It’s safe to say that the world will never want for on-screen adaptations of Agatha Christie stories—long before the beloved author’s death in 1976, she was a favored source for dozens of features and televised plays, including the 1945 film And Then There Were None and the Marlene Dietrich–starring Witness for the Prosecution. Her 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express in particular is among her best-known and most-parodied works, having inspired the 1974 Sidney Lumet film for which Ingrid Bergman won her third Oscar.
And yet with a star-studded cast as ridiculous as this and a new trailer as enticing as this, it’s difficult not to be intrigued by director Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming remake of the classic murder mystery. Branagh, true to form, pulls double duty by playing the investigating detective Hercule Poirot, while the other passengers onboard include Michelle Pfeiffer (“The Widow”), Judi Dench (“The Princess”), Josh Gad (“The Assistant”), Penélope Cruz (“The Missionary”), Leslie Odom,Jr. (“The Doctor”), and Johnny Depp as a rich, sinister businessman named Edward Ratchett.
The setting remains the early 20th century, but a recent Entertainment Weekly profile highlighted some modern updates to be found in this new version: Cruz and Odom’s casting, for instance, makes Christie’s original characters—who were written as Swedish and English, respectively—a little less white. (For what it’s worth, And Then There Were None was originally published under the title Ten Little Niggers.) And while the original book and all prior screen adaptations have had Ratchett as the murder victim, Branagh has been coy, suggesting that might not be the case this time around. Indeed, the trailer doesn’t single anyone out as the victim, though it does suggest the person might be a “he.”
One tweak that hopefully won’t make it into the final film is a contemporary pop soundtrack—it was more than a bit jarring hearing the thump of Imagine Dragons over the trailer’s glamorous period imagery. For now, we’ll have to wait until the film pulls in to theaters on Nov. 10.
