More often found these days leading the hunt for terrorists on Homeland, Mandy Pantinkin has agreed to spend some time smurfing the smurfs for smurfs in the role of Papa Smurf as Sony prepares to feed its profitable franchise into the reboot machine for an all-animated new film.
Patinkin, who has also been known to grace a stage or two in his time, will take over the Papa Smurf role voiced in the first two live-action/CG blend films by Jonathan Winters, who died in 2013.
Shrek 2’s Kelly Asbury is directing the new film, which resets the clock back for a Smurfs origin story and intends to return the small blue characters to their traditional, Peyo-derived look as opposed to the more solid CG versions seen in the 2011 and 2013 films. Not much else is known about the new film other than that Asbury’s fellow DreamWorks veteran (and writer of the 2013 Smurfs) Karey Kirkpatrick has worked on the script with Over The Hedge’s Chris Poche.
Sony Pictures Animation wants this one in US cinemas on August 5, 2016, with the UK release following a week later on August 12. Does the news make you Smurfingly Smurfy or Smurftastically Smurfpressed?
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