Yahoo News Anthony Hopkins To Star In Nick Cassavetes’ ‘Bruno Penguin And The Staten Island Princess’; Shia LaBeouf In Talks
EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins (Freud’s Last Session) has signed on to star in Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess, the latest film from director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, Alpha Dog). Billed as the first-ever major Hollywood production to shoot in Antarctica, the film also has Shia LaBeouf (Padre Pio) in talks to star and will enter production in November.
Scripted by Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman, Bruno Penguin is based on a Vanity Fair article from the latter which tells the true story of adventurous Swiss photographer Bruno Zehnder, a superb artist who spent the last 20 years of his life in Antarctica photographing Emperor penguins. He was obsessed by them – their kindness, the way they lived, their deep levels of affection for one another. Bruno spent his life trying to learn how to communicate with them and over time, the colonies grew to know him and return his fondness. He became so obsessed that he legally changed his name to Bruno Penguin and found great success, both creatively and financially with his photographs.
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Bruno was also involved in an incredible, decades-long romance, mainly long distance, as she did not share his desire to live in the barren cold. He put his romance off for years – always in Antarctica, always chasing penguins. And ultimately, just before moving back home, he got caught in a giant Arctic whiteout and froze to death. Before his passing in 1997, his frequent sojourns in Antarctica resulted in photographs that won several awards, including the United Nations Environmental Protection Prize and the British Broadcasting System’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. He was also elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London.
Hopkins will play Ben Windsor, a legendary art agent, with Rick Dugdale and Dan Petrie, Jr. producing for Enderby Entertainment. Sean Lydiard and Elliot Smith are also producing. Marking Dugdale’s third film with Hopkins following the pandemic-inspired 2022 thriller Zero Contact and 2015 action thriller Blackway, the project’s EPs are Randall J. Bacon, Joseph Lanius, Danny R. Carmona, Ned Zeman, and Daniel and Ben Barnz.
“Antarctica is one of the most breathtaking and challenging places to film in the world,” Enderby’s Dugdale told Deadline. “We need to take an audience to Antarctica to tell this story – so we chose to do it for real. This movie combines incredible cinematography, the extraordinary story of Bruno Zehnder’s unwavering passion for Emperor penguins, and the enduring romance that shaped his life.”
Stated Cassavetes, “This movie has so much special meaning for me on many levels. What it means to be an artist, how to balance that life with time spent with loved ones. It explores the importance of adventure, the unbelievable wonder of nature, and the testing of the body’s very limits. And as always, love. Romantic love, brotherly love, the love of things beautiful and interesting, and how money pales in comparison. This movie asks the questions, What’s important to you? Really important? And how much can you love?”
Last seen starring in Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon and the Sony Pictures Classics drama Freud’s Last Session, Hopkins’ other recently announced upcoming projects include The King of Covent Garden, which will have him portray composer George Frideric Handel; the biblical thriller Mary, where he plays King Herod; and a reimagining of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau entitled Eyes in the Trees.
Most recently starring in Abel Ferrara’s Venice drama Padre Pio, as well as acclaimed films like Pieces of a Woman and The Peanut Butter Falcon, LaBeouf will next be seen starring alongside Nathalie Emmanuel, Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza and many more in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which premieres at Cannes this week and remains in search of U.S. distribution.
Best known for helming titles like The Notebook, My Sister’s Keeper and Alpha Dog, Cassavetes is coming off of God Is a Bullet, a genre-bender starring Maika Monroe, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Karl Glusman.
Founded in 2006, Enderby has previously produced titles including Zero Contact, starring Hopkins, which marked Dugdale’s directorial debut; the Intrigo trilogy, based on the bestselling books by Håkan Nesser; An Ordinary Man, starring Ben Kingsley; and Blackway starring Hopkins and Ray Liotta. Recently in production on Julia Stiles’ directorial debut, Wish You Were Here, the company is also in post on Crescent City, starring Terrance Howard and Alec Baldwin, as well as Mediha and Legacy: Twin Towers, a follow-up to the Academy Award-winning 2003 documentary short Twin Towers from Robert Port and Bill Guttentag.
Hopkins is repped by Independent Talent Group, UTA, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; LaBeouf by John Crosby Management, Kinsella Holley Iser, and Matthew Saver Law Offices; Cassavetes by WME, manager Chuck Pacheco, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes; and Barnz by TFC Management and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols.
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