Making the move from “He’ll flip ya; he’ll flip ya for real” to “Swiper, no swiping,” THR confirmed today that Benicio del Toro, of all people, has signed on for a starring role in James Bobin’s Dora The Explorer movie. Fresh off murdering the shit out of a whole bunch of people in the latest Sicario film, del Toro will voice theft-happy fox Swiper in the live-action/CG hybrid.
For those unfamiliar, Swiper is a sort of Lucifer figure in the wider Dora universe, an ever-present force of kleptomaniacal evil whose approach is heralded by a whisking sound, and whose thieving ways can only be warded off with the properly spoken mantra. In the animated series, the character is voiced by comedian and puppeteer Marc Weiner, a.k.a. the guy from Weinerville, a fact we have only just this moment learned, and which is now kind of blowing our minds.
Anyway, Del Toro joins a pretty stacked cast for the film, which finished principal filming just a short while ago. Isabela Moner is playing Dora herself, while Michael Peña and Eva Longoria will play her parents. (Eugenio Derbez, Adriana Barraza and Temuera Morrison also star.) The film—which ages its pint-sized protagonist up to high school freshman age—is being described as a Goonies-esque adventure; we can’t wait for the bit where del Toro’s sly Swiper teams up with a crew of actual, no-fucking around murderers to try to capture the Nickelodeon star and her pals.