We first reported on the production of John Jencks’ big screen adaptation of Stephen Fry’s The Hippopotamus back in 2015, when a single image was released. Since then we’ve heard almost nothing to sate our desire for big screen Fry. Until today that is, as we have finally got a first look at film’s trailer.
Blanche McIntyre and Tom Hodgson adapted Fry’s 1994 novel for Jencks to make his second feature film. A suitably sozzled-looking Roger Allam leads the the cast which include Matthew Modine, Tim McInnerny, Tommy Knight, Geraldine Somerville, Fiona Shaw and Emily Berrington.
We’ve got our look at the first trailer for The Hippopotamus from the Palm Springs Film Festival where the film has its North American premiere on the 14th of January, with another screening on the 15th. There are no details about a festival debut on this side of the pond, however we’re very much looking forward to seeing this one when it arrives.
You can see the trailer below, as well as a gallery of images and the film’s poster.
The Hippopotamus Movie Stills
The Hippopotamus Movie Poster
And here’s your first look at the trailer,
The Hippopotamus Movie Trailer
The Hippopotamus Synopsis
A country manor mystery that’s actually a deliciously wicked comedy of manners, The Hippopotamus is a rollicking adaptation of the best-selling novel by Stephen Fry. It centers on a lapsed poet, failed drama critic, redundant husband and hard-working drunk, Ted Wallace (the mellifluously voiced Roger Allam in a rare starring role). Fired from his newspaper job, Ted leaps at the chance to drown his sorrows at his old friend’s country estate, Swafford Hall.
A series of spiritual healings have recently put the household in a tizzy. The purported miracle worker is his hosts’ teenage son, Ted’s godson, David (Tommy Knight). Lord and Lady Logan are set on sharing their boy’s “gift” with the world, blissfully unaware that his “laying on of hands” trick involves, well, an emphasis on “laying.” At odds with a colorful party of fellow guests only too ready to swallow anything they’re told, Ted sets out to prove the miracles are a hoax and save the young man from a lifetime of embarrassment.
