The $27 million film, which goes into production in January in the U.K., has a cast of young singers including Joseph Kaiser as Tamino, Amy Carson as Pamina, and Ben Davis as Papageno. Ren_ Pape, the most prominent member of the cast, will play Sarastro. James Conlon will conduct the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Branagh has directed and starred in film versions of Shakespeare's Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, and Hamlet. Fry directed the film Bright Young Things, based on Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies, and has written several books.