The casting for Joe Wright’s take on the Peter Pan origin story, called simply Pan, has been coming together to start filming soon for its summer 2015 release date. The first major bit of casting news is that actor Hugh Jackman (Prisoners, The Wolverine) is in talks to play the villainous pirate Blackbeard, who will play the antagonist role normally filled by Captain Hook.
Per Variety, Warner Bros. had originally gone to Javier Bardem to play the role of Blackbeard but when he passed they went to the actor who had gotten critical praise for his performance in their thriller Prisoners earlier this year. Jackman seems to be very interested in playing a straight-on antagonist as opposed to the anti-heroes he’s been playing in recent years, having already eyed a similar role in Warner Bros.’ The Incredible Mr. Limpet remake.
Blackbeard is an interesting choice of villain since that’s actually the name of a real pirate who plagued the high seas during the early 1700s, the nickname of one Edward Teach, and he recently appeared on film in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as played by Ian McShane.
Based on a screenplay by Jason Fuchs (Ice Age: Continental Drift) and produced by Greg Berlanti, the movie acts as an origin story about an orphan taken into the world of Neverland where he becomes a hero to the natives by leading a revolt against the pirates who terrorize them. While Blackbeard would be the antagonist, Hook would still appear in the film as Pan’s ally before turning bad. (Reportedly, Ryan Gosling has already passed on the role of Hook.)
The studio has begun an open casting to find a young new actor to play the title role as well as looking for a mid-20s actress to play his love interest Tiger Lily.
Pan is already scheduled for a release date of June 26, 2015.
