A mysterious box. A magical doorway. Three Oscar-winning heavyweights lending their voices to an animated fantasy. The Turning Door is opening into some serious star power.
Academy Award winners Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Dune, F1: The Movie), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, Inception, Two Days, One Night) and Oscar, Tony and Olivier winner Vanessa Redgrave DBE (The Devils, Atonement, Blow-Up) have joined the voice cast of the upcoming family fantasy animation epic, written and directed by filmmaker and artist Nicholas Ashe Bateman (The Wanting Mare).
Swedish composer and musician Anna von Hausswolff (Iconoclasts, Sound of Falling) has also joined the cast, alongside newcomer Pippa Kelly, who voices the young heroine Ariadlyn. They join the previously announced ensemble of Alicia Vikander (Firebrand, The Danish Girl), Jamie Dornan (Belfast), Jodie Turner-Smith (Tron: Ares), Bill Nighy (Living) and Gillian Anderson (Sex Education).
And there is more music in the mix. The cast will perform original songs and music written by Claire Givens (Mother Mary, People Museum) and Bateman.
The story begins with a little girl discovering a mysterious box hidden in her parents’ closet. When the box grows into an open door, Ariadlyn falls through it into another world known as- The Turning. What follows is a fantastical romp through old magic, strange creatures, alchemy, dreams, songs and unfamiliar lands. Ariadlyn must find her way home, and save her parents along the way.
Production is currently under way, with Christine D’Souza of After Hours, Hunter Hall and Nicholas Ashe Bateman of Maere Studios (The Wanting Mare, An Almost Christmas Story) producing, alongside Laura Rister for Esme Grace Pictures (Ferrari, The Tale). Kharmel Cochrane has cast the film.
Bateman said bringing the ensemble together had been a long-held ambition and described the cast as a group of artists whose performances had transformed the film. “These are iconic artists,” he said, adding that the actors bring their “grand lives and views of the world” and a shared desire to create hopeful films for young audiences.
For Bateman, the magic extends beyond the microphone. “We get to hear them all sing!” he said. That should make for quite the soundtrack to a trip down the rabbit hole.
The Turning Door marks Bateman’s second feature following his microbudget fantasy The Wanting Mare, released in 2020. He is also the founder of Maere Studios, the award-winning VFX and animation studio whose credits include The Green Knight, Origin, Hocus Pocus 2, Mother Mary, Peter Pan & Wendy and An Almost Christmas Story.
Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales and co-repping domestic rights with After Hours. The company will continue international sales at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) market, where it plans to debut new footage for foreign buyers.
With Bardem, Cotillard and Redgrave on voice duty, an ambitious fantasy world behind them and a young heroine at its heart, The Turning Door is shaping up to be less of a quiet knock and more of a full-blown entrance.
The door is open. Now, let’s see where it takes us.
