Sir Sean Connery and his animated doppelganger Sir Billi are making the rounds again this fall. The CG-animated feature Sir Billi, which features the voices of Connery, as well as Alan Cumming and Miriam Margolyes, a great song by Dame Shirley Bassey and a killer soundtrack by Oscar-winning composer Patrick Doyle, will be released in the U.K. on Sept. 13 by Kaleidoscope. The pic is billed as the first animated feature produced entirely in Scotland.
The feature is directed by Sascha Hartmann, based on a script by his wife Tessa Hartmann. Produced by John Frasier and Connery, Sir Billi first screened in the U.S. at the Sonoma Intl. Film Festival in April of 2012. The movie will be available on DVD on Sept. 16 in the U.K.
The plot centers on an aging, skateboarding veterinarian named Sir Billi (Connery) who goes above and beyond the call of duty to save Bessie Boo, the last living beaver in Scotland, accompanied by Gordon the goat (Cumming). Connery described the movie, which took more than five years to make as a “labor of love” for the filmmakers.
“We are essentially the ‘David’ amongst the ‘Goliath’ animation studios,” says Tessa Hartmann. “We are never giving up, bringing life to our story. We are so grateful to have such an inspirational cast who have supported this independent movie over all these years.”
The movie also has distribution deals in South Korea (Line Tree), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta Films), Turkey (Alparslan Yapım) and the Middle East (Front Row). For more info, visit www.sirbilli.com.
Here is the film’s trailer:
