Mel Gibson to remake The Singing Detective

Actors Mel Gibson and Robin Wright Penn have joined the cast of an American remake of the BBC series The Singing Detective, written by the late Dennis Potter.

Actor Robert Downey Jr has already signed on to take the title role of the movie which is being financed by Gibson’s Icon Productions company.

The Singing Detective originated as a six-part BBC mini-series starring Michael Gambon as detective novelist Philip Marlow (Downey) who has been hospitalised with a grotesque case of psoriasis.

US film industry newspaper Variety reports today that Gibson will take a supporting role in the movie as Marlow’s psychiatrist.

Wright Penn, who starred in Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks, will play the ex-wife and nurse of the hospitalised writer with whom he has a bitter relationship.

The film tells the story of Marlow who, confined to his hospital bed, mentally rewrites his early Chandleresque thriller, The Singing Detective, with himself in the title role.

He drifts into a surreal 1945 fantasy of spies and criminals along with vivid memories of a childhood in the Forest of Dean.

As past events and 1940s songs surface in his subconscious, Marlow goes on a voyage of self-discovery which ultimately provides a key to conquering his illness.

The acclaimed 1986 series is widely considered as Dennis Potter’s masterpiece.

The writer, who also moved into directing towards the end of his life, died of cancer aged 59 in 1994.

The film is 37-year-old Downey’s first since he starred in Wonder Boys with Michael Douglas.

The actor, who has been overcoming his much-publicised drug problems, also played attorney Larry Paul who became Ally’s love interest in the hit comedy Ally McBeal.