According to TheWrap, Tim Burton is looking for Ender’s Game and Hugo star Asa Butterfield to headline his upcoming adaptation of Ransom Bigg’s bestselling novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Butterfield has not been given an official offer yet, but Butterfield is reportedly “Burton’s choice for the coveted role” of 16 year-old Jacob Portman, who must help protect a group of orphans with special powers from creatures that are hunting them. Here’s a long description courtesy of TheWrap:
Should Butterfield get the offer, he would play 16-year-old Jacob Portman, who seeks the truth about his grandfather’s past after he’s murdered by a “hollow,” a vicious creature that Jacob had thought to be imaginary. He quickly meets a young girl named Emma who can control fire, and via a time loop, she introduces him to Miss Peregrine and a group of peculiar children with special abilities, including super strength and invisibility.
Butterfield will join Penny Dreadful and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For star Eva Green, who plays the titular Miss Peregrine, the guardian of the group.
Having spent much of his career playing “peculiar children” and acting in several book-to-screen adaptations, Butterfield should be a fine fit for the role. We’ll keep you posted on more casting news as production on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children continues.
Originally published September 25, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
