New version of Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are to reunite on a new animated film.

The duo are lending their voices to a new animated version of Oscar Wilde’s story The Canterville Ghost.

Fry is set to voice Sir Simon De Canterville, the ghost who haunts an English mansion moved into by an American family, with Laurie credited  as The Grim Reaper.

It has been more than a decade in the making so far,  but yesterday  producer Robert Chandler confirmed that he had finally go the money together. 

He tweeted: ‘We finally completed the finance-raise on The Canterville Ghost with Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie. The animated movie is in production for release late next year. It is a complete joy to be working on a film bringing Stephen and Hugh together again.’

It took us 11 years to do it, but we finally completed the finance-raise on THE CANTERVILLE GHOST with Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie. The animated movie is in production for release late next year. It is a complete joy to be working on a film bringing Stephen and Hugh together again. pic.twitter.com/E4GpeH4nBJ

— Robert Chandler (@spaceagefilms) May 31, 2021

The full cast has yet to be confirmed but Miranda Hart, Toby Jones, Imelda Staunton and Freddie Highmore have all previously been attached.

Several adaptations of Wilde’s humorous 1887 story have previously made it to both big and small screen featuring the likes of Charles Laughton,  Douglas Fairbanks Jr, John Gielgud, Patrick Stewart and Bernard Cribbins  

Fry is a huge Wilde fan, and played him in an acclaimed 1997 biopic.

News that the new movie is going ahead was first reported by the British Comedy Guide. 

Published: 1 Jun 2021