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Robert Downey Jr. has taken to Twitter to announce the voice cast for his upcoming Universal Pictures film THE VOYAGE OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE, and it’s quite a bundle of variety that includes two Oscar winners in Marion Cotillard and Octavia Spencer, an Emmy winner in Mr. Robot star Rami Malek, The Big Sick’s Oscar-nominated co-writer and star Kumail Nanjiani, comedian Craig Robinson, WWE superstar John Cena, Carmen Ejogo (Selma) and Frances De La Tour (the Harry Potter movies).
They join the live-action cast that includes Downey along with Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, Harry Collett and Jim Broadbent. Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Holland and Selena Gomez were previously announced as voice roles. (You can see whom each of them are voicing in the image below.)
All of the voice roles will likely be for the animals that Downey’s Doctor Dolittle will talk to, as was the case with Hugh Lofting’s popular children’s books from the 1920s that was adapted into a 1967 film with Rex Harrison playing the title role. In 1998, Eddie Murphy took on the role of Doctor Dolittle for a hit comedy that led to a 2001 sequel. Those earlier films were produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Traffic screenwriters and Syriana director Stephen Gaghan is helming the project, which is set for release by Universal on April 12, 2019, having done rewrites on Tom Shepherd’s earlier screenplay. The film is produced by Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum for Roth/Kirschenbaum Films along with Susan Downey from Team Downey.
The film is currently shooting in London with Universal Exec. VP Jon Mone and Creative Executive Lexi Barta overseeing for the studio.
Represented by CAA and Adequat, Cotillard won her Oscar for playing Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose before going on to star in films like Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, Christopher Nolan’s Inception and The Dark Knight Rises and more.
Spencer is coming off of her third Oscar nomination for Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water and is prepping to make an untitled holiday comedy for Universal with her The Help co-star Jessica Chastain and The Big Sick director Michael Showalter. She is repped by WME and Jackoway Tyerman.
The Big Sick‘s star Nanjiani is represented by UTA, Mosaic and Schreck Rose, and he’s currently starring in the fifth season of HBO’s Silicon Valley, which just premiered this past weekend. He just signed on to two films Stuber and The True American.
Besides starring in the USA show Mr. Robot, Malek just finished filming the Freddy Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which 20th Century Fox just moved to November 2. He is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Sloane Offer.
WWE superstar John Cena, repped by ICM Partners, can be seen in the upcoming Universal comedy Blockers directed by Kay Cannon, which opens April 6.
Craig Robinson is a comedy mainstay best known for the NBC sitcom The Office and from comedies like This is the End, but he also starred with Malek on Mr. Robot and more recently could be seen on Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He is repped by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment and Ziffren Brittenham LLP
Ejogo is represented by WME and Anonymous Content, while de La Tour is represented by APA, Independent Talent Group and Simmons & Scott Entertainment.
You can see Downey’s initial tweet below:
I am most pleased to announce the stellar voice cast joining me on #TheVoyageofDoctorDolittle. #EmmaThompson @ItsRamiMalek @octaviaspencer #RalphFiennes @kumailn @selenagomez @MrCraigRobinson @carmenejogo @TomHolland1996 #MarionCotillard @RealFDLT @JohnCena pic.twitter.com/GmfjOCqv7w
— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) March 27, 2018
Edward Douglas | East Coast Editor
