Danny DeVito is a national treasure. If you dare think otherwise, you gotta another thing coming. It’s a blessed day whenever Mr. DeVito gets more work. It’s extra good whenever it comes from Tim Burton, who previously directed him in Batman Returns and Big Fish. Now, they’ll work together again in Disney’s live-action upcoming Dumbo remake.
Deadline reports DeVito is slated to play Medici, “the man who runs the smaller circus that gets acquired by the evil big top circus villain Vandemere.” It’s not completely official yet, but it’s supposedly pretty much close to a done deal. Given the relationship the veteran actor holds with the director, one assumes they’ll soon be working with one another again.
DeVito joins alongside Eva Green, who’ll play a French trapeze artist who works with Vandemere. Like DeVito, Green has worked with Burton twice prior with Dark Shadows and last year’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, his latest. Will Smith was also once scheduled to appear, but that’s no longer the case. He left due to “scheduling conflicts.”
Based on the classic 1941 animated film of the same name, Dumbo follows the titular flying elephant who is encapsulated in the insular world of the circus. It comes scripted by Ehren Kruger, with production soon expected to begin. There’s no official release date in store.
DeVito was last seen in The Comedian and Weiner-Dog, as well as this recent season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which wrapped up last night. He’s currently on Broadway in the Roundabout Theater Company’s production of Arther Miller’s The Price. He’s hoping to make Dumbo work around that commitment, and there’s no reason to suggest it won’t.
When this project was first announced, I can’t say I was all that excited. Based on their early line-up of stars, however, I can’t help but get a little giddy about the early prospects.
