Last June, we reported on director Ray Griggs’ plan to bring Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows back to the big screen with yet another version, this time aided by the effects wizards at Weta. Now he’s announced the first actor adding their voice to the blend of live-action and animatronics: Ricky Gervais, who has signed on to play Mole.
“It’s a natural fit to have an iconic British actor star in an iconic British tale,” Griggs tells Variety. “I had Ricky in mind for this role from the inception of the project.” Bet Gervais is delighted to think that someone goes straight to “sounds a lot like a mole” when considering their accomplishments.
Despite a thrifty $30 million budget rustled up from independent investors by Griggs’ RG Entertainment company, the producers clearly have big plans for the Willows story, which will maintain the usual quartet of chatty creatures including Mole, Rat, Badger and Mr Toad, but plunge them into helping overcome a sinister plot that threatens the tentative truce between the animals and the remnants of Mankind. We doubt it’ll be quite as post-apocalyptic as it sounds from that description, though.
**Déjà Vu **writer Bill Marsilii is behind the script, which will initially focus on Mole. Griggs and co debuted a teaser trailer at Comic-Con and plans to kick off pre-production in New Zealand later this year.