Andy Serkis to star in Nick Cave's THREEPENNY OPERA

Musician/author/screenwriter Nick Cave is a highly unpredictable artist, but his next project could be his most surprising yet. He's planning to direct a motion-capture animated film based on Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill's pitch black, 1928 Marxist murder musical The Threepenny Opera, with Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis in the lead.

The original work was very bold and experimental for the time, featuring zestfully amoral characters, downbeat (but catchy) songs that fused German cabaret with American jazz, and characters stepping away from the action and directly addressing the audience to make political points. The most famous song from the show, Mack the Knife, was subsequently transformed into an unlikely jazz standard and eventually featured in McDonald's creepy Mac Tonight ad campaign of the 1980s. The clip above features Cave's own snarling performance of the song, which probably offers a clue as to what he's planning for the new film's music.

(Via Slashfilm.)

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.