Gotta cast ’em all. Legendary has announced that Big Little Lies actress Kathryn Newton will play one of the leads in its upcoming Pokemon movie. Recently it cast Justice Smith as the other lead in Detective Pikachu. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed the other actresses who were in the running. Haley Lu Richardson of Split and Natalia Dyer of Stranger Things were also in consideration for the role.
In addition to being a cast member on HBO’s dark comedy Big Little Lies, Newton also starts in Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Both films have been critically praised, with the former currently standing as the film with the most positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
In Detective Pikachu, Newton will play the rule of Lucy. Lucy, a budding journalist, will team up with Smith’s character as well as the titular detective Pikachu to solve crimes. In the manga that the live action film is based on, Lucy has a Psyduck. So far it’s not known who will voice the often confused fowl or if it will even appear in the film.
Nicole Perlman, Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer, and Alex Hirsch, Gravity Falls writer, are in the midst of penning the latest draft of the script. Production will begin in January.
So far, Legendary has yet to announce who will play Detective Pikachu himself. The studio is reportedly considering several big name actors such as Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson. No word on whether Danny Devito is being considered, but one can always dream.
