20th Century Fox has announced that they are planning a new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous mystery novel Murder on the Orient Express. The story features her famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, as he investigates the murder of a malevolent, wealthy American on board a train headed to Paris from Istanbul.
Poirot has been the subject of many film and television adaptations over the years. Austin Trevor became the first on-screen Poirot in the 1931 British film Alibi, Peter Ustinov played the sleuth in the 1978 film Death on the Nile and David Suchet took on the role in the British television series Agatha Christie’s Poirot.
Murder on the Orient Express is one of the most well known Poirot mysteries and has been adapted several times. Alfred Molina played the detective in the the 2001 TV movie, and most recently in 2010 the story was adapted on the Agatha Christie’s Poirot series. However, the original 1974 adaptation was by far the most successful. Albert Finney starred as Poirot, and was supported by an outstanding cast which included Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, and Vanessa Redgrave. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Actor for Finney, and earned Bergman a win for Best Supporting Actress.
While the cast, director and writers are far from being selected, the upcoming Fox remake will be produced by Ridley Scott, Mark Gordon and Simon Kinberg.
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