Idle to make spoof costume drama

Monty Python star Eric Idle is to make a Merchant Ivory spoof called Remains of the Piano, it was announced today.

Billy Connolly and Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush are among the big names to sign up to the comic costume drama.

The film, which begins shooting in August, will send up some of Britain’s most renowned acting talent.

Daniel Day-Lewis will be played by Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom, while Patrick Stewart – best known for his roles in Star Trek and the X-Men movies - plays a character called Obie Ben Kingsley.

The cast features a mix of British actors and major Hollywood names. Anjelica Huston and Scream star Neve Campbell will appear alongside Michael York, Tim Curry, Alfred Molina and Idle himself.

Robin Williams is also expected to sign up for a cameo role in the movie, which will be shot in the UK and Canada.

The film is a spoof of Merchant Ivory productions such as Remains of the Day and A Room With A View.

Rush plays Hopkins, a British aristocrat who returns from India only to find himself implicated in a murder and forced to take up a job in the West Country as a butler.

It will be Idle’s first film as a director since the 1993 comic caper Splitting Heirs.