Empire Online and Entertainment Weekly both posted exclusive first look pictures from Tim Burton’s upcoming movie, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Based on the book by Ransom Riggs, Empire says, “it’s a typically Burtonesque tale of fantasy and intrigue, detailing a magical orphanage populated with mysterious children and shape-shifting protectors.”
Eva Green, reteams with Burton following their last collaboration on Dark Shadows, playing the title role of Miss Peregrine. Speaking exclusively to Empire, Burton describes Miss Peregrine as a “weird Mary Poppins like character—a strong and mysterious person who looks like she could turn into a bird. That’s Eva.”
This is a film dominated by fierce, powerful women – including Dame Judi Dench as Miss Avocet. “In the peculiar world, women are the protectors,” Burton explains. “Miss Avocet is the head of another peculiar school. But, much like the bird in her name, she’s a bit more of a nervous, flighty energy than Miss Peregrine.”
Here’s the full lineup of peculiar children, each endowed with unusual skills or powers. “I was a little worried about working with so many kids again,” Burton told us, “but they were all such professionals on set. You would never believe that it was some of these kids’ first big film.”
In a typically starry cast, Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell lead up the child actors, while Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, and Samuel L. Jackson join Green and Dench. Burton is directing from a script by Jane Goldman, adapted from Riggs’ novel.
EW adds, “Green (with Butterfield and Georgia Pemberton) stars as the title character, a shape-shifter known as an ymbryne. She protects her charges (called peculiars) from hungry monsters known as hollows:
Jake (Butterfield) finds an unlikely romance with Emma (Ella Purnell), who, in an earlier life, also had a special bond with Jake’s grandfather:
The orphanage’s residents include, from left, Olive (Lauren McCrostie), Bronwyn (Pixie Davies), Millard (Cameron King), the twins (Thomas and Joseph Odwell), and Emma:
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children flies into US cinemas on September 30.
