Back in December of last year, we reported that screen legend Sir Sean Connery had teamed with Glasgow Animation to form Billi Prods. and produce a CG-animated short titled Sir Billi. Now the principals involved are looking to raise ‘3 million (roughly $5.6 million) to expand the short into a full-length feature.
Glasgow Animation, owned by Scottish husband-and-wife team Sascha and Tessa Hartmann, have been working with Connery on the short film for around 3 years, spending more than $5 million on development and pre-production, and assembling a stellar voice cast. In addition to Connery’s often imitated Scottish slur, the pic will feature the voices of Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand), Miriam Margolyes (Harry Potter series, Romeo & Juliet), Richard Briers (Monarch of the Glen, Peter Pan), Barbara Rafferty (The Wicker Man, River City), Alex Norton (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Taggart), Gail Porter (Dead Famous), Ford Kiernan (Chewing the Fat, The last Great Wilderness) and comedian/broadcaster Ruby Wax.
The musical score for Sir Billi is being provided by Oscar-nominated composer Patrick Doyle, who also voices a main role in the short. A Golden Globe winner, Doyle recently completed the score for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
‘Having received interest from some major book publishers, music publishers and other areas of revenue, it really made sense to progress to full-length feature,’ says director Sascha Hartmann. ‘Our entire production facilities have been based in Scotland from day one and it is our intention to keep this very much a Scottish product, based in the U.K. After all, there is no one else who has created, produced and cast an independent production like this from Scotland.’
Connery has been actively promoting the project, sporting a Sir Billi tartan at Dressed to Kilt in New York earlier this year. As a result, the production company has been receiving kilt requests from a number of celebrities including Gun’s N Roses front man Axel Rose, according to Tessa Hartmann.
Billi Prods. has completed a seven-minute trailer of the film and is in discussions with several venture capital houses, private investors and banks. If funding comes through quickly, the Hartmanns say they can have the feature complete in 12 months.
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