NEWS: How To Kill Friends and Influence People

Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
August 25, 2009

HE'S no stranger to raising the dead for laughs.

Now actor Simon Pegg has been lined-up for a role in a new comic-horror about Edinburgh's most famous criminals - Burke and Hare.

Horror director John Landis, the man behind An American Werewolf in London and Michael Jackson's iconic Thriller video, will mark his return to filmmaking after an 11-year hiatus with his own black-comedic take on the story.

The film, telling the tale of the 19th century West Port murderers who sold their victims' bodies to Edinburgh Medical College doctor Robert Knox, is due to start shooting next spring in Edinburgh.

Speaking to horror fans at a US Monster-Mania Convention in New Jersey on Saturday, Landis reportedly said that Pegg had already signed on for the role.

Pegg became a household name for his role in zombie spoof Shaun of the Dead, which sent-up a series of zombie flicks by another horror legend George A Romero.

The Gloucester-born star's biggest role to date has been starship engineer Scotty in this year's Star Trek revival, which saw him adopt a Scottish-accent that he practised on his wife Maureen, who is from East Kilbride.

However, historical purists will insist that he doesn't revive the accent for the new Burke and Hare film, as the two killers were both Irish immigrants.

When the movie was first announced last November, Irish star Colin Farrell and Trainspotting actor Ewan McGregor were both tipped for the lead roles.

However, news of Pegg's involvement has kicked the online rumour-mill into gear with fans speculating that his long-term comedy sidekick Nick Frost - who partnered him in cult TV comedy Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, cop-spoof Hot Fuzz and forthcoming comic-geek movie Paul - could be the Burke to Pegg's Hare.

A spokeswoman for production company Ealing Studios said it was too early to comment on casting, while Simon Pegg's agent also declined to comment.

Ros Davis, production liaison manager with council-funded film location advisors Edinburgh Film Focus, confirmed that they had been in consultation with the film's production company about shooting in Edinburgh, but couldn't reveal the details of locations for filming.

She added: "All dealings with movie producers are protected by corporate confidentiality, so we can't reveal anything that we know about the film at this time.

"However, it's Edinburgh Film Focus's job to attract big productions to Edinburgh, first of all for the money that they spend while they're here and also for the knock-on impact they have on attracting tourists.

"Obviously a production like Burke and Hare, which is very much tied in with Edinburgh history, will attract a great deal of tourist interest."

STORY TOLD A FEW TIMES BEFORE ..

The Body Snatcher (1945) - Adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1884 semi-fictional take on the Burke and Hare legend of the same name, starring horror legends Boris (Frankenstein) Karloff and Bela (Dracula) Lugosi.

* The Greed of William Hart (original title The Crimes of Burke and Hare) (1948) - Censors objected so strongly to this dramatisation of the murders - starring the appropriately named Tod Slaughter - that they demanded costly soundtrack overdubs, changing Burke to Hart, Hare to Moore and Knox to Cox.

* The Flesh and the Fiends (1960) - Hammer-horror stalwart Peter Cushing played Dr Knox alongside Donald Pleasence's Hare. Pleasence will be known to younger fans as psychatrist Dr Loomis in Halloween.

* Burke and Hare (1972) - This less well known retelling of the tale featured several bit-part British actors.

* The Doctor and the Devils (1985) - Timothy Dalton, who starred with Pegg in Hot Fuzz, plays Dr Rock in this Burke & Hare inspired tale, featuring Twiggy.