Judi Dench in talks to star in Kenneth Branagh's 'Artemis Fowl' movie adaptation

Veteran actor Judi Dench is in early negotiations to join Disney's Artemis Fowl movie adaptation from director Kenneth Branagh.

Written by Eoin Colfer, the children's books follow the brilliant and cunning 12-year-old eponymous criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II, whose plot to extort gold from the secret Fairy People puts him directly in the crosshairs of some of the most dangerous creatures on earth.

Over the course of the book series, Fowl becomes an antihero rather than a full-fledged villain, often working together with the fairies to stop a slew of treacherous megalomaniacs.
Irish playwright Conor McPherson has been roped in to to pen the script, reported Variety.

Disney is planning to release the film on August 9, 2019.

Harvey Weinstein and Branagh are producing the project.

Dench and Branagh most recently collaborated on Murder on the Orient Express, which Branagh also helmed and starred in opposite Dench. They also starred together in The Winter's Tale on the West End in 2015.