Helen Mirren Joins The One And Only Ivan

Family adventure The One And Only Ivan started shooting this week with director Thea Sharrock calling the shots. The film, which will blend live-action and CG animation, has just added to its voice cast, with Helen Mirren and Danny DeVito.

Adapted from Katherine Applegate and illustrator Patricia Castelao's 2011 tome by Mike White, the story follows a silverback gorilla (the titular Ivan, a CG character to be voiced by Sam Rockwell), who lives in a cage at the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. He has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain, and rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all. Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he's seen and about his friends Stella (Angelina Jolie, who is also producing), an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line. Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home – and his own art – through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it's up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.

While Bryan Cranston, Ariana Greenblatt, Ramon Rodriquez, Indira Varma and Eleanor Matsuura are all in the live-action chunk, Mirren and DeVito will be reporting for duty in the voice booth, lending their tonsil talents to characters that have yet to be confirmed.

Mirren has The Nutcracker And The Four Realms, Anna and Berlin, I Love you headed our way, while DeVito will be seen in the live-action Dumbo and animated comedy Smallfoot.