Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Jude Hill and Kelly Reilly will lead the cast of Kenneth Branagh’s third Hercule Poirot film “A Haunting in Venice” at 20th Century Studios.
The newest Agatha Christie adaptation, based on one of her later novels “Hallowe’en Party,” will also star Emma Laird, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Ali Khan and Riccardo Scamarico.
The story begins in post-WW2 Venice when a 13-year old girl, who claimed she witnessed a murder when she was younger, is found dead in an apple-bobbing tub.
Hercule Poirot is now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city. He reluctantly attends a seance at a decaying, haunted palazzo and when one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.
Michael Green is adapting the script which is said to have more of an “unsettling supernatural” tone than the previous films. Shooting is slated to begin October 31st.
Branagh says in a statement: “This is a fantastic development of the character Hercule Poirot, as well as the Agatha Christie franchise. Based on a complex, little known tale of mystery set at Halloween in a pictorially ravishing city, it is an amazing opportunity for us, as filmmakers, and we are relishing the chance to deliver something truly spine-chilling for our loyal movie audiences.”
Whilst Branagh’s two previous Poirot films “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile” have been adapted to film before, the “Hallowe’en Party” story has only been adapted for the David Suchet-led series with that take making multiple changes from the book.
The story also incorporates recurring character Ariadne Oliver whom it’s suspected Tina Fey will play. Oliver is a mystery author who pens novels about a vegetarian Finnish detective and allowed for Christie to satirise her own writing techniques and those of her peers.
No word on a release date, but a Halloween 2023 debut doesn’t seem out of the question.
Source: THR
