“Game of Thrones” star Iwan Rheon, Jack Wolfe (“The Witcher”), Asha Banks and Amir Wilson (“His Dark Materials”) have joined Roland Emmerich’s production of “The Magic Flute,” a modern retelling of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular opera.
The pic is set to begin principal photography on Feb. 8 at Bavaria Studios in Munich.
Starring alongside the young British actors will be some of the world’s most renowned opera stars, among them French soprano Sabine Devieilhe, Mexican-French tenor Rolando Villazón and U.S. bass Morris Robinson.
Directed by Florian Sigl, “The Magic Flute” is set in present-day Europe and follows 17-year-old singer Tim Walker as he travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”
Wolfe, who began his career at London’s National Theatre and has appeared in the hit Netflix series “The Witcher,” plays the dual roles of Tim and Prince Tamino.
Rheon, best known for his portrayal of the dastardly Ramsay Bolton in HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” plays the beloved bird catcher Papageno.
Banks, who starred in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of David Walliams and Robbie Williams’ “The Boy in the Dress,” portrays Princess Pamina, while Wilson plays the part of Tim’s rival and son of opera star Enrico Milanesi, embodied by Villazón.
Playing the three ladies of the story are Netflix’s “Barbarians” star Jeanne Goursaud, Jasmin Shakeri (“Deadlines”) and Larissa Sirah Herden (“Bad Banks”).
Christopher Zwickler of Berlin-based Flute Film and Fabian Wolfart are producing alongside Emmerich and his Centropolis Entertainment. Tim Oberwelland, Theodor Gringel, Peter Eiff and Tobias Alexander Seiffert of Tobis Film and Stefan Konarske of Quinta Media are co-producing.
In addition to his co-producer duties, Konarske, whose acting credits include roles in “Das Boot” and “The Young Karl Marx,” also appears in the film as Sarastros’ evil guard Monostatos.
The production is supported by national and regional funders from Germany and Austria, including FFF Bayern, Bayerischer Bankenfonds, Hessenfilm, MFG Filmförderung, Filmförderung des Landes Salzburg, the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) and Filmstandort Austria (FISA)
“The Magic Flute” will shoot in Munich, Salzburg, London and the Canary Islands. Tobis Film is set to release the film in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the end of 2022.
