Dora the Explorer has found her villain.
Benicio del Toro has closed a deal to voice Swiper, the thieving fox, in Paramount Players’ live-action feature based on the character from Nickelodeon's beloved preschool series Dora the Explorer!
The signing is a late-in-the-game development, as the movie wrapped production in Australia two weeks ago, but not an atypical one, as voice casts for CG characters also tend to be locked in when post-production begins.
Dora the Explorer will tell the story of Dora, a girl who has spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, but now must navigate her most dangerous adventure yet: high school. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego, and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.
In the popular Dora TV series, Swiper appeared in nearly every episode to steal Dora's hard-won artifacts. The pint-sized adventurer then uttered one of the show's signature catchphrases, uttered three times, "Swiper, no swiping." Whenever Swiper is been caught in the act, he utters his iconic catchphrase, "Oh, man!". Swiper is voiced by Marc Weiner (Weinerville, Figure It Out) in the series.
Benicio del Toro joins Isabela Moner (100 Things to Do Before High School, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Transformers: The Last Knight, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Instant Family), who portrays the teen adventurer; Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives, Overboard) and Michael Peña, who play the parents of the titular character; Eugenio Derbez (Overboard, Instructions Not Included; How to Be A Latin Lover), who plays Alejandro, a mysterious jungle inhabitant who tries to protect the teenagers from the marauders; Jeffrey Wahlberg (Future World, Ballers, Counterpart, Reefa) in the role of cousin Diego; Nicholas Coombe (Spy Kids: Mission Control, Midnight Sun) as Randy, a fellow high schooler who develops an immediate crush on Dora; Madeleine Madden (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Tidelands) as the school’s snooty class president, Sammy; and Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza (Babel, Amores Perros, Thor, The 33) as Dora’s grandma, Abuelita Valerie; Temuera Morrison (Green Lantern, Moana), who will play the role of Powell; Q’orianka Kilcher (The Alienist), will play Inca Princess Kawillaka; Pia Miller (Home and Away) as Dora's aunt Mami; and Madelyn Miranda, who portrays Young Dora.
James Bobin is directing the movie from a script written by Nicholas Stoller and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel. The film is being produced by Christopher Robin producer Kristin Burr, who is joined by longtime Bobin associate, executive producer John G. Scotti (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, Alice Through the Looking Glass) as well as executive producers Julia Pistor (The Spiderwick Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events) and Eugenio Derbez. Walden Media is co-financing and co-producing the picture with Paramount Players, which is slated to release Dora the Explorer on Aug. 2, 2019.
Paramount Players has a mandate to leverage Viacom-owned properties for the big screen treatment. The studio is also developing a feature adaptation of the beloved Nick series Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
The production marks the lovable Latina character’s big screen debut (and first live-action adaptation on any platform) after fourteen seasons (2000-2014) and 172 episodes on Nickelodeon.
Del Toro has been on a quite a roll this year, reprising his role as a principled assassin in Sicario: Day of the Soldado as well as The Collector for Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War. He is also starring with Patricia Arquette and Paul Dano in Showtime’s acclaimed limited crime series, Escape at Dannemora, and also starred in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He is repped by CAA, LBI Entertainment, and Hansen Jacobson.
This news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
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Originally published: Friday, December 14, 2018.
Additional sources: Coming Soon, Dora the Explorer Wiki, Daily Mail Online, Deadline.
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