An actor that Peter Jackson has had a long working relationship with has just joined the upcoming ‘Mortal Engines‘ movie. Hugo Weaving is reported to have joined cast! The two have previously worked together on the ‘Lord of the Rings, ‘ and ‘The Hobbit’ movies as Weaving playing Elrond in Tolkien’s cinematic world and apparently the working relationship proved to be enjoyable to both men! Weaving will be joining actors Hera Hilmar, Robbie Sheehan, Ronan Raftery, and Stephen Lang who have already signed up.
Weaving will be joining the cast as Thaddeus Valentine, the Head of the Historians. This is a character that does not get along that well with the leading character and causes quite a bit of harm throughout the first novel.
Christian Rivers will be directing this as his first feature film, but Jackson is writing it with both Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Walsh and Jackson got the rights to bring Philip Reeves’ novel to the big screen back in 2001, and it is just now making its way there. The two will be producing the film with Zane Weiner, Amanda Walker, and Deborah Forte. On the studio end of things, it is being financed and brought together by both Universal and MRC.
For those unfamiliar with the novel, it is the first of a four-book series which include: ‘Mortal Engines,’ ‘Predator’s Gold,’ ‘Infernal Devices,’ and ‘A Darkling Plain.’ With Jackson involved it should come as no surprise that this would be a series. The real question is can he keep it from becoming six to eight movies instead of four?
In the book, we see the Earth thousands of years from now. Our cities now move across the globe as the people in the cities both scavage from other abandoned cities as well as go up against one another in a constant and ongoing struggle over what few resources remain. We follow the story of Tom Natsworthy in one of these massive cities which comes across a mysterious woman who is fated to change everything for him.
‘Mortal Engines’ is set to roll into theaters on December 14th, 2018.
Source: Variety
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
