Pair up for long-gestating Monty Python project.
TheWrap is hearing word that ‘Sherlock’ star Benedict Cumberbatch and Gemma Arterton (‘Byzantium’) are being lined up for roles in ‘Absolutely Anything,’ a sci-fi comedy that reunites the surviving members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
The film follows a group of aliens – voiced by Monty Python alumni Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and John Cleese – who endow a teacher with the power to do “absolutely anything” with the wave of his hand. He can wipe out classrooms of badly behaving students, bring people back to life, but he ends up experiencing mishap after mishap as he tries to learn how to use these powers. Robin Williams is also attached to lend his voice to a talking dog named Dennis who appears to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does.
Jones is in the director’s chair for the CGI/live-action hybrid, helming from a screenplay he co-wrote with Gavin Scott. Ben Timlett and Bill Jones of Bill and Ben Productions are producing.