The tale of the adorable red headed orphan, Annie, is finally getting a facelift and after months of casting news, the Shaun ‘Jay-Z’ Carter produced remake has started filming in New York City.
Originally, the iconic role of Annie was set aside for Willow Smith, but for whatever reason she decided against it. Rumor has it that the project took a while longer than expected to be green-lit, at which time she was too old. The role is now comfortably in the hands of Oscar nominated Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild).
Wallis is joined by an A-list cast. Jamie Foxx will star as Benjamin Stacks, a variation of Daddy Warbucks who was played by Albert Finney in the original film. Cameron Diaz is taking on the role of Miss Hannigan, the cruel woman who runs the orphanage where Annie lives before being adopted. Stacks’ assistant Grace will be played by the talented Rose Bryne, and Bobby Cannavale will be portraying his political advisor.
Also joining the cast of Annie are Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje (‘Nash’), Amanda Troya (‘Pepper’), Eden Duncan Smith (‘Isabella’), Nicolette Pierini (‘Mia’), and Zoe Colletti playing (‘Tessie’).
Annie is being directed by Will Gluck (Easy A), and produced by not only musical heavy-weight Jay-Z, but also Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith. We recently saw what Jay-Z can do with a soundtrack working alongside Baz Lurhman on The Great Gatsby, so it should be pretty enjoyable to watch what he does with a musical. Even though Gluck is the director, screenwriter, and co-producer, I’m sure he’ll take all the musical experience at his disposal into account.
I’m not a huge fan of remakes and reboots. Why redo something that was done right the first time around? That being said, I am interested to see the collaboration between WIll Gluck and Jay-Z.
The Annie remake is scheduled to hit theaters on December 19, 2014.