The late actor Robin Williams’ last film finds him playing a dog. How does such a thing happen? Oh, the usual way: A member of Monty Python tapped him on the shoulder during an award show and asked him.
“I came to L.A. to receive an award,” director Terry Jones told Deadline. “Robin Williams was sitting in the front row, and I asked him, would you play Dennis the Dog? I’d met him before a couple of times at Terry Gilliam’s dinners. I sent him the script, and he said, ‘Let’s get this baby made!’”
The film — originally called The Dog Who Saved The World but now Absolutely Anything — stars Simon Pegg, who plays a teacher who is given unlimited powers by aliens. The dog Williams plays doesn’t have unlimited powers, but that’s never stopped the actor before. We don’t have much to go on, as Jones didn’t focus entirely on the dog during the 1:56-minute trailer (a mammoth oversight on his part), but what we do see puts us in a good mood.
Although talking dog movies might not have the track record we wish — we won’t provide examples, other than to say Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008), Underdog (2007), Look Who’s Talking Now (1993), Marmaduke (2010), Karate Dog (2004) — Absolutely Anything fills us with hope because it has Monty Python all over it. Former member Jones wrote the script (more than 20 years ago), and he directs the film, while John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Jones voice the aliens.
Jones thinks Dennis will be a hit. He told Empire magazine, “I think he’s going to steal the show. We’ve got a real dog, Mojo, who is very obedient, and a wonderful dog, a mongrel, but CGI work will be done. Simon Pegg is a big dog fan, and him and Mojo get on very well.”
And the late writer Douglas Adams also thinks the dog has what it takes:
“Before Douglas Adams died, he looked over the script and he said that Dennis the Dog’s scenes were the funniest scenes,” said Jones.
What do you think? Take a look:
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