John Madden’s 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' Begins Filming October 10

Johnny-come-lately reports will mislead you, but be certain; there's almost nothing new in Fox Searchlight's press release about John Madden's "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" which starts principal photography in India later this week, but a reminder of the project doesn't hurt.

The cast already includes Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and one new element is that fact that Peter O'Toole no longer seems to be part of the ensemble (and Smith replaced Julie Christie a few months ago, so there's been a few bits of juggling going round).

The project seems to put Madden (the director of "Shakespeare In Love") back on familiar territory after a detour into seedier drama ("Killshot" with Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was essentially buried and forgotten by the Weinstein Company.

Based on the book "These Fine Things" by Deborah Moggach, the project "is a comedy of Eastern and Western manners with the shrewd Indian executive who sees a gap in the market when he notices that a lot of elderly folk in the U.K. are farmed out to dismal retirement developments. He hits on the idea of converting an old guest house in Bangalore."

Here's the official synopsis:

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel follows a group of British retirees who decide to “outsource” their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and bolstered with visions of a life of leisure, they arrive to find the palace a shell of its former self. Though the new environment is less luxurious than imagined, they are forever transformed by their shared experiences, discovering that life and love can begin again when you let go of the past.

We assume this one will probably try and hit awards season 2011.

>>> John Madden’s 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' Begins Filming October 10 >>>

Watch: First Trailer For John Landis' 'Burke & Hare' Starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis

Considering it's only three weeks away from its UK release, it's somewhat surprising, and a little worrying, that we hadn't seen any real footage for John Landis' "Burke & Hare" (and sadly indicative of the lack of effort that British distributors put into their marketing efforts for home-grown efforts, for the most part).

It's a film we've been cautiously looking forward to: while Landis has been off his game for close to a quarter-century, the film, which follows the true story of the titular Victorian body-snatchers turned serial killers, has a starry cast of UK comic talent, with Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis in the leads, and Isla Fisher, Tim Curry, Tom Wilkinson, Christopher Lee, Jenny Agutter, Stephen Merchant, Bill Bailey, Jessica Hynes, Reece Shearsmith and Ronnie Corbett all involved. Now the trailer has debuted over at Empire, does it look like it'll reward our faith?

Not so much, no. The production values look strong (Edinburgh looks terrifically Gothic), and it's clearly not shying away from the darker aspects of the story, but it's looking more like a "Carry On" film than an Ealing classic; packed with mugging, bawdiness and jokes about poo and farting. It's not necessarily the end of the game -- comedy trailers tend to play to the lowest common denominator -- but with Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft, the hacks behind "St. Trinian's," writing the script, we're not going in with high expectations.

There's no release scheduled Stateside yet, but it hits UK theaters on October 29th, and we'll catch up with it then to let you know how it turns out.

>>> Watch: First Trailer For John Landis' 'Burke & Hare' Starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis >>>