Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl — “Die Hard with fairies” — now has a release date, a casting call, and a lot of potential to unpack!
Last week, Disney finally announced the release date for Artemis Fowl, the first book of the beloved YA series depicting a young millionaire mastermind and his battle against Fairies… which are much more vicious than you would think.
The movie is set to be released on August 9, 2019. Casting is currently underway (with rumors of Judi Dench being in talks for an unknown role) and Kenneth Branagh (Thor, Cinderella) will be directing.
If you haven’t read Artemis Fowl yet, or if you read it years ago, or if you’re just really excited for what’s to come, here’s why this movie is going to be one hell of a ride:
An enigmatic main character
While Artemis Fowl is far from a role model, being evil and all, he’s definitely going to be fun to watch. As a 12-year-old version of a Bond villain, he’s ridiculously intelligent and knows exactly how to pull the strings to get what he needs.
But underneath the steel surface, there’s still a boy learning how to interact with the world around him, and whether power matters more than friendships — although because of his nature, it’s often difficult to tell what he’s thinking. His character arc is worth being excited about.
The movie is looking to cast an “Irish actor aged 9-12 of any ethnicity,” which is exciting — a young new actor is about to join Disney’s ranks!
An epic heroine
Holly Short is one of the main characters of Artemis Fowl, and one of the strongest female characters you’ll ever see. As captain of the Lower Elements Police division LEPrecon, working for the protection of the Fairy world, she ends up being the target when two worlds overlap, and is kidnapped by Artemis Fowl.
But no situation is too difficult for a fairy like Holly, whose abilities (and sarcasm) have made her a high-ranking officer, even as a woman in the workforce (clearly the People still have issues with gender equality, too).
Given that fairies are described as child-size but with adult proportions, it’s not clear what age group Disney is looking into while casting Holly — but with the character’s action-packed scenes and general tendency to be badass, she’ll definitely be a talented actress.
An… unconventional dwarf
Singing dwarves from Snow White? Black and Red dwarves with bow and arrows from Narnia? Long-bearded city-builders from Middle Earth? Forget that — here comes Mulch, a dwarf of great power: flatulence.
It may seem crass, but Mulch’s role in the story is one of the most entertaining ones, as he is employed by the LEP to carry out a heist, using his powerful gas and his glow-in-the-dark spit to tunnel into Artemis’ mansion. Underneath the stench and uncontrollable desire to steal, Mulch has a good heart and a great sense of humor, and we’ll probably never forget the first scene of him unhinging his jaw for the first time and… well, digging in.
An adaptation worth the wait
While fans may have wanted an Artemis Fowl movie for a long time, it might be good that we had to wait so long to see it happen. Many mistakes have been made with book-to-screen adaptations in the past (The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Divergent), and hopefully those mistakes have helped Disney realize what fans want — the things we loved about the books.
And it definitely helps to have the CGI necessary to properly depict every race involved in Artemis Fowl. We want a world that will truly feel immersive — and after movies like Avatar and X-Men, which featured motion capture and shape-shifting, we certainly have the technology to pull it off.
A mythology that everyone can get behind
Artemis Fowl has the unique gift of bringing together fans of different genres. The books themselves are a unique mix of fantasy, science fiction, action and comedy that can conquer any skeptic. Even someone who hates fantasy will find themselves intrigued by the concept of fairies with guns, or a police force of fairies working to break into a human’s house.
Colfer’s books create a mythology that is brilliantly realistic but also hilarious, and that at times almost crosses over into science fiction. That, coupled with what is hopefully an excellent script, should make Artemis Fowl an incredibly entertaining movie, and bring some refreshing dark humor and wit to our screens.