Ewan McGregor will be heading to the 100 Acre Wood, with The Hollywood Reporter revealing that he has entered talks to star in Disney’s Christopher Robin as the title character from the Winnie the Pooh stories.
The film will see McGregor as an adult Christopher Robin who who toils as a businessman and prioritizes work above his wife and daughter. Having lost his sense of wonder, he must find it again with the help of Winnie the Pooh, who comes back to remind him of his joyous youth.
The film will be directed by Finding Neverland and Quantum of Solace‘s Marc Forster, with Disney hiring Hidden Figures screenwriter Allison Schroeder. She will take another pass at the script that was previously written by Alex Ross Perry and Tom McCarthy.
Winnie the Pooh was created by A.A. Milne in 1924, and his son Christopher Robin Milne was the basis for the character of Christopher Robin. Winnie the Pooh was based upon a Canadian black bear that had been donated to the London Zoo by her owner, Harry Coleburn, after World War I. Milne and his son saw the bear at the zoo so much Christopher named his teddy bear Winnie, becoming the inspiration for the character.
There is no word on when Christopher Robin will enter production. The film is also not to be confused with Fox Searchlight’s Goodbye Christopher Robin, a biopic of A.A. Milne starring Domhnall Gleeson as the author, Margot Robbie as his wife Daphne and Will Tilston as Christopher with Simon Curtis directing. That film will see its release on November 10th of this year.
Originally published April 27, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
