On Friday 29^th October the John Landis directed Ealing dramedy Burke & Hare has its UK release.  You may read our review of the film here.  The slightly true story of Edinburgh’s most notorious killers has, in this case, been retold as a comedy of errors with a pair of romantic leads engaging in wrongness of the mass murdering kind.  A wrong com if you will!  The leading men in question are Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg. Though we were not entirely mad about the film we are mad about the boys and were excited to have a chance to sit down with them.  They did not disappoint.

Our allotted time with Andy and Simon was cut frustratingly short and we lost the opportunity to get Simon’s scoop on Star Trek and Paul and to ask Andy how he is preparing to make the transition from Rise of the Apes to reprising Gollum. (Keep it HeyUGuys for news on all four projects as it breaks!)  But, overenthusiastic stopwatches aside, the talented pair kept us most entertained.  They were refreshingly informed and considerate about the true lives Burke and Hare had led and spoke with candour about the forces that drove them.  Nerd Do Well author Simon Pegg is an enthusiastic social networker and he also shared with us the way Twitter has altered his relationship with fans.  Andy Serkis has yet to tweet but seemed intrigued at the prospect of dipping his toe in the “twattering” waters.

They were also hilariously frank about a rather unusual bedroom scene.  I think we’ll leave it to Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis to tell you that story themselves…

In 1820 Edinburgh stood at the centre of the modern medical world.  It was a pioneering city in which anatomical demonstrations were the theatre of choice for any discerning academic.  In a world where medical innovation bestowed immediate renowned and prosperity, competition was rife to attract the attention of the King with ever more dramatic displays.  However this theatre was staged in a time before preservation techniques had been truly perfected.  With a corpse as the star of the show and a body shortage depleting the talent pool some progressive doctors would do anything it took to ensure that the show could go on…

William Burke and William Hare are two Irish grifters scratching out a living in the slums of the city.  Surviving on the chickenfeed profit made from their hit and miss cons, the two rely upon income from Mrs Hare’s lodging house to keep them fed, whiskeyed and watered.  Serendipitously the pair encounter a dead tenant ripening under her roof just as the city’s doctors are crying out for cadavers.  Mourning the loss of a jolly good income Burke & Hare set out to dispose of the body and confront the pressing issue of precisely how one crams a grown man into a barrel.  Stopping en route to drink to their misfortune they discover how very lucrative their loss has been and garner a fiver for the poor unfortunate soul into the bargain!  Perceptive William Hare understands the value of their new venture and determines to find a way to replicate the events of the day.  His sweet-natured sidekick understands the value of the coins in his pocket and bumbles along for the ride.

The Williams do their very best to keep the whole unfortunate business away from Mrs Hare leaving her face down in her porridge, and conveniently unaware, to recover from a minor case of severe alcoholism!  A few failed attempts to make a killing do nothing to thwart their ambition, though their initial enthusiasm for grave robbing is somewhat dampened when Ronnie Corbett and his toy soldier militia disrupt their dig and foil their cunning plan.  Mrs Hare eventually sobers up supportive and suspicious and enterprisingly demands her cut.  Meanwhile true love comes calling for William Burke when Isla Fisher’s comely actress Ginny sees in him a future patron.  In the face of such gentle feminine persuasion the two Williams graduate from confidence tricksters to (dis)honest to goodness entrepreneurs.  The siren whisper of cold hard cash grows louder than the voice of their consciences and lo a business is born. Hasn’t it ever been thus?

By choosing to tell the story of Edinburgh’s notorious mass murderers as a romantic comedy of errors, writers Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft and director John Landis have challenged both the expectations of their audience and the strength of their delivery.  The film opens well enough with Bill Bailey lurching on screen as our hooded narrator – a ghoulish Henry Fielding sent to share the terrible story of Burke & Hare with the world.  The rivalry between the medical old and new schools, played out between Tim Curry and Tom Wilkinson, is great fun and the two have a beautiful bitter chemistry.  However not all the casting is as strong.  Simon Pegg, while eminently likeable, is a little too nice to truly convince as a murderer for profit – even playing lesser of two evils Burke – and one wonders if things might have been different had Mr Bailey been persuaded to stick around and take on the meatier role.  Andy Serkis too seems ill at ease, though better cast, struggling to inject true depth into manipulative Hare.  His darkness is diminished by Pegg’s earnest face and “what me?” wackiness and the production tips off kilter in the wake of their mismatch.

Happily there are some excellent early examples of toe-curling, bone-crunching, death and here the two are given the chance to shine.  My personal highlight was a deadly threesome perpetrated in bed with Christopher Lee but be reassured there is a body count high enough to satisfy even the most blood thirsty among you!

By the halfway point I was still struggling to engage with Burke & Hare, desperate to find a foothold in the insubstantial story.  I wanted to like it yet struggled in vain.  Somehow the film has taken all the right ingredients and combined them in all the wrong proportions.  I had a sudden flashback to Perfume: The Story of a Murderer – to Monsieur Baldini endlessly, desperately, mixing notes of scent trying to emulate Pelissier’s Amor and Psyche – of grubby Grenouille appearing in his basement workshop and shaking a note-perfect bottle at first attempt.  In craftier hands the story might have been perfection, in these it ever so slightly stinks.

Where Sweeny Todd or Sleepy Hollow were note-perfect in their mastery of the macabre Burke & Hare is tone deaf.  Wrong chords of timing and tone distract the mind’s eye from the sticky footprints of treacle-black guilt and glee left in the wake of Burke and Hare’s crimes and turn your head towards the wacky antics gurning for attention at centre stage.  Packed with some of Britain’s finest actors and a clutch of jaw-dropping cameos it seems a woefully light-hearted way to treat such gorgeously gothic subject matter and a waste of a talented cast.

Undoubtedly Burke & Hare is an unconventional twist on a horrible history.  It offers a vaudeville version of a notorious story and the intention, if not the execution, is worthy of praise.  I can picture it rebranded as a BBC Boxing Day drama – it is unobtrusive and harmless enough.  The fluffy tone, energy and enthusiasm would make an ideal companion for fighting hangovers and digesting leftovers and the sport of cameo spotting is well suited to the Christmas spirit.  As cinema however it falls far short of the mark.

Burke & Hare is released in the UK on 29^th October

Yesterday evening the streets of Chelsea played host to the cast and crew of Burke and Hare as the film had its world premiere.

London’s own invasion of the body snatchers drew in the crowds eager to see stars Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis and Isla Fisher who were joined by director and legend John Landis and co-stars Ronnie Corbett and Jessica Hynes.

Our review of the film will be up on the site this Friday, the 29th and day of the film’s release. We also had the chance to sit down with Messrs. Pegg and Serkis to chat over the film, and that video interview will also hit the site shortly.

Our good friends at Upbeat were covering the event last night and their excellent footage is below. On Friday we’ll have our review and the interview that Emily did sat down with the two stars of the movie but until then…..

Earlier today, Em got to interview Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis from their new movie, Burke and Hare which gets it’s UK release this coming Friday, 29th October. The movie is directed by legendary director, John Landis and also stars Isla Fisher, Tim Curry, Tom Wilkinson, Jenny Agutter, Ronnie Corbett, Christopher Lee.

Synopsis: Based on the true story about the famous murderers, ‘Burke And Hare’ follows the hapless exploits of these two men as they fall into the highly profitable business of providing cadavers for the medical fraternity in Nineteenth Century Edinburgh, then the centre of medical learning. The one thing they were short of was bodies.

You’ll be able to see the video interview on the site in the next few days but in the meantime , here’s a couple of clips from MovieWeb and Bloody Disgusting from the new movie.

Puting Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis before the camera of John Landis seems to be a stroke of genius and their ressurectionist comedy Burke and Hare goes before the waiting public on the 29th of October.

In order to tempt those souls still not convinced the curious combination of talents are worth shelling out good money for there’s a new clip which looks to give a good indication of what Landis and Co. have in store.

Other trailers, images and all sorts of good stuff for B&H are just a click away.

Burke and Hare stars Simon Pegg,  Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Tim Curry, Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Hynes, Bill Bailey, Stephen Merchant, and Ronnie Corbett. Yes – Tim Curry! Worth the price of admission alone.

Here’s the clip, (which is temperamental – if you can’t view it here click the Sky Movies link below)

The good folks over at Sky Movies dug this one up.

To coincide with our rather awesome Burke and Hare World Premiere competition that went live last night, Entertainment Film have also given us some brand new high resolution images from the movie.

There’s a couple of images of Isla Fisher who plays….. ummmm and acrobat (see trailer) along with the lead characters played by Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis. I’ve embedded the images below and you can click each to enlarge.

Burke and Hare is released in UK cinemas 29th October and we can’t wait to see it to bring you a review.

Synopsis: 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, spurred on by a chance meeting with a gorgeous actress (Isla Fisher), 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.

If you haven’t already entered, click here to win tickets to the World Premiere.

To celebrate the release of BURKE & HARE, in cinemas 29th October, we have teamed up with Entertainment Film to offer you the chance to win tickets to the World Premiere of the movie on Monday, 25th October.

Synopsis: 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, spurred on by a chance meeting with a gorgeous actress (Isla Fisher), 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.

You can find out more about the movie at: http://www.entertainmentfilms.co.uk or watch the trailer here.

We know that our readers are very excited about this movie, as are we! We’ve been give a pair of tickets tickets to give away for the World Premiere of the movie which takes place in London on 25th October.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, just answer the following questions using the form below:

Which famous director of classic movie The Blues Brothers also directed Burke & Hare?

Terms and Conditions

• Closing date is Wednesday, 20th October
• This competition is not open to employees of HeyUGuys, Entertainment Film Distributors, their agents or anyone else associated with this promotion.
• The first prize is 2 tickets (1 pair) to the World Premiere of Burke & Hare in London 25^th October 2010.
• Travel and any accommodation is the responsibility of the winner.
• At least one of the winning party MUST be over 18.
• The first prize winner will be notified by telephone to check their availability and if they cannot attend or be reached within 24 hours another name will be drawn. We will make all reasonable efforts to contact the winner within 24hrs and if the winner remains uncontactable, we reserve the right to choose an alternative winner.
• The promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for one of greater or equal value. The decision of the promoter in all matters is final and binding.
• The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into. Entertainment Film Distributors (EFD) cannot be held responsible if the event is cancelled or details changed due to unforeseen circumstances which are beyond their control. In this event the winner will receive tickets to another EFD premiere happening in 2011 which will be specified by EFD.
• Tickets are non-transferable.
• All prizes are subject to availability.
• Details are accurate at time of print.

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

©Burke & Hare Films Limited and Entertainment Film Distributors 2010

Burke &  Hare had a brand new trailer released yesterday and to coincide with that, Entertainment Film Distributors have released a brand new International poster for the  movie via Blogomatic3000.

Burke and Hare stars Simon Pegg,  Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Tim Curry, Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Hynes, Bill Bailey, Stephen Merchant, Ronnie Corbett and is directed by John Landis. It’s scheduled for release in the UK 29th October.

Synopsis: Based on the true story about the famous murderers, ‘Burke And Hare’ follows the hapless exploits of these two men as they fall into the highly profitable business of providing cadavers for the medical fraternity in Nineteenth Century Edinburgh, then the centre of medical learning. The one thing they were short of was bodies.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

Up until now, we’ve only been able to marvel at the beauty of Burke and Hare but looking at still images but today, Entertainment Film Distributors have sent us the first and brand new trailer for the movie. Burke and Hare stars Simon Pegg,  Andy Serkis, Isla Fisher, Tim Curry, Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Hynes, Bill Bailey, Stephen Merchant, Ronnie Corbett and is directed by John Landis.

The movie is based on the real men who murdered 17 people between 1827 and 1828. After the murderers, they would sell the bodies to Dr. Robert Knox who would then dissect them in his anatomy class.

Check out the new trailer  which is as funny as we were all expecting with my favourite line already consisting of:

“I had confidence in a fart once, and I shat all over myself!”

Burke and Hare is released in UK cinemas 29^th October. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Simon Pegg has been a very busy man, and along with the images from Paul which we posted here, the first promotional still from his resurrectionist comedy Burke and Hare surfaces.

B&H is a welcome return to the big screen for John Landis whose previous form practically guarantees guffaws and gore galore, and with a wonderful cast conspiring around Pegg and his fellow body snatcher Andy Serkis, this will be one to watch when it arrives on the big screen.

USA Today ran this image, and for comparison I’ve included the promo poster that was doing the rounds are Cannes earlier this year which uses the same idea with a slightly more Carry on Resurrecting feel to it.

There’s a lot going on down in Cannes, our man on the ground Simon Gallagher is doing us proud (you can follow all of his coverage here) and keeping up with the whispers is quite a challenge but there’s good things to be found all over the place, including our first look at the poster for John Landis’s forthcoming body snatcher comedy Burke and Hare.

Snapped by /Film while doing the rounds this poster has a hint of the Carry On Ressurecting about it, but the team of Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as the titular grave robbers is too good to pass up. There’s something of the Sherlock Holmes about this poster, but there’s bond to be a world of difference between the two films.

Keen to draw in the eyes of the male audience there’s an awkwardly Photoshopped-in Isla Fisher but the tag line is funny and I’m certainly hoping this will be a return to form for Landis.

Here’s the poster, looking forward to seeing a trailer before long.

A little while ago we showed you some images from Simon Pegg / Andy Serkis’ new movie, Burke and Hare. This morning I wake to find that Empire have now released the first official image for the movie which shows the two of them dressed in their period character costumes looking rather dapper.

Burke and Hare also stars John Cleese, Isla Fisher, Tim Curry, Tom Wilkinson and is directed by John Landis. Burke and Hare is based on the real men who murdered 17 people between 1827 and 1828. After the murderers, they would sell the bodies to Dr. Robert Knox who would then dissect them in his anatomy class.

Still no release date but we think we can expect to see it around the latter half of 2010. You can click the image below to enlarge.

Official Synopsis: WILLIAM BURKE and WILLIAM HARE are scratching out a living in 1830s Edinburgh.  After yet another failed business venture, they return to Hare’s lodging house to find that their tenant has suddenly died on rent day.  As the boys decide how to dispose of the body over a drink, they discover that a corpse can fetch a hefty price.  Edinburgh is the centre of the medical universe and the city’s doctors are crying out for more cadavers for their educational lectures.  First they try the infamous DR. MONRO, but he’s not interested, so they sell the corpse to DR. KNOX, his vain and ambitious rival who urges them to bring any more ‘unfortunates’ they may stumble upon.

Entrepreneurial Hare is quick to realize they’ve hit on a great money making venture and despite the more sensitive Burke’s misgivings, they embark on a series of plans to secure more bodies.  They arrange a series of deadly ‘accidents’ for the local unfortunates and to celebrate their success, they go out on the town to celebrate.  There, Burke meets GINNY, a beautiful and spirited aspiring actress.

Drive on by the promise of romance, Burke agrees to step up their operation; branching out into “ethical” murder.  The professional rivalry between Knox and Munro is creating a very lucrative trade for the boys as Knox needs extra bodies for his groundbreaking photographic map of the human body.  In a series of hilarious comic misadventures Burke and Hare begin to secure a steady stream of bodies and the cash starts rolling in.

With the authorities closing in, Hare promises Burke he’s got a new plan; they just need a bit more money and then they can go legit and open a funeral parlour.

The pressure builds when Knox is arrested after dissecting some well known locals and he immediately implicates Burke and Hare as his supplier of fresh corpses.

Burke and Hare sweat it out in the cells as a crowd gathers baying for bloody.  In a wild, but romantic gesture, Burke volunteers to take the rap to save his friend and the love of his life, Ginny.  As the hangman’s noose goes around his neck, our hero is smiling bravely and when asked for his final words, he pronounces “I did it for love.”

Spamalot was a huge success and a textbook example of taking a very silly film and spinning it into crowd pleasing musical – helped in no small part by the Pythons themselves.

Now John Cleese and his daughter Camilla have adapted the 1988 seafood revenge comedy A Fish Called Wanda into a musical and drafted in the services of Bill Bailey to write the songs.

This is a brilliant move by Cleese, as Bailey may be known to many for his roles in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz and the comedy series Black Books, he is also an accomplished musician, basing many of his stand up tours around musical themes.

Speaking to Chortle Cleese had this to say on the project,

We’ve just completed the book for the musical of A Fish Called Wanda and I’m pleased that Camilla hasn’t completely stolen all of my dignity in writing so brilliantly. She’s left me a few scraps to hang onto to keep me warm at night.

Soon, we’ll start to work on the songs for the show with Bill Bailey, who, among his many achievements, is an honourary member of the Society of Crematorium Organists. This musical is destined to be a hit amongst funeral directors.

Bailey is currently filming with Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis in the Edinburgh-based bodysnatcher movie Burke and Hare, in which Cleese also has a role, so it’s all a touch incestuous, but considering Bailey’s talent and the fact that Wanda is a comedy which is still as funny as it was two decades ago, this will be great fun.

Bodies are moving all over the place as John Landis’ next, the tale of the Edinburgh grave robbers Burke & Hare, has a few additions to its cast and a replacement for the previously reported David Tennant.

Currently stomping all over the place in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll North London’s finest Andy Serkis will replace Tennant and join Simon Pegg as the titular ressurectionists while Tom Wilkinson will bring his own earthy brand of moral duplicity to the role of Knox, who paid for the bodies.

We first reported on this one back in October of last year and it’s one I’m really looking forward, not least because it’s John Landis firmly back in American Werewolf territory, but Serkis and Tom Wilkinson are solid additions to any cast.

I’m going to quote Heat Vision, who broke the news, as they do a fine job of detailing the new arrivals.

Fisher will play Pegg’s girlfriend, an actress looking for a patron who might or might not be an accomplice to the murders.

Wilkinson will play Dr. Robert Knox, an anatomy lecturer looking for fresh corpses.

The movie begins shooting Jan. 31 in Edinburgh and London, bringing Landis back to the scene of his 1981 hit “An American Werewolf in London.

/Film also have word of a nice bit of additional casting, read about that here.

While his brutal love letter to the English folk tale An American Werewolf in London nears its 30th anniversary John Landis is preparing a similarly gruesome tale to tell, and tonight we’ve learned from Bloody Disgusting that outgoing Doctor Who David Tennant is joining Hollywood’s favourite Brit Simon Pegg in Burke and Hare.

Telling the nefarious narrative of the eponymous duo sounds right up Landis’ dark alley. Taking advantage of the booming anatomy business the pair conspired and murdered seventeen people and kept the medical colleges of Edinburgh stocked with fresh corpses. It should come as no surprise to be told that this will be the darkest of black comedies.

If this isn’t enough to raise a grim smile then the fact that this film will be produced by the historic Ealing studios, home to The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Man in the White Suit. Tennant himself has just finished filming the St. Trinians sequel, also produced by Ealing, and I’m hoping that this new film will give Tennant the chance to outgrow his Timelord mantle and dabble with something a little darker.

Not the first time Burke and Hare has reached the silver screen, this adaptation looks certain to send the blood racing when it is released, we’ll keep our ears to the (recently disturbed) ground and serve it up to you, fresh.