David Tennant and Simon Pegg are set to play grave-robbing partners in 'Burke & Hare,' the next film from John Landis

Credit: BBC

I hate the way most older directors are treated by this business.

John Landis is a good example.  Yes... there is a reason his career took a nosedive during the mid-to-late '80s, but no matter what your feelings about that incident, Landis is still the guy who made "An American Werewolf In London," "National Lampoon's Animal House," "The Blues Brothers," "Coming To America," and "Three Amigos!", and the idea that a guy like that has trouble getting funding for anything is just preposterous.  Sure, give some new guys work, but don't just throw older directors away because of some arbitrary calendar date.  It's short-sighted, and god only knows how many great films we've lost because of the attitude.

Thankfully, Landis is one of those guys who is still on the hustle even now, and it looks like he's got a new film in the works.  According to the fine folks over at Bloody-Disgusting, Landis made an announcement at a horror convention in Orlando last week that David "Dr Who" Tennant would be joining the previously-announced Simon Pegg as the other half of the infamous graverobbing team in "Burke & Hare," a darkly comic riff on the oft-referenced story.

Nick Moorcroft and Piers Ashworth, co-writers of "St. Trinian" and its sequel, have already turned in their script about the two men who start supplying medical schools with fresh cadavers they liberate from their final resting places, and since we've seen good adaptations of this story before (I quite like "The Doctor & The Devils," for example), I'm hoping they found a new way into telling the events.  The casting certainly helps.  The pairing of Pegg and Tennant guarantees at least a modicum of interest from hardcore film geeks, and I'd like to think both of those guys are making smart choices right now, especially considering how in demand they are.

Then again, maybe they just love "American Werewolf" as much as I do.

Whatever the case, it looks like we'll see Landis back on the bigscreen sometime in 2010.  Can't wait.

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