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LONDON – Britain’s Got Talent judge and Little Britain star David Walliams will voice Pudsey the dancing dog in a movie currently shooting.
Vertigo Films, Simon Cowell‘s Sony joint venture Syco Entertainment, which is the co-producer, and Roar Global announced the casting of Walliams and several others on Thursday.
When announced earlier this year, Pudsey: The Movie was described as a fictional family film starring the dog that won the 2012 season of Britain’s Got Talent with trainer Ashleigh.
After winning the Cowell talent search show, Pudsey made appearances on The Jay Leno Show and America’s Got Talent, among others. The duo also became a YouTube sensation.
A six-week shoot for the film began on Sept. 1 in the south of England.
The film was originally targeted for a holiday season release, but is now slated for release in the U.K. in May by Vertigo Distribution. Content is selling international rights.
Directed by Nick Moore (Wild Child, Horrid Henry: The Movie) and written by top kids TV writer Paul Rose (Dani’s House), the film will also star a host of British actors.
They include Jessica Hynes (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), John Sessions (The Iron Lady), Luke Neal (Jupiter Ascending), Izzy Meikle-Smith (Snow White and the Huntsman) and Luke Tittensor (Emmerdale).
“A heartwarming, quintessentially British adventure for all the family, Pudsey: The Movie follows cheeky London stray dog Pudsey who is quite happy being a lone ranger and looking out for number one until he meets siblings Molly (Meikle-Smith), George (Spike White) and Tommy (Malachy Knights),” the producers said in an updated description Thursday. “Following her divorce, their mother Gail (Hynes) is moving the family to the sleepy village of Chuffington-on-Sea and Pudsey tags along, to the dismay of their landlord Mr. Thorne and his cat Faustus. As Pudsey starts to settle in with the family and realize what he was missing when he was alone, he stumbles across Thorne and Faustus’ evil plan and he determines to save them and the whole village.”
Said Walliams: “I am thrilled to be providing the voice of Pudsey. I have been coming up with different voices for him ever since that first audition.”
Added Mark Brittain of Syco Entertainment: “We are delighted to be working with Vertigo on this project and particularly thrilled that, little more than a year after Pudsey wowed the nation by winning Britain’s Got Talent, he is now becoming a bona fide film star.”
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
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