According to CinemaBlend and Deadline, Famke Janssen is set to play the leader of a band of witches in the film, “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters”.
The film, also starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as Hansel and Gretel, follows the brother and sister duo fifteen years after their incident at the gingerbread house as children. They have now become witch bounty hunters, destined to destroy the witches that nearly killed them in the gingerbread house.
Seeing as this film is going to be a fantasy action-adventure film, Janssen is a good match for the project. According to CinemaBlend, Janssen is probably best known from her turn as Jean Grey/Phoenix in the “X-Men” franchise. She also was a femme fatale in the James Bond film GoldenEye, Xenia Onatopp. Aside from “X-Men”, she’s played in other action-adventure films like “Deep Rising,” “I Spy” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” From what she accomplished as Onatopp and Jean Grey (along with the rest of the action-adventure films on her resume), playing a witch will be easy as pie (or gingerbread?) for Janssen.
“Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” will be directed by Tommy Wirkola (“Dead Snow”) and written by Wirkola and D.W. Harper. The release date has yet to be posted.