Having played Gaston for their live-action adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast,” Disney is sticking with Welsh actor Luke Evans (“The Hobbit,” “Murder Mystery”) for their next animated classic turned live-action feature.
Evans will play The Coachman in the Robert Zemeckis-directed re-telling of their 1940 cartoon take on “Pinocchio,” joining the already cast Tom Hanks as Geppetto.
In the original, The Coachman is a villain notorious for luring “stupid little boys” to Pleasure Island where they are transformed into donkeys and sold on the black market. Evans is decidedly younger and fitter than the original character, already leading to the nickname ‘Hot Coachman’ on social media.
Zemeckis and Chris Weitz penned the script and Andrew Miano and Weitz are producing the film which is going directly to Disney+ rather than cinemas.
Evans will soon be seen in the UK mini-series hit “The Pembrokeshire Murders” which launches next week on BritBox in the United States. Evans is still presently in Sydney, Australia after having wrapped Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” a few weeks ago.
Source: Deadline
