Yesterday brought the news, from a now deleted tweet from star Simon Pegg, that motion-capture king Andy Serkis was to replace David Tennant in John Landis’ “Burke and Hare.” This morning brings confirmation of that news, along with the addition of Isla Fisher and Tom Wilkinson to the cast. We were looking forward to seeing Tennant paired with Pegg, but Serkis is a great actor (he’s tremendous as Ian Dury in “Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll”), so we’re glad to see he’s officially on board. Wilkinson is as reliable as anyone working today, and we’re glad to see Isla Fisher breaking out of the rom-com hell she looked to be heading into after “Confessions of a Shopaholic.”
There’s still a question mark about the material here – while Burke and Hare (19th century grave-robbers who became serial killers) is a potentially great story, John Landis hasn’t made anything worth a damn in over 25 years, and the script is by super-hacky writing duo Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft, who are behind the “St Trinian’s” franchise (which are essentially the British version of “Meet the Spartans,” to all intents and purpose). But, with a cast of this calibre, maybe the behind-the-scenes talent can raise their game.
In semi-related news, Total Film are suggesting that Tennant leaving the project might mean that he’s, as long rumored, set to play Bilbo Baggins in “The Hobbit.” Of course, this isn’t just entirely speculative, but also clearly not true – the Tolkien adaptation is set to film in June, whereas “Burke and Hare” begins filming January 31st, so there’s no scheduling conflict here. Plus, you know, Serkis is in “The Hobbit” too. Like yesterday’s idiotic ‘Simon Pegg is in “Harry Potter”‘ rumor, it’s complete rubbish – wishful thinking isn’t news, guys…