Having crafted his own sci-fi comedy three years ago with Paul, Simon Pegg has joined forced with the Monty Python crew — namely John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones — for another bonkers entry into the hybrid genre with Absolutely Anything.
Directed by Jones himself, the flick will tell the story of Pegg’s middling secondary school teacher Neil Clarke who, thanks to power bestowed on him by aliens, can do just about anything he wishes. But given that Clarke is the most unlikeliest of heroes, it seems a sure fire bet that not much will go to plan for his teacher-turned-superhuman.
“It’s about a man called Neil,” Jones told Empire, “a teacher in a sink secondary school, who gets given magic powers by aliens.”
That band of extra-terrestrials will be voiced by the aforementioned Monty Python line-up, fresh off of their recent comedy tour over the summer. Joining the cast of Absolutely Anything are Kate Beckinsale and the late, great Robin Williams, who will play his final role on screen voicing Neil’s trusty canine companion, Dennis.
As for Beckinsale, it’s understood the actress will play the part of Catherine, best friend and potential love interest to Neil. In fact, it seems as though one of the core conundrums of Absolutely Anything will revolve around Neil’s decision to choose between Beckinsale’s character or Dennis, who will apparently compete for his love.
From the premise of Terry Jones’ comedy, it’s easy to imagine Pegg striking up a good sense of chemistry with Beckinsale and disappearing into the part of Clarke’s bumbling man with too much power and too little responsibility. After all, the likeable star has created a range of memorable personas over the year in Nicholas Angel, Benji Dunn and of course, Shaun from the Edgar Wright classic.
Production has all but wrapped on the film’s North London shoot, and we can expect Absolutely Anything to release onto the silver screen in the summer of 2015.