With shooting due to begin in the next couple of months, Cameron Crowe is filling out the cast for We Bought A Zoo. A couple of days ago, Scarlett Johansson joined Matt Damon in the film, and now they’ve got company in the form of Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning.
Fugit is, of course, an old Crowe hand, having starred in Almost Famous, although this time he’s taking a more supporting role, even is at the moment it isn’t certain exactly what part he’ll take in the film. The movie is about a man (Damon), who goes for a complete life change and buys a delipidated zoo. Despite having no experience with animals, he vows to turn the park around, something made far tougher when his wife, Kelly (Johansson), has a relapse of the brain tumour they thought had gone away.
Elle Fanning meanwhile will play the role of Lily, a 13-year old who works at the zoo’s restaurant. Too young to legally be working, she gets paid under the table and lives on the property. Her only parental figure is Kelly, from whom Lily learns to be at ease with the animals. The young girl is immediately fascinated by the son of the zoo’s new owner, and she becomes very flirtatious.
While the true story the film is based on is British, and recent reports suggested that while the new zoo owning family would be American, they’d still be taking over a UK zoo, it’s starting to appear that with an increasingly US cast, the whole tale may have moved from Devon to America.