News: Branagh Set to Helm "Artemis Fowl" Adaptation

Walt Disney Pictures and The Weinstein Company have secured Disney's Cinderella director Kenneth Branagh to helm the long in development adaptation of Artemis Fowl.

No screenwriter has been attached as the studio still searches for the right person to tackle the fantasy story, which follows the brilliant and cunning 12-year-old eponymous criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II, whose cunning plot to extort gold from the secret Fairy People puts him directly in the cross-hairs of some of the most dangerous creatures on earth. Over the series, Fowl becomes a sort of anti-hero rather than a full-fledged villain, often having to work together with the fairies to stop a slew of treacherous megalomaniacs.

Harvey Weinstein bought the rights to the book back in 2001 during the initial height of Harry Potter fandom. It's been in development hell ever since with a couple of directors and almost a dozen writers attached at one point or another. In 2011, Jim Sheridan was attached to both write and direct, however, he left the project in 2013.

The most recent draft of the script was written by Adam Kline (Peter Pan) and Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).

Branagh is currently developing the drama Italian Shoes, with Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench to star. Heis repped by WME, Berwick & Kovacik, and Troika in the U.K.

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Source: The Tracking Board