Castium Revelio: Everybody Loves a Bedtime Story!

Happy December, everyone! It’s the most wonderful time of the week: Casting News time! This week, we have plenty of great updates for you, so let’s take a look at what our magical alumni have been working on lately!

First, the streaming platform Sundance Now is set to premiere Circus Kid, a feature-length documentary for which Daniel Radcliffe served as one of the executive producers. Realscreen reported the news.

A Points West Production, in association with Eden Wurmfeld Films and Pro Media, the 69-minute film […] chronicles [Lorenzo] Pisoni’s unique childhood of growing up in a circus family while showcasing the dynamics that develop in the demanding environment of performance.

You can find out more about the film on its official website. It will be exclusively available for viewing on Sundance Now beginning on December 21.

Emma Watson’s Beauty and the Beast has received a new trailer for awards season! The film, which was released in March, has gotten a new promotional clip, shared by Entertainment Weekly.

[Director Bill] Condon’s film has now returned to the big screen in New York and Los Angeles, and to mark this event — and to help remind awards voters of the film’s merits — [Disney] has come up with a brand-new promo clip.

You can watch this new trailer below!

 

 

Emma’s costar in The Circle, John Boyega, also shared in the Hollywood Reporter‘s Actor Roundtable that she was able to help him out of a tough situation on the set! Boyega shared the story when asked if he had ever had “a particularly tough moment as an actor.”

My second to last day, I had a big speech that basically put the whole movie in context for the audience, and I just froze up. I froze up and I forgot the whole thing. I was there with Emma Watson, who was amazing about it. And I found myself in an Acting 101 class, with Emma trying to say, ‘Just remember the lines. What are your motivations?’ And I just couldn’t get it. It was embarrassing.

In the same piece, Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) discussed his role as Winston Churchill in Churchill, including the grueling makeup process for it. He answered the following in response to the question, “Have you ever said no because you just couldn’t bear the character?”

I’ve played some scary people [but also] Churchill, arguably the greatest Briton that ever lived. I came away with enormous admiration for him. He is incomparable to any figure — Lincoln, possibly. But do [people] really know who he is? Or are they remembering Albert Finney as Churchill or Robert Hardy as Churchill? I think I was somewhat contaminated by those other performances.

It was the makeup, Oldman said, that really transformed him. He additionally noted that he chose to wear a fat suit for the role because he didn’t want to damage his health.

I had two people working on me at the same time. And by the time I was ready and dressed, the crew arrived and the other actors would rehearse and I came to the set as Churchill. So Joe Wright, the director, didn’t see Gary for three months.

Meanwhile, Jamie Campbell Bower (young Gellert Grindelwald) was interviewed by Alternative Press about what punk means to him. Bower is also the lead vocalist and guitarist of Counterfeit., a punk rock band. He spoke about his parents’ influence on his interest in music.

My mum and dad work in the music industry, and it’s surrounded [me] my entire life. Music was our bread and butter–it’s how we grew up. When I was at school, my friend started this indie band called William K, and on a Saturday night, we’d all try and sneak into a club downstairs at the [now defunct] Astoria like a lot of like the London live circuit did. Then that all fell apart like beautiful things do. Music is something that, for me, has always been an incredible outlet, and I wanted to continue that in some way, shape or form. So, I formed this other band called the Darling Buds with a couple of old school friends and that took various lineups. We did a small tour with the Xcerts, played loads of local venues in the capital, and then we put that to bed and out sprung [Counterfeit.].

Counterfeit.’s debut album, Together We Are Stronger, is available now. You can find their official website here.

Emma Thompson (Professor Trelawney), Kenneth Branagh (Professor Lockhart), and Imelda Staunton (Professor Umbridge) will appear in Jim Carter’s “In Conversation With…” series at London’s Tricycle Theatre, reports WhatsOnStage.com.

Jim Carter will be in conversation with Kenneth Branagh and Derek Jacobi on February 19 and Emma Thompson and Imelda Staunton on February 25, the site writes. The “In Conversation With…” series follows £5.5 million in renovations to the theater. Tickets are available now and can be purchased here.

Additionally, Thompson can be seen in new stills from the Upstart Crow Christmas special, in which she portrays Queen Elizabeth I. Hello magazine reported on the photos.

The sitcom, which also stars David Mitchell as William Shakespeare, will see Will rehearsing his latest play for it to be performed for the Queen as part of her Christmas celebrations, but doesn’t quite make the right impression on her.

The action also follows Kit (Tim Downie), who gets himself invited to Christmas at the Shakespeare household along with Kate (Gemma Whelan), and Shakespeare’s nemesis Robert Green (Mark Heap), who has promised to change in time for Christmas.

The Upstart Crow Christmas special will air on BBC Two on December 25 at 8:25 p.m. local time.

Also airing on Christmas Day is The Highway Rat, to which David Tennant (Barty Crouch, Jr.) lends his voice to the title character! We previously reported on the television special, but we knew only that it would air on BBC One “over the Christmas period.” Now, we can confirm that the animated adaptation of the children’s book by Julia Donaldson will air on December 25 at 4:45 p.m. local time on BBC One!

Tennant’s costar in the film adaptation of Fuddy Meers, Krysten Ritter, has provided more details on the project. While Tennant’s involvement was announced earlier this year, David-Tennant.com reports on an interview that Ritter had with Metro. In it, Ritter mentions that she is “trying to raise the money to do a film adaptation of a stage play with [Tennant],” which hints that Fuddy Meers may be on hold due to a lack of funding.

In the meantime, however, you can see Tennant and Ritter share the screen in the next season of Netflix’s Jessica Jones, which is set to premiere in 2018. Our thanks to David-Tennant.com for the updates!

It has been confirmed that Frank Dillane (16-year-old Tom Riddle, Half-Blood Prince) will be returning to Season 4 of Fear the Walking Dead, according to the Daily Star. The season is expected to premiere in 2018, and filming for the season began last month in Austin, Texas.

The PBS adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, which features Sir Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore) as Mr. Lawrence, now has its air dates! Playbill reports that the miniseries will air on Sunday, May 13 and Sunday, May 20 at 8 p.m.

Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) can be seen in a new still from the new all-female heist film Ocean’s Eight. The still was shared by Entertainment Weekly, which has included the film in its First Look issue, on newsstands Friday. Bonham Carter’s costar Sandra Bullock was interviewed for the magazine.

Ocean’s Eight will be released on June 8.

The animated film Mary and the Witch’s Flower, which features Jim Broadbent (Professor Slughorn) as one member of an all-star voice cast, has received a UK trailer!

Flickering Myth provides the following plot description.

While spending the summer with her great aunt, Mary follows a cat into the nearby woods to get away from a neighbourhood boy who likes to poke fun at her. Once there, she stumbles across some strange flowers that, unbeknownst to her, contain a magic juice that transforms her little broomstick into one that flies. The broomstick takes her to a secret location known as Endor College – a school of magic.

Mary is warmly welcomed by college tutors Madam and Doctor Dee. Believing her to be one of their own, they give her a guided tour of the school, where children discover their hidden magic abilities under the watchful eyes of the school’s professors. While witnessing all the fantastical classes and potions, Mary discovers not all is as it seems, and is soon forced to confront great danger in order to save the day.

Watch the trailer below!

 

 

The film will make its premiere in the UK in 2018.

Little Tito and the Aliens, an Italian sci-fi film featuring Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour), has received deals for distribution rights by distributors in Turkey, Poland, and China, according to a report from Screen Daily. Those distributors are Medyavizyon, Kino Swiat, and Times Vision, respectively, and their deals come as the film begins its way around the festival circuit.

Directed by Paola Randi (Into Paradiso), the film follows a depressed scientist who, following the death of his wife, lives in near isolation in Area 51 in the US. One day he receives word from Naples, Italy, that his dying brother is entrusting him with his two children.

Miriam Margolyes (Professor Sprout) features alongside other celebrities in the second season of BBC Two’s The Real Marigold on Tour, which sees the original cast (Margoyles, Wayne Sleep, Bobby George, and Rosemary Shrager) “reunited to discover what it is like to grow old in other countries around the world.”

The Guardian discussed the premiere episode of the season, which aired on December 4. In it, the cast members venture to China and face mishaps along their journey.

You can watch the trailer for the series below.

 

 

The Real Marigold on Tour airs at 9:00 p.m. local time on Monday nights on BBC Two.

Sam Clemmett (Albus Potter, Cursed Child) returned to his former high school to teach an acting masterclass, reports the Norwich Evening News. Sam, who attended Thorpe St Andrew High School, taught students in the school’s sixth form. He shared some of his experience of what it was like to be in Cursed Child.

‘Harry Potter’ was a lot of pressure and when it came to the first preview there was an air of anticipation. We thought we had something special, but we didn’t really know what we had until we went on stage.

Sam also mentioned that he was daunted by the number of shows he had to perform.

It’s a very demanding show and very physical, so every day would start with a warm up of things like yoga and cardio to make sure we had the stamina to perform in the shows and not injure ourselves. I was in ‘Harry Potter’ for a year and that was around 400 shows – the most I’d done before that was about 80 in two months.

Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein) is releasing a Christmas song to benefit J.K. Rowling’s children’s charity, Lumos! The single, called “Christmas Will Be Waiting,” will be released on December 8, and the proceeds from its sale through iTunes and Spotify will go to Lumos.

Additionally, Lumos is seeking digital designs to celebrate the release!

We are asking supporters around the world to send us your digital designs to celebrate the single’s release on iTunes and Spotify!

Lumos and Alison will be releasing the lyrics on their Twitter channels on 5 December 2017 at 11am ET to be used as inspiration for your submission.

All submissions will need to be uploaded to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and tagged with #ChristmasWillBeWaiting by 5.00pm ET on 8 December 2017. Your artwork will be displayed on this page and will be live throughout December.

Christmas Will Be Waiting will be released on iTunes and Spotify on 8 December 2017.

Finally, Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander) will be reading a bedtime story on CBeebies on Christmas Day! The Belfast Telegraph reported the news but provided no word on what Eddie will be reading. All we know is that it’s sure to be magical!

That concludes this week’s Casting News! We’ll be back next week with even more updates! Until then, we would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!