Over the last decade, Sir Kenneth Branagh has continued to move further away from his Shakespearean roots by helming the likes of Thor, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and Murder On The Orient Express (though he did return to the Bard in All Is True). And for his next movie, he’s heading into even weirder territory, bringing Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books to the screen. If its pint-sized protagonist brings to mind Harry Potter, Artemis is a different beast – a diminutive criminal mastermind, who discovers the fairy world exists and kidnaps a fairy cop to extort her fairy gold.
If Disney hopes for a possible franchise (Colfer’s series extends across multiple books), this isn’t Branagh’s first rodeo conjuring entire new fantasy worlds for the screen. “Once you’ve been in a world of Frost Giants with an enormous, blond Australian person who lands in New Mexico and takes his shirt off in front of a scientist, then it isn’t so weird to have a 13-year-old boy summon up ancient Celtic spirits to potentially prevent a troll attack on his house,” the director says. “It’s creatively scary, but that’s the only place to be.”
Read Empire’s full Artemis Fowl on set report in the Wonder Woman 1984 issue, on sale now – read more here about how to pick up a copy while social distancing. Artemis Fowl is due to arrive on Disney+ in 2020.