Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" remains one of the author's most popular novels and 20th Century Fox has been slowly working away on an adaptation of the novel for several years. Ridley Scott, Mark Gordon, and Simon Kinberg will be producing with Michael Green, who has penned the new BLADE RUNNER film, is working on writing the adaptation of Christie's novel.
As to who may take the helm of the mystery film, The Wrap may have the answer; they report that Kenneth Branagh is in talks to direct MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Fox declined to comment, but Kenneth Branagh, who is still riding high on the success of Disney's live-action CINDERELLA, would definitely add a welcome touch of class to the film. Should Branagh accept the job, he and his producers would assemble an A-list cast for the movie. "Murder on the Orient Express" follows detective Hercule Poirot (who was featured in many Agatha Christie stories) as he investigates the murder of an American business tycoon on a train.
The last big-screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel came in 1974 from director Sidney Lumet and starred Albert Finney as Poirot, and sported an all-star cast which included Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael York.