Downton Abbey may be closing its doors with this year’s film, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, but it’s not safe from satire as the new trailer for Fackham Hall debuts online. The popular British show and film series gets a makeover in the vein of a Monty Python or Zucker brothers broad comedy, with comedian Jimmy Carr as one of the writers and actors on the film. Carr writes with Steve Dawson, Andrew Dawson, Tim Inman and Patrick Carr, and Jim O’Hanlon directs.
The official synopsis from Bleecker Street reads,
“A spoof that crosses Downton Abbey with Airplane! and Monty Python, Fackham Hall follows lovable pick-pocket Eric Noone (Radcliffe) as he lands a job at a unique English manor house. He quickly rises through the ranks, and a forbidden romance with lady-of-the-house Rose Davenport (McKenzie) blossoms. But when an unexpected murder occurs, Eric gets framed – leaving Rose and her family’s future perilously uncertain.”
The movie stars Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Radcliffe, Katherine Waterson, Emma Laird, Tom Goodman-Hill, Ramon Tikaram, Tim Mcmullan, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sue Johnston, Tom Felton and Damian Lewis.
Producers on the film include Danny Perkins, Kris Thykier, and Mila Cottray. The executive producers include Jim O’Hanlon, Jimmy Carr, Patrick Carr, Danielle Brandon, Jacqueline Du Croy, Andrew Karpen, Kent Sanderson, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Jason McNab, Walid Said, Samantha Allwinton, Nick Shumaker, David Levine, Babak Anvari, Lucan Toh, Joey Suquet, Mike Sklut and Jack Wardlaw. Georgia Goldsack is on board as the associate producer.
This movie comes after The Naked Gun recently got a rebooted treatment with Liam Neeson taking over the lead role, and attempts to bring back the style of broad comedies like the original Naked Gun films. Fackham Hall doesn’t look like you need to know intimately about what it’s satirizing, as the jokes stand on their own at poking fun at British aristocracy with some unashamed silliness. There are certain gags, like a Fifty Shades of Grey joke that can harken back to the Epic Movie, Date Movie-type of pop culture references, but the trailer showcases more constructed humor as well.
The film is scheduled to be in theaters on December 5.
