The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which Marlon Brando played Dr. Moreau, with a supporting cast that included Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Ron Perlman and David Thewlis.
The film’s production ran into problems with stars, inclement weather during filming, and an inflated budget.
A 2014 documentary titled Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau detailed the troubled production.
The film was initially scheduled to be filmed in Cairns, Australia, with actor Jurgen Prochnow to play the lead role, but the studio ultimately decided to have Brando play the role and Roman Polanski replaced Richard Stanley as director, according to the golden balloons.
Stanley recruited a “witch” named Skip to meet with Brando and persuade him to remain in the film’s director’s chair.
The film would have serious production problems amid Stanley’s firing, the arrival of new director John Frankenheimer to replace him, and Brando and Kilmer’s lack of cooperation amid personal problems. Upon release, it was critically panned and grossed $49 million worldwide on a budget of $40 million, according to Box office mojo.
In the upcoming film, the legendary Welsh actor will play the role of a geneticist who has been placed in isolation after the government stopped funding him when one of his test subjects suffers a violent outbreak.
The most recent incarnation came 28 years ago with The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which Marlon Brando played Dr. Moreau.
Hopkins won his first Academy Award for his portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs.
The film also won the 1992 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actress for Jodie Foster, and Best Director for Jonathan Demme, among other honors.
Hopkins reprized the role in 2001’s Hannibal alongside Julianne Moore, and in 2002’s Red Dragon alongside Edward Norton.
Hopkins won his second Best Actor Oscar for 2021’s The Father, opposite filmmaker Florian Zeller’s Olivia Colman.