Sam Rockwell, currently waiting on his Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is about to take up a far different role from his previous one. He’s trading in an abusive, racist cop for the voice of Ivan the Gorilla in The One And Only Ivan.
The film is a live-action/CGI hybrid which revolves around a silverback gorilla who lives in a mall. Rockwell joins Angelina Jolie in the Disney film that will be based on the award-winning book of the same name by Katherine Applegate.
With a script being written by Mike White (School Of Rock), the film will tell the tale of Ivan the Gorilla who lives in a cage in a shopping mall alongside an Elephant named Stella (Jolie), and a stray Dog called Bob.
Ivan does not remember his life before the mall, but when a baby Elephant named Ruby enters and Ivan begins to take care of her, his memories come flooding back and her concocts a plan to get Ruby away from her abusive owner.
Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project) will voice Ruby while Ariana Greenblatt will play a live-action role in the film. Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire) will direct.
Rockwell isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think ‘voice actor in kids film’, but he remains one of the most consistently excellent actors working today. With a very solid cast and crew on board, The One And Only Ivan seems likely to be every bit of a tearjerker the book was.
#Peace.Love.TheOneAndOnlyIvan
