Robert Downey Jr. film ‘Doctor Dolittle’ casts Marion Cotillard, Octavia Spencer

Image: AFP Relaxnews

The cast of “Doctor Dolittle” is expanding with the announcement that Octavia Spencer, Marion Cotillard, Rami Malek and more are involved in the adaptation of famous Hugh Lofting children’s stories starring Robert Downey Jr. as the veterinarian who can talk to animals.

Downey broke the news through his  social media accounts, naming Octavia Spencer (“The Shape of Water”) as the voice of Dab-Dab the duck and Marion Cotillard (“Inception”) as Tutu the fox.

Also named to the production’s voice cast were John Cena (“Ferdinand”) as Yoshi the polar bear, Carmen Ejogo (“Fantastic Beasts”) as Regine the lioness, Fraces de la Tour (“Alice Through the Looking Glass”) as Ginko-Who-Soars, Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”) as Chee-Chee the gorilla, Kumil Nanijiani (“The Big Sick”) as Plimpton the ostrich, and Craig Robinson (“The Office”) as Fleming the mouse.

Previously announced were Selena Gomez (“Hotel Transylvania”) as Betsy the giraffe, Tom Holland (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”) as Jip the dog, Emma Thompson (“Beauty and the Beast”) as Polynesia the parrot and Ralph Fiennes (“Harry Potter” movies) as Barry the tiger.

Tom Holland and Robert Downey Jr. appeared together in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and are both part of “Avengers: Infinity War”.

Playing human characters alongside RDJ’s Doctor Dolittle are Antonio Banderas, Jim Broadbent, Michael Sheen and a young Harry Collet, all earlier announced in February.

Stephen Gaghan, who wrote the screenplay for “Traffic” and directed “Syriana” and “Gold”, is at the helm.

Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle stories first emerged in the 1920 novel “The Story of Doctor Dolittle”.

Twelve more adventures followed over the next 33 years, the bulk of them published throughout the 1920s, with a 1932 spin-off authored by Gub Gub the pig and transcribed by Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collet’s character.)

Six previous movie adaptations have been made, starting with 1967 musical “Doctor Dolittle” and then picking up again in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Eddie Murphy starring in two comedies as the eponymous clinician.

Kyla Pratt then took over, playing Dolittle’s adult daughter Maya for the three subsequent films released between 2006 and 2009. JB

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