According to The Wrap, Ricky Gervais has signed on to play the villain in Blazing Samurai, an “animated family comedy” starring Mel Brooks, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Cera, George Takei, Gabriel Iglesias, Aasif Mandvi, and Djimon Hounsou. As indicated by the name, Blazing Samurai is also “equally inspired by and an homage to” Blazing Saddles, though we’re not sure if Brooks is involved beyond lending his voice.
Assuming you’re still on board, this is the part where it gets extra weird: All of those actors apparently play talking cats and dogs for some reason. So it’s an animated take on Blazing Saddles with a bunch of famous people doing the voices, and all of the characters are animals. Weird, right? Cera’s character is a “scrappy dreamer of a dog” who wants to become a warrior so he can “save his hometown from becoming the litter box of a nefarious feline warlord.” Cera then teams up with a samurai cat named Jimbo (Jackson), and together they go on a quest “to save the town of Kakamucho.” Yep, that sounds like Blazing Saddles. Gervais will play Ika Chu, the aforementioned feline warlord.
Blazing Samurai is being directed by Alvin And The Chipmunks and Kung Fu Panda vets Chris Bailey and Mark Koetsier, and no, this isn’t a strange dream of some kind.