Joe Wright’s most recent piece of potential Pan casting – with Rooney Mara in talks to be Tiger Lily – is already causing some controversy, with critics worried about whitewashing what was a Native American character in this new take on J. M. Barrie’s Neverland adventures. We doubt there will be as much concern about the casting of Peter himself, as Levi Miller has snagged the role.
Clearly aiming to find some relatively unknown talent for his central figure, Wright has hired Miller, whose relatively brief CV thus far only includes a couple of shorts and an episode of short-lived sci-fi drama Terra Nova. If it all works out, this could be his big break.
Miller will be working alongside Hugh Jackman as the dreaded pirate Blackbeard and Garrett Hedlund, who is playing the more youthful version of Hook, the man who will eventually become Peter’s great nemesis. In this version, however, he and the boy who refuses to grow up conspire to take down Blackbeard.
With a script by Jason Fuchs, Wright is planning a new vision of the classic Pan story, digging into his unexplored origin as the orphan Peter is kidnapped from World War II by the pirates. Wright will shoot this year for a July 17, 2015 release date, inherited after Warners moved the Man Of Steel sequel.