NBC’s The Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane is looking to score Eddie Izzard (The Riches, Ocean’s Thirteen) as part of the cast. Eddie Izzard is in final negotiations to star in and produce the series.
Izzard will be the first actor cast in the pilot, which was written by Bryan Fuller and is set to be directed by Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, X2). Mockingbird Lane is described as a re-imagining of the 1960s sitcom about a family of monsters. We can expect that the show will have striking visuals in the vein of Fuller’s ABC dramedy Pushing Daisies and his FOX comedy Wonderfalls.
Izzard will play Grandpa, the Munster family patriarch. Unlike the 1960’s original, Izzard’s Grandpa will be a powerful, ancient vampire with a suave, sexy womanizer type of personality. On top of your standard vampire powers, he will be able to shape-shift into rats, wolves, and other creatures at will.
Izzard was originally offered the role, which was played by Al Lewis on the original series, in January. Unfortunately, at the time he was tied up with a drama project he had in development at FX. Due to diffuclties finding the right cast, NBC put off the pilot to June and spent the time developing the show’s visual style and settings, and in the meantime Izzard became available.
Izzard was said to be highly impressed by the revised version of Fuller and Singer’s vision for the Munsters world, and has decided to come on board the Universal TV-produced project.
There is no word on who else will be joining the cast yet, but expect to here more in the coming weeks as we get closer to production starting.
