Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children combines the talents of both director Tim Burton and screenwriter Jane Goldman (The Woman in Black, Kingsman: The Secret Service) for a quirky fantasy/coming of age tale that is based on the best-selling novel of the same name written by Ransom Riggs. The movie follows 16-year old Jacob Portman (Asa Butterfield) on his journey to find peace after his grandfather’s passing by visiting the abandoned orphanage (the film’s namesake) that his grandfather used to talk about. However, in doing so, Jacob thus discovers a hidden world where Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) watches over her “peculiars” – aka. children who posses seemingly magical abilities.
While Miss Peregrine’s Home marks the first collaboration between Burton and Goldman, the filmmaker has worked with Green before – namely, on his 2012 movie adaptation of the cult 1960s supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows. It’s easy to guess why Burton decided to collaborate with Green again for his film take on Riggs’ novel (a literary work inspired by vintage photos of strange people and places that the author had collected), seeing as the Penny Dreadful star reads as a perfect fit for a character whom Burton describes as being a Mary Poppins-like magical caretaker… a peculiar Mary Poppins, that is.
Here’s your first look at the film to be released this September by 20th Century Fox:
Burton, when he spoke to EW, referred to Green’s Miss Peregrine as being like “a scary Mary Poppins” and likewise told Empire that the character is a “weird Mary Poppins like character—a strong and mysterious person who looks like she could turn into a bird,” before he added simply “That’s Eva.” Miss Peregrine, in the story, is also a former student of Miss Avocet (Dame Judi Dench), and Burton gave the following insight on Dench’s character to Empire:
“In the peculiar world, women are the protectors. Miss Avocet is the head of another peculiar school. But, much like the bird in her name, she’s a bit more of a nervous, flighty energy than Miss Peregrine.”
Other cast includes Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson, Allison Janney, Chris O’Down and Rupert Everett.
“Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children” arrives in cinemas September 2016 from 20th Centry Fox to be distributed locally by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Source: Entertainment Weekly, Tim Burton Facebook Page, Empire