Production begins on A Monster Calls starring Liam Neeson and Felicity Jones

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

Production has begun on A MONSTER CALLS, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, director of THE ORPHANAGE, THE IMPOSSIBLE and “Penny Dreadful.” Participant Media and River Road Entertainment are financing the Apaches Entertainment production, in association with Telecinco Cinema and La Trini Films. The film, adapted by Patrick Ness from his award-winning children’s fantasy novel, will be released by Focus Features domestically in the fall of 2016. Yeah, not very soon.

A Monster Calls is a visually spectacular drama about 12-year-old Conor (newcomer Lewis MacDougall) who attempts to deal with his mother’s (Felicity Jones, who stars in Focus’ fall release The Theory of Everything) illness and the bullying of his classmates by escaping into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales that explore courage, loss and faith.

The cast also includes Academy Award nominees Liam Neeson, who will star in performance-capture and voiceover as the nocturnally visiting monster of the title, and Sigourney Weaver, who will portray Conor’s maternal grandmother; Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), as Conor’s father; and Geraldine Chaplin, who is making her third movie with Mr. Bayona.

The creative team on A Monster Calls also includes production designer Eugenio Caballero, an Academy Award winner for Pan’s Labyrinth who previously collaborated with the director on The Impossible; costume designer Steven Noble (The Theory of Everything); and cinematographer Óscar Faura, who shot both The Impossible and The Orphanage for Mr. Bayona.

Felicity Jones