Monty Python Stars Reuniting For Sci-Fi Comedy "Absolutely Anything"

Pythons reunite for a "not Pythonesque" sci-fi farce, directed and written by Terry Jones.

By Simon Gallagher /

Monty Python fans rejoice! Troupe members John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones are reuniting for the sci-fi farce €œAbsolutely Anthing,€ which will be directed by Jones and produced by Mike Medavoy, and which may also feature the other surviving Python Eric Idle, who is yet to commit. The movie, which Jones told The Wrap "is not a Python film" despite the reunion of the stars, will focus on a group of aliens played by Cleese, Palin and Gilliam who give a human character unlimited powers, leading to chaos when he is unable to handle them, despite the advice of his talking dog, played by Robin Williams if his talks are successful. According to one of the film's producers Chris Chesser, the film "looks at the whole notion how funny unintended consequences can be. It€™s the whole thing about the genie granting three wishes.€ The film€™s producers have described its humor as "Pythonesque", but director Jones is less willing to accept such a term:
€œI don€™t know what it means. When we were doing Python, we tried to avoid any kind of style. We kept doing different things all the time, so people couldn€™t say what it was they were looking at. The fact that €˜Pythonesque€™ is a word in the dictionary, is the gravestone to all of the goals that we were hoping to achieve.€
Producer Medavoy, the chairman of Phoenix Pictures, has confirmed that the film represented an unmissable opportunity to work with some of his favorite comedians again: €œLife of Brian was one of the funniest movies I was ever involved with... I put it up there with Arthur and Caddyshack.€ He too resists the temptation to call the film Pythonesque, but he did tell Variety that co-writers Terry Jones and Gavin Scott, who have reportedly been working on the script for the past twenty years have crafted a "classic farce"...
"...something I feel I know a little bit about after all the 'Pink Panther' pictures we did with Blake Edwards at United Artists. In fact, the movie even has a pompous Frenchman reminiscent of Inspector Clouseau -- but there the similarity ends. Like all projects originated by any of the Monty Python guys, 'Absolutely Anything' delightfully defies a logline."
Absolutely Anything will begin filming in the UK this summer with an expected budget of between $15 and $20 million.