Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders, The Life Of Pi’s Hiran Abeysekera and See How They Run’s Pippa Bennett-Warner have joined the cast of Ben Gregor’s The Magic Faraway Tree, which is currently filming in the south of England and at Shinfield Studios.
The film follows the Thompson family as they relocate to the remote English countryside, where the children discover a magical tree.
Saunders stars as the Thompson children’s ruthless grandmother, with Bennett-Warner as her assistant, while Abeysekera plays Angry Pixie, one of the inhabitants of the Faraway Tree.
Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Billie Gadsdon and Phoenix Laroche play the children.
As previously announced, Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield are starring as the children’s parents. The cast also includes Nicola Coughlan, Nonso Anozie, Jessica Gunning, Lenny Henry, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Dustin Demri-Burns, Mark Heap and Oliver Chris.
The Magic Faraway Tree is a modern-day adaptation of Enid Blyton’s well-known children’s book series of the same name. Wonka and Paddington 2 writer Simon Farnaby has penned the script.
Pippa Harris and Nicolas Brown for Neal Street Productions, Danny Perkins of Elysian Film Group, and Jane Hooks serve as the film’s producers.
It is financed by Ashland Hill Media Finance. Palisades Park Pictures represents worldwide sales, with CAA Media Finance co-representing the US.
Originally published at https://www.screendaily.com/news/jennifer-saunders-hiran-abeysekera-pippa-bennett-warner-join-cast-of-the-magic-faraway-tree/5196066.article
