Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard and Vanessa Redgrave have signed on to voice lead roles in “The Turning Door,” an animated family fantasy from writer-director Nicholas Ashe Bateman, joining a voice cast already stacked with Oscar and BAFTA-nominated talent.
The three Academy Award winners arrive alongside Swedish composer Anna von Hausswolff and newcomer Pippa Kelly, who voices the film’s young heroine, Ariadlyn. They join a roster announced earlier that includes Alicia Vikander, Jamie Dornan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bill Nighy and Gillian Anderson.
The story follows a girl who discovers a strange box in her parents’ closet that expands into a doorway leading to another realm, called the Turning, where she must journey through magic, invented creatures and unfamiliar lands to bring her parents home. Cast members will also perform original songs written by Claire Givens and Bateman.
Bateman built his reputation first as a visual-effects artist, running the studio Maere, where his team contributed work to “The Green Knight,” “Hocus Pocus 2” and “Peter Pan & Wendy.” He made his directing debut with 2021’s “The Wanting Mare,” a microbudget fantasy shot largely inside a single warehouse over several years that drew notice for its handmade visual scope despite its scale. “The Turning Door” marks a considerable jump upward in resources and star power for the filmmaker, whose earlier work built an entire fictional world, Anmaere, from limited means.
In a statement, Bateman described the cast as artists who bring their own perspectives and life experience to the project, and said assembling them fulfilled years of hoping to write parts worthy of performers he considers among the finest of their generation. Casting director Kharmel Cochrane assembled the ensemble.
Mister Smith Entertainment, which is handling international sales alongside domestic co-representation from After Hours, introduced the project to buyers at the American Film Market last year and plans to screen new footage for international distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival’s industry market this month. No release date or distributor has been announced.
