Deadline is reporting that young Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp and Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston (Prizzi’s Honor) have joined the cast of Goldfinch Studios’ Michael Morpurgo adaptation Waiting For Anya.
Directed by Ben Cookson (Almost Married) from a script by Morpurgo and Toby Torlesse, the film will see Schnapp portraying a young shepherd called Jo, who is involved in smuggling Jewish children across the border between France and Spain in order to escape persecution from the Nazis. Huston will portray the widow Horcada, with Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist), Elsa Zylberstein (I’ve Loved You So Long) and Tomas Lemarquis (X-Men: Apocalypse) also featuring in the cast.
“Whilst you are writing your story, it becomes precious to you,” said Morpurgo, best known as the author of War Horse, which was adapted for the screen by Steven Spielberg. “When someone creates a play or a film from your story, what you care about most is that it means as much to them; that they catch the spirit of it, that they grow the story with integrity and love and skill, and do it their own way, in their own voice. I have no doubt that the team making the film of Waiting For Anya will do all that and more. I wish them all, actors, crew, writers and producers and director, all the success they deserve.”
Schnapp can currently be seen as Will Byers in Netflix’s Stranger Things, and will also be seen in the title role in Fernando Grostein Andrade’s indie drama Abe, which is expected to be released later this year.
