Walt Disney Studios has started the production of the exhilarating adventure Artemis Fowl. Based on the first book of Eoin Colfer’s best-selling series of the same name, and directed by Kenneth Branagh, Disney’s Artemis Fow has begun principal photography and will film in England, Northern Ireland and Ho Chi Minh City. The book was adapted for the screen by award-winning playwright Conor McPherson.

Descended from a long line of criminal masterminds, 12-year-old genius Artemis Fowl finds himself in a battle of strength and cunning against a powerful, hidden race of fairies who may be behind his father’s disappearance.

Newcomer Ferdia Shaw plays the title character, with Lara McDonnell playing Captain Holly Short, a feisty, spirited elf, who is kidnapped by Artemis for a ransom of fairy gold.

In the underground fairy world of Haven City, Academy Award®-winner Dame Judi Dench plays Commander Root, the leader of the reconnaissance division of the LEPrecon, the fairy police force, and Josh Gad plays Mulch Diggums, a kleptomaniac dwarf, who attempts to help rescue Holly.

Above ground, Nonso Anozie plays the Fowl family bodyguard, named Butler, and Tamara Smart plays Butler’s niece Juliet.  Miranda Raison plays Artemis’ mother Angeline.

Branagh brings back several members of his creative team, including Haris Zambarloukos, director of photography; Jim Clay, production designer; Patrick Doyle, composer; and Carol Hemming, hair and makeup designer—all of whom worked on Branagh’s 2017 directorial project, “Murder on the Orient Express.” The costume designer is Sammy Sheldon Differ (“Assassin’s Creed”), and the film will be edited by Martin Walsh (“Wonder Woman”).