The first trailer for Artemis Fowl has arrived, 17 years after a film version of the popular fantasy books was first mooted.
It gives us our first look at the world created by writer Eoin Colfer, brought to life on the screen by director Sir Kenneth Branagh. And if you keep your eyes peeled at 01:15, it also shows a blink-and-you-missed-it glimpse of Sir Ken’s best bud Dame Judi Dench as Commander Root.
Dame Judi narrates the trailer too, with a gravelly voice that’s exactly how we imagined a cigar-smoking elf might sound. The character is known as Julius Root in the books, which makes this role her latest to swap genders, after she was cast as Old Deuteronomy in the upcoming Cats movie and M in the Bond films.
Front and center though is newcomer Ferdia Shaw, who plays the eponymous twelve-year-old criminal mastermind, as he battles a powerful race of fairies who may be behind his father’s disappearance.
Also featured are Nonso Anozie (Cinderella) as Artemis’ butler and bodyguard Domovoi, and Hong Chau (Downsizing), whose role remains unconfirmed, but her pointy ears suggest she might be playing Opal Koboi, the genius pixie and Artemis’ archenemy.
We’ll have to wait for the full trailer to see the rest of the cast, including Josh Gad as kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums, Lara McDonnell as feisty, spirited elf Captain Holly Short, who is kidnapped by Artemis for a ransom of fairy gold, and Miranda Raison as Artemis’s mother Angeline.
The film is expected to cover the events of the first book in the series, which now stretches to eight books since the first was published in 2001. It opens in theaters August 9, 2019.
Are you excited to see these books on the big screen?