Here's news to warm your heart on this cold February morning: Andy Serkis is collaborating with Nick Cave on a motion capture version of Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera. Didn't see that one coming, did you?
Screen Daily's story is pretty cursory, but reports that Serkis announced the project in its birthplace, Berlin, while publicising his Ian Dury biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. "It's nice to announce it in its hometown," he said.
The Threepenny Opera was first performed in 1928. A Marxist critique of capitalism, it's a loose adaptation of John Gay's 18th century Beggar's Opera, and focuses on the antihero Macheath, and his "troubled" relationship with his father-in-law, who wants him hanged. It's been filmed before, most recently in 1989 with Raul Julia, Richard Harris, Julie Walters and Bill Nighy, and in translation, gave the world the Rat Pack favourite Mack the Knife.
There's no indication yet of Serkis or Cave's specific roles, although given Serkis' mo-cap history it's reasonably safe to assume he'll be in front of the camera, and it seems likely that Cave will adapt, and oversee the music, possibly in cahoots with his regular bad seed Warren Ellis. Obvious lazy comparison? Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, but the animation angle and the political agenda ought to differentiate The Threepenny Opera plenty.
And for an idea of the tone we think (hope hope hope!) this might take, have a listen to Tom Waits singing The Second Threepenny Finale{