Is it safe to go back in the water? Or in the water at all? Tim Roth is going to find out in the upcoming film Fish, directed and co-written by Carlo Hintermann. According to Variety, Roth is set to play Professor Fish Osborne, who begins to really live up to his odd name. A “brilliant but reclusive art historian,” Fish is, well, turning into a fish. “As the professor’s secret unravels, Billie (Hunter Schafer) and other students of his begin to perceive their own identities through new lenses,” Variety says.
“Mutation becomes not a curse, but a radical act of liberation,” according to the quoted synopsis.
Fish, which is set in “a dreamlike Venice,” is written by Hintermann, Marco Saura, and Tania Pedroni. Hintermann’s most recent film, 2020’s The Book of Vision, starred Charles Dance as an 18th century physician whose manuscript, The Book of Vision, catches the attention of a modern-day doctor. Reviews were mixed; The Guardian wrote, “Seen from one angle, its spirituality can feel a bit cringeworthy or half baked. But I found myself giving into its mysteries.”
Roth is no stranger to roles about drastic transformation, having played Emil Blonsky/the Abomination for Marvel (including in She-Hulk, pictured above). Schafer, who stars on Apple TV+’s Euphoria, has had a busy couple of cinematic years, with roles in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; the horror film Cuckoo; and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness.
It will be a while before we can swim with the Fish: Production is expected to begin next spring.