Filming starts on Kenneth Branagh’s big screen version of Artemis Fowl

Sir Kenneth Branagh has begun production on his new film Artemis Fowl, starring Dame Judi Dench and Josh Gad, Disney has confirmed.

The movie is based on the first book of Eoin Colfer’s series of the same name, and will film in England, Northern Ireland and Ho Chi Minh City.

Newcomer Ferdia Shaw plays 12-year-old genius Artemis Fowl, who is descended from a long line of criminal masterminds and who finds himself in a battle of strength and cunning against a powerful, hidden race of fairies who may be behind his father’s disappearance.

Dame Judi plays Commander Root, the leader of the reconnaissance division of the LEPrecon, the fairy police force, and Frozen star Gad plays Mulch Diggums, a kleptomaniac dwarf.

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Love, Rosie actress Lara McDonnell stars as Captain Holly Short, an elf who is kidnapped by Artemis for a ransom of fairy gold.

Dame Judi and Gad both recently starred in Sir Kenneth’s adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express.