‘Annie’ Trailer: The Sun (and Jamie Foxx) will Come Out This Christmas
Sony has dropped the first 'Annie' trailer, giving us our first look at this long-gestating remake and possible Oscar contender. Starring Jamie Foxx, recent Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, and Cameron Diaz, this footage has got us humming along.
The film is being produced by unlikely sources: Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, and Jay-Z. The former supposedly got involved with the project when they hoped to use it as a cinematic launching point for their daughter Willow, while the latter gave the musical both more attention and street cred by using it in his song "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)."
The play -- which was first produced in 1977 for Broadway and was filmed for the big screen in 1982 -- was based on the comic strip 'Little Orphan Annie,' which was created by Harold Gray and ran from 1924 through 2010, and has become a launching point for many precocious young actresses. The story requires a young(-ish) performer at the center (and seems partly the target of the 'SNL' "Child Actors" sketch), which is what makes this remake so interesting. Wallis, who was nominated for best actress in 2012 for 'Beasts of the Southern Wild,' doesn't have any "child actor" tics, and the 'Annie' trailer shows she's joined by an eclectic mix of actors, including 'Bridesmaids' star Rose Byrne, 'Boardwalk Empire''s Bobby Cannavale, 'Thor: The Dark World' star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and 'Dexter''s David Zayas. It should be fascinating when 'Annie' hits theaters December 19.