
Every passenger has a motive. Watch the new trailer for Death on the Nile, in theaters February 11.
Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this dramatic tale of love gone wrong features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement. The film stars Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, and Armie Hammer.
The film isn’t without some behind the scenes drama however. It’s been almost a year since multiple women accused Hammer of emotional abuse, manipulation and coercion; in April, a woman who gave her name only as Effie accused Hammer of rape. Hammer denied the allegations, but was dropped by his agents at William Morris and withdrew from a number of movie and TV projects, including the Jennifer Lopez movie Shotgun Wedding and The Godfather series at Paramount+.
Per The Hollywood Reporter:
Death on a Nile had been done for more than a year when the troubling allegations arose, leaving Disney in a tough position. The release of the movie, which was originally set to hit cinemas in 2020, had already been delayed because of COVID-19.
Disney considered several options when the accusations broke regarding Hammer (Call Me By Your Name, The Social Network).
Those options included reshooting the movie with a new star who could replace Hammer’s character, according to a source. In 2017, Ridley Scott — one of the producers of Death on the Nile — had reshot All the Money in the World after Kevin Spacey was accused of sexual assault, which he denied. Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer.
But that wasn’t feasible for a film of this scale, because of the pandemic and the ensemble cast. Gathering all the actors back together would have been near-to-impossible due to COVID. (Death on the Nile also stars Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo and Jennifer Saunders.)