Monty Python Members To Voice Aliens In Sci-Fi Comedy ‘Absolutely Anything’
The surviving members of the Monty Python troupe –John Cleese,Terry Gilliam,Eric Idle,Terry Jones, andMichael Palin— have very rarely appeared as Monty Python since the death of Graham Chapman in 1989.
But the five actors have shown up together in various configurations in a few projects over the years. Now a new one is brewing:Absolutely Anything, a hybrid live-action/CG sci-fi farce that is planning to feature the living Pythons as “a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do “absolutely anything” to see what a mess he’ll make of things.”
Variety reports that the film will be directed by Terry Jones, who last madeThe Wind in the Willowsin 1996, itself a sort of minor Python reunion. (Jones also co-directedMonty Python and the Holy Grail, and directedLife of BrianandThe Meaning of Life.) He told the trade, “it’s not a Monty Python picture, but it certainly has that sensibility.”
Jones andGavin Scotthave worked on the screenplay on and off over two decades, and the story also features a talking dog “who seems to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does.“Robin Williamsis attached to voice that character. He could also play another role, “a pompous Frenchman reminiscent of Inspector Clouseau.”
Right now, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese and Michael Palin have agreed to voice alien characters, and producer Mike Medavoy (The Pink Panther,Black Swan) and the other producers are working on signing Eric Idle.
I like the sound of this so far — reminds me in a way of something that Douglas Adams might have cooked up.
Director Terry Jones, by the way, is also reported to be working on a metal version ofThe Nutcracker, with lyricist Jim Steinman, and is co-writing an opera based onThe Owl and the Pussycat. That one will be presented on barges on the Thames during the London Summer Olympics.
