Variety reports that Golden Globe winner Ewan McGregor (Fargo, T2 Trainspotting) will lead director Marc Forster’s The Cow, a remake of the classic French comedy The Cow and I, or La Vache et le Prisonnier in French. The original movie was based on a novel by Jacques Antoine and was directed by Henri Verneuil.
In The Cow, Ewan McGregor will play a World War II prisoner of war who hatches a plan to use a cow to help him escape captivity and find his way across Germany to freedom. WestEnd Films will introduce the films to international buyers in Cannes, with North American sales being handled by Linda Lichter. Forster reportedly optioned the remake rights to the movie over a decade ago, and he will reunite with McGregor after the pair collaborated on the upcoming Disney picture Christopher Robin as well as 2005’s Stay.
Charlie Granger (McGregor) is a U.S. pilot who has joined Britain’s Royal Air Force and is flying bombing missions until he is shot down over Germany. His escape plan involves using a fake pass and a cow, Marguerite, to slip out of the farm. Along with his bovine companion, he takes off in the direction of France, some 200 miles away. The odd couple’s epic journey finds them negotiating obstacles including inhospitable terrain, German soldiers, and an amorous bull. Through their adventures together, Marguerite becomes Granger’s rescuer, confidante, and companion. He ultimately has to choose either a path to freedom that will consign Marguerite to certain death or a course of action that will save the animal that saved him.
“Ewan is very well known as a dramatic actor and [has] always been great at that, but he is also very good as a physical comedic actor and he will also bring that,” Forster commented. “It’s a road movie in a sense and will have that pacing, and at the same time, it is by nature comedic. The backdrop is the reality of a war, and they come across moments and circumstances that remind you of that. But their relationship is very humorous, intimate, and emotional.”
Shooting for The Cow, written by The Big Bang Theory’s co-creator Bill Prady, is slated to begin this fall. The movie is produced by Lichter, Forster, Eric Kopeloff, Renee Wolfe, and Ludi Boeken.
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