Asterix Live-Action Adaptation Lands Swedish Soccer Player Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic will make his movie debut in the upcoming fifth live-action adaptation of the French-originated and globally popular children's franchise The Adventures of Asterix, according to Deadline. Ibrahimovic joins Vincent Cassel (Westworld), Guillaume Canet (Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart), Gilles Lellouche (Love Me if You Dare), and Marion Cotillard (It's Only the End of the World) for Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, which is currently in pre-production and expected to start filming later this spring.

Ibrahimovic will play Oneofus, Canet and Lellouche will play Asterix and Obelix respectively, and Cotillard will play Cleopatra. Announcements of other actors and their roles are still expected for the movie, which has a script co-written by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé, who also recently wrote 2018's Looking for Teddy. Canet will also direct.

As the original property, actor names, and films cited so far indicate, this will be an international story and production--Deadline indicates that production was originally expected to move forward in China, but was shelved for obvious reasons due to the pandemic, and will now take place in France and Morocco. The movie will revolve around the only daughter of the Chinese Emperor Han Xuandi, who escapes from the grips of a rogue prince and runs off to Gaul, seeking help from two valiant warriors, Asterix and Obelix.

Netflix recently announced it will be separately developing a 3D animated version of The Adventures of Asterix, expected to be released worldwide in 2022. This version will be produced in France.