John Landis's Burke and Hare

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November 6, 2008


John Landis is getting back in the saddle with a clutch of feature projects in the pipeline.

First up will be "Burke and Hare," a true-life black comedy about the two eponymous grave-robbers in 19th century Edinburgh. Landis is directing the project for Ealing Studios. Lensing is set to start next spring in Edinburgh, London and at Ealing Studios.

Project's script is written by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft, who previously penned for Ealing the modern-day reworking of British schoolgirl laffer "St. Trinian's," the second highest-grossing British indie pic of the past decade in the U.K.

The film will be produced by Ealing Studios topper Barnaby Thompson and exec produced by James Spring.

While Landis has been keeping himself busy of late by directing a number of feature-length docs, including "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project," which won two Primetime Emmys this year, "Burke and Hare" will mark Landis' first feature in a decade after "Blues Brothers 2000" in 1998.

Landis is also attached to a number of other feature projects, including "Ghoulishly Yours," a biopic of Mad magazine and EC Comics publisher William Gaines; "The Bone Orchard," which the helmer describes as a Western with Chinese vampires; and "The Rivals," based on the Restoration play by James Sheridan.

Landis is finding himself back in vogue after a period in the feature film wilderness.

A special 30th anniversary DVD re-release of Landis' seminal comedy "Animal House" just notched up first week sales of 76,000 units.

[neverending]

All those projects sound great- but especially the biopic of Gaines! That would be hilarious!

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Fans of grave-robbers rejoice -- John Landis has found one half of his Burke and Hare pair, with Simon Pegg apparently boarding the dark feature.

The marvellously monikered Uncle Creepy of Dread Central broke the story, with Landis apparently making the announcement at the Monster-Mania Convention.

William Burke and William Hare were a pair of Irish immigrants who robbed graves and sold the corpses to Edinburgh Medical College for dissection in the early 1880s. Their sinister efforts took a murderous turn when they started killing victims and then selling the bodies.

No news on who will star opposite Pegg, though don't rule out his long-time partner-in-crime Nick Frost.

[Doc Faustus]

This is excellent news.

[Ferox13]

Cool stuff - i love that topic.

I loved the Doctor and the Devils and the one with Donald Pleasance. I just got I sell the Dead, which i've yet to watch..

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David Tennant, star of "Dr Who", has been cast alongside Simon Pegg in Burke and Hare, as was announced by director John Landis this weekend at the Spooky Empire convention in Orlando, FL.

Based on a true story, Burke And Hare is about two 19th century graverobbers who find a lucrative business providing cadavers for an Edinburgh medical school.

The screenplay was penned by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft.

[neverending]

Forgot to mention The Rivals could be great- if they stay true to the source and don't try "updating" it. I played Snake in the show once. It's hilarious.

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With previous roles in zombie movie Shaun Of The Dead and Moors murderer Ian Brady in TV drama Longford, Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis's latest film project is just as grizzly.

Pegg, 40, and Serkis, 45, play Edinburgh serial killers William Burke and William Hare respectively in the forthcoming black comedy Burke and Hare.



The real-life Burke and Hare, who hailed from Ireland, were responsible for the deaths of at least 17 people from 1827 until 1828.

After murdering their victims, the pair then went on to sell the bodies to Dr Robert Knox, who dissected them in his anatomy classes at Barclay's anatomy school in Surgeon's Square.

They were assisted in their crimes by Burke's mistress Helen M'Dougal and Hare's wife Margaret Laird.

The pair were eventually caught when one of their lodgers tipped off the police after finding the body of their last victim, Marjory Campbell Docherty, under her bed.

As the evidence against them was weak, Hare was offered immunity from prosecution if he testified against Burke - which he did - so the latter was found guilty and hanged in January 1829.

After serving a short time in prison, Hare was released in February 1829 and left Edinburgh, never to be seen again.



The movie, directed by John Landis, who was responsible for Michael Jackson's Thriller video, started filming on location in London and Edinburgh earlier this month.

Burke & Hare also stars Australian actress Isla Fisher as Burke's love interest Ginny and Pegg's former Spaced co-star Jessica Hynes as Hare's wife.

Enthusing about his on-screen love interest Fisher, Pegg said: 'Thoroughly enjoying working with Shannon from Home & Away. Now I'm only one degree of separation from Mr. Fisher. Bonza.'

The film also stars Oscar winner Tom Wilkinson as Dr Knox, Tim Curry as Dr Monroe, as well as comedians Ronnie Corbett and Bill Bailey.

Clearly excited about working with Curry, Pegg posted a photo of himself with the actor on his Twitter page last week.



He also wrote on his growing friendship with his partner-in-crime Serkis: 'Really enjoying working with Andy Serkis. Genuinely lovely person and a fine, fine actor. Great watching him work.'

Burke & Hare is due for release later this year.