Oscar winner Patricia Arquette has signed on to voice a witch in “Troll: The Rise of Harry Potter, Jr.,” an animated revival of the 1986 cult classic horror film “Troll.”
John Carl Buechler, the writer and director of the original film, has agreed to co-produce the full-length 3D animated feature film along with Peter Davy.
Newcomer Baxter Barlett will be the voice of young Harry Potter, Jr., a character previously played by Noah Hathaway — and yes, there really was a cinematic character named Harry Potter before J.K. Rowling’s boy wizard became a cultural phenomenon.
Actually, there were two.
The project announcement stressed, “Harry Potter and Harry Potter, Jr. and his family were characters in the 1986 motion picture ‘Troll,’ which was independently created and distributed 11 years before J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was written and published.”
Michael Moriarty, Shelley Hack, June Lockhart and Julia Louis-Dreyfus co-starred in the critically panned horror movie about wicked troll king invading a San Francisco apartment complex in search of a mystical ring that will return him to human form.
The new animated feature will revisit the magical world of the original with Harry Potter, Jr. turning to a magical witch to help him save the planet from the clutches of the troll wizard and his evil force.
Plans are underway to lock in the remainder of the voice cast, and Davy noted producers are “already in pre-production.”
“We have the financing in place and a strong international distributor,” he said. “We are envisioning a series of animated sequels along with an animated TV series.”
“Troll: The Rise of Harry Potter, Jr.” will be distributed internationally by London-based SC Films International, which is in final negotiations with 3D animation studios in Canada and China to provide production services for the project slated for a release in early 2017.
Arquette won her first Oscar earlier this year for her performance in Richard Linklater’s unique coming-of-age drama “Boyhood,” which was filmed over the course of 12 years. Currently, she stars on CBS’ “CSI: Cyber.”
Taking extra careful care to distinguish itself from Warner Bros. “Harry Potter” franchise, the announcement added: “‘Troll: The Rise of Harry Potter, Jr.’ has not been prepared, approved or licensed by any entity that created or produced the J.K Rowling series of Harry Potter books or the Warner Bros. series of Harry Potter motion pictures. Troll: the Movie LLC is not affiliated with J.K.Rowling or Warner Bros nor has this motion picture been endorsed or authorized by J.K.Rowling or Warner Bros. The characters Harry Potter and Harry Potter, Jr. depicted in ‘Troll’ are not related to, or inspired by, the book and film characters of J.K.Rowling and Warner Bros.”
