Older, Playing Younger: Isabelle Fuhrman Cast in ‘Orphan’ Prequel
In 2009, she was 13, playing a (SPOILER!) grown woman pretending to be a 9-year-old child. Now, Isabelle Fuhrman will spend part of 2021 starring in the Orphan prequel, this time as a 24-year-old playing an even younger version of the character.
Orphan: First Kill is currently in production in Canada, and takes place in Estonia, before Esther came to the United States. The obvious question is how will the actress, who has obviously aged over a decade since she last played the role, convincingly play a small child.
Deadline reports that director William Brent Bell (The Boy) will use a combination of top-notch makeup effects and forced-perspective camera work to create the illusion that Fuhrman’s character can pass for a little kid.
Julia Stiles (Hustlers) has also been cast. In the original Orphan (more spoilers ahead!) Fuhrman played Esther, a little girl adopted by a couple (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard) who really was a grown woman afflicted with dwarfism. Esther, a seemingly angelic child, turns terrifying resorting to mayhem and murder as her secret is discovered.
Orphan grossed over $77 million world-wide and opened to decent reviews. Fuhrman’s Esther was deliciously creepy as the sociopathic home-wrecking child who has almost everyone fooled…at first.
In the prequel, Esther is Leena Klammer, incarcerated (with good reason) in an Estonian psychiatric facility. She manages to escape and hitches a ride to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. As Leena slips into her Esther persona, she finds herself up against a mother (Stiles) who will protect her family at any cost.
Fuhrman has been busy since playing the sinister Esther. She had roles in The Hunger Games and the critically-acclaimed Showtime series Masters of Sex. She will next star in Escape Room 2 from Sony Pictures, set to release in January 2021. Orphan: First Kill was written by David Coggeshall and will be released in 2022.