Since we’re already remaking every [children’s fairy tale] (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/11/kristen-stewart-huntsman-winters-war-trailer) and [‘80s cult movie] (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/09/ronda-rousey-road-house-reboot-patrick-swayze), we might as well get started on remaking all our adaptations of classic literature as well. To that end, director Kenneth Branagh will be directing a remake of the 1974 Oscar-winning film Murder on the Orient Express. And he’s cast an actor he’s very familiar with in the leading role. Yes, Branagh himself will play famed detective Hercule Poirot, beloved recurring hero in Agatha Christie’s novels and probably second only to Sherlock Holmes in the annals of literary sleuths.
This will be the ninth film in which Branagh has directed and starred, though only the second time since 2000; he directed and played the villain in 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. The 1974 take on Orient Express, directed by Sidney Lumet, was nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for Albert Finney who played Poirot. The film was a star-studded affair — Lauren Bacall, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins — so we can hope for some fun casting announcements in the weeks to come. No word yet on who’s in line to play Ingrid Bergman’s Oscar-winning role.
Branagh’s last directorial effort was this past February’s Cinderella, which remains one of 2015’s top ten domestic money-makers.