Anthony Hopkins To Star In ‘Eyes In The Trees,’ Reimagining Of H.G. Wells’ ‘The Island Of Dr. Moreau’

EXCLUSIVE: After taking on Sigmund Freud in Sony Pictures Classics’ Freud’s Last Session, Academy Award winner has been set to star in Eyes in the Trees, a reimagining of the classic H.G. Wells novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, from director Timothy Woodward Jr.

In the film, Hopkins portrays a geneticist who has been isolated after the government stopped funding his research following the violent outbreak of one of his test subjects. Later, two renowned filmmakers and their crew embark on a journey of discovery, only to find their excursion turned into a fight for survival for not just themselves, but the entire human race.

A seminal work of science fiction published in 1896, The Island of Dr. Moreau has inspired numerous screen adaptations over the years, including 1932’s Island of Lost Souls and 1977’s The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Burt Lancaster. Most famous among them is the 1996 film of the same name, starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, which between issues with cast, weather and budget, remains one of the most infamously challenged productions in film history.

Script for Eyes in the Trees was written by B. Harrison Smith (Where the Scary Things Are) and Mike Manning (Son of the South). Artisha Mann-Cooper (Tripped Up), Daemon Hillin (Which Brings Me to You), and Sasha Yelaun (Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose) will produce alongside EP Landon B. Gorman, with Jeremy O’Keefe handling casting.

Winning his second Oscar just a few years ago for his turn opposite Olivia Colman in Florian Zeller’s The Father, Hopkins’ other recent credits include Zeller’s follow-up film The Son and James Gray’s coming-of-age drama Armageddon Time. He’ll next be seen starring as Sir Nicholas Winton, the British stockbroker who rescued over 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in the months leading up to WWII, in James Hawes’ drama One Life, out this spring following a TIFF 2023 launch.

The winner of a Daytime Emmy and other accolades for his work on the digital drama series Studio City, Woodward’s most recent feature credits include the horror comedy Til Death Do Us Part, horror thriller The Call, and Western The Outsider.

Hopkins is repped by UTA, Independent Talent Group in the UK, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Woodward by Zero Gravity Management.