Movies
John Landis’ ‘Burke & Hare’ Goes Behind Cameras!
An award-winning international cast was officially announced today for Burke & Hare, the new film from legendary director John Landis (An American Werewolf in London, Blues Brothers, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”). Principal photography commenced on January 31st around London, Edinburgh and Ealing Studios with Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Star Trek, Spaced), as William Burke and recent BAFTA-nominee Andy Serkis (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Lord of the Rings, King Kong) as William Hare, the notorious Edinburgh murderers. Read on for more details.
Pictured: Tim Curry
Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers, Confessions of a Shopaholic) takes on the role of Ginny, an ambitious young actress and the object of Burke’s affections and Jessica Hynes neé Stevenson (Spaced, Son of Rambow, Shaun of the Dead) as Hare’s long suffering wife Lucky.
The supporting cast consists of the cream of British acting and comedy talent including: Oscar-nominee Tom Wilkinson (The Full Monty, Michael Clayton), Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show), Ronnie Corbett (Extras), Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen), David Schofield (Pirates of the Caribbean), Allan Corduner (Topsy Turvey), BAFTA Award-winner Bill Baily (Nanny McPhee & The Big Bang, Black Books), Hugh Bonneville (Notting Hill), Michael Smiley (Spaced) and Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings, Dracula).
According to Landis: “BURKE & HARE is a very black romantic comedy in the classic tradition of the Ealing Studios’ Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers”.
Burke & Hare is a comedic take on the true story of the 1828 Edinburgh body-snatchers William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis). These two Irish entrepreneurs discover that a dead body can fetch a hefty price when the demands of the leading medical professors Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson) and Dr. Monroe (Tim Curry) reach beyond that of the local supply.
Burke & Hare is produced by Barnaby Thompson (Dorian Gray, St Trinian’s 1+2), executive produced by Nigel Green, James Spring, Paul Brett, Tim Smith and is written by Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft (St Trinian’s 1+2). Director of Photography is Oscar
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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