RussellBrand Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The last time that MTV let Russell Brand near a microphone, things got a little ugly between the British comedian and teen fans of Jordan Sparks and The Jonas Brothers. But I guess all is forgiven, because MTV has announced that Brand will be back hosting the 2009 MTV Video Awards.

During last year's telecast Brand cracked wise about The Jonas Brothers' display of Purity Rings and caused a bit of ruckus over his comments. But, if you are wondering if we are going to see a more 'traditional' Brand on this year's telecast, I wouldn't worry, Brand told MTV, "This year will be a controversy-free festival of love and discrete orgasms". I guess even when he's trying to play nice, the man is strange with a capital 'S', and I can only assume that MTV is praying that Brand's unpredictability when it comes to speaking his mind will add up to some big ratings for the show.

Considering that just a little over a year ago, most of us had never heard of the strangely funny comedian, you have to admire his ability to get his name out there. Since his breakthrough role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Brand has been piling on the projects. including remakes of Arthur and Drop Dead Fred. First up will be his reprisal of the great Aldous Snow in the Sarah Marshall follow-up, Get Him to The Greek, which will hit theaters in spring 2010, but an MTV gig will get him just that little extra bit of publicity.

After the jump; Brand's take on last years VMAs...

Did someone hear about that Imaginary Larry pic and think: "Gee, why make something like Drop Dead Fred when we can just remake Drop Dead Fred?"I think so. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the box office bust and subsequent cult favorite is getting a makeover, and Russell Brand is going to head the whole thing.

Yes, he'll play the wacky imaginary character, but things will be a bit different this time around. Of course, there will be no Phoebe Cates (which is a huge strike against it in my book ... viva la Cates!), and instead of a straight remake, this will be whipped up in the "tone of Beetlejuice, building a universe around the concept of imaginary friends." There's a lesson to live by: If you want to remake something that failed, Beetlejuice it! Dennis McNicholas, who lent a pen to the Land of the Lost remake, will pen the screenplay.

I'm sure Brand will do fine with this, because wacky is his thing, whether it's playing the insane new boyfriend of Sarah Marshall, taking it to the upcoming Get Him to the Greek, or playing the jester-riffic Trinculo in The Tempest. But maybe, just maybe, it'll quickly get old? Obviously, I'm indifferent to the whole thing, but what say you? Is this hurting your Fred-fan heart, or making you jump with glee?

So I guess Emily Blunt missed out on the chance to torment Tony Stark, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been keeping busy. The British actress already has three productions lined up for the coming year, and the latest addition to her schedule has now surfaced over at Moviehole. According to sources, during an interview with a local Australian radio show, British comedian Russell Brand told them that Blunt was already committed to be his female co-star in Get Him to the Greek with Jonah Hill. According to Brand (via Moviehole) Blunt will be playing a fellow musician, and that she may even perform a duet with the great Aldous Snow (aka Brand) -- might I suggest a 'Do Something' remix? Blunt only has a few musical credits to her name, but you never know, maybe her former flame, Michael Buble, gave her some pointers.

Greek is a sequel of sorts to the 2008 romantic comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Brand is reprising his role of Aldous Snow, a bed-hopping and socially clueless rock star, and the story will pick up with Snow who has since lapsed back into his druggie ways. Hill will play a young insurance adjuster who has been given the seemingly impossible task of getting the out of control celeb to a gig at L.A's Greek Theater.

UPDATE: Blunt's publicist and Universal have come forward to say that this casting rumor is not true, so says EW.

Granted, British comedian Russell Brand isn't for everyone, and I think there are some people at the BBC who would agree. But, I just love the guy to bits. Sure he's strange and a little bit of a lecher, but damn is he funny. When rumors first started to surface that Brand was being considered to take over for Johnny Depp in the next Pirates of the Caribbean installment, it seemed to be the perfect fit. But, in a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Brand told Billy Bush, "There's been some talk of doing a 'Pirates' movie, but, I've got eight other things to do [including] 'Get Him To The Greek' with Judd Apatow... So I don't know if there'll be time to be a pirate, I've got enough of that in me private life." If you follow the UK gossip rags, then you probably know that he isn't kidding about that last part.

Eugene brought us the news back in April that Brand would be reviving his character of Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Jonah Hill for Greek. The comedy centers on a young insurance adjuster (Hill) assigned to get a wild rock star (Brand) from London to LA's Greek Theater (I wonder if Hill is reprising his loyal fan character from Marshall as well). But, Brand didn't rule out Pirates completely; the comedian was quoted as saying that Pirates was still, "A possibility," -- which, as you know in Hollywood, is enough to keep a rumor going indefinitely.

It sounds like a can't-miss concept: a Disney movie about a guy who tells wonderful, fantastic bedtime stories that actually come true in real life. And when the guy is Adam Sandler, how can this possibly be a bad movie? Aren't you buying tickets online for your entire family right now, even as you read about this possible cinematic land of delights? Except that watching Bedtime Stories is about as delightful as peeking into your Christmas stocking and finding it empty except for a few lint-covered peppermints.

The movie opens with a little tale narrated by the most stereotypically folksy voice you can imagine, a distillation of Wilford Brimley and Roy Rogers ... and it's Jonathan Pryce, setting up the story of Sandler's character Skeeter. Seeing Pryce at this time of year made me think of Brazil, thus triggering nostalgia for a movie that is the diametric opposite of this one. Pryce's character, Marty, has to sell the hotel to a Brit who gets to keep his accent, Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths), who promises that someday Marty's little boy Skeeter can earn the chance to run the hotel himself. (Marty's daughter is SOL, one presumes.) Barry agrees, then replaces most of the homey motel with a snazzy high-rise hotel.

So you remember those rumors a few weeks back that Russell Brand was signing up as Johnny Depp's 'heir apparent' in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise? Well, it looks like Brand might be playing a charming drunk, but it's not going to be as part of the Sparrow clan. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Brand has started putting together a remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore comedy, Arthur, for Warner Brothers (with an eye of making it a starring vehicle).

The original starred Moore as a boozy playboy who will only inherit his massive fortune on the condition that he marries an heiress selected by his family. When he falls for Liza Minnelli (in the form of a working class woman) he turns to his valet (John Gielgud) for help when forced to choose between money and love.

After making a splash in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Brand started lining up plenty of projects for 2009, including, Bedtime Stories, Julie Taymor's The Tempest, and Get Him to the Greek (which reunites him with the Sarah Marshall crew). The timing really could not be better for Brand to take a little vacation stateside since he seems to be having a tough time in his native land.

When Arthur was first released, the film was a bit hit, and snagged Oscars for Supporting Actor and original music. But, I would be willing to guess that a lot of Brand's fans weren't born when the original was released and won't know the difference. Although, for me, the only true love able drunk on the big screen is Nick Charles..if anyone can make this remake work, it's Brand.

If you rue the era that canned voice actors for big celebrities, you might not like this bit of news, but if you love big, star-calibre cast lists, you might like this:

Variety reports that Steve Carell has signed on for a new 3D CG-animated film called Despicable Me, from Horton Hears a Who scribes Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. But he's just the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the voice cast includes: Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Russell Brand, Jemaine Clement, Jack McBrayer, and Julie Andrews.

Carell will voice the title character, a "deplorable man" named Groo who "masterminds the mother of all heists when he plots to steal the moon." Since his evil mother (Andrews without a spoon full of sugar) is egging him on, there's only one obstacle between him and the big cheese chunk in the sky -- three orhpaned girls who he has to temporarily take care of, who won't leave. I guess he never read Papa, please get the moon for me.

There's no word on how the other names will come into play, nor who will voice the three moon-saving girls. Nevertheless, this sounds like it could be an incredibly cute film. Unfortunately, we have a while to wait for this -- the film is currently scheduled for release in 2010.

News like this is what I wait for when writing about movie news -- announcements that merge so many good things that you can't help but get the tingle of excitement. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Julie Taymor is taking on William Shakespeare yet again, and with one starry-eyed and stellar cast. Strike that ... THE stellar cast.

This time around, we get The Tempest, but with a spin -- there's a bit of gender bending. Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan who became a sorcerer, is getting a sex change so that Helen Mirren can play the part. The lovely Mirren will be joined by Jeremy Irons, who will play Prospera's brother Alonso, Djimon Hounsou, who will tackle Caliban, Russell Brand as the jester Trinculo, Alfred Molina, who will be the drunken Stephano, Ben Wishaw as the spirit Ariel, and Felicity Jones as Prospera's daughter, Miranda. Oh, but that's not all -- Geoffrey Rush is in negotiations to play Prospera's ol' ally and adviser, Gonzalo. Since things are being changed up a bit, here's how THR describes it: "Shakespeare's play mixes romance with fraternal politics and the supernatural. As revised for the screen, it will center around Prospera, her daughter Miranda (Jones) and a shipwrecked crew full of Prospera's enemies."

After seeing Taymor's Titus, I never dreamed another Shakespeare adaptation could compare, until now. I say this having seen every single one of Will's plays performed at least once, and thinking that Patrick Stewart's Prospero was practically untouchable. But now, with this cast? I'm in love.

But still, Taymor is changing things up, so sound off below: Taymor, gender-bending, and The Tempest -- yay or nay?

I'm finally writing a post here that my sister will read. You see, she adores Russell Brand almost as much as Brand adores Cinematical and Scott Weinberg (see image above as proof of this fact). Maybe even more, because unlike most Americans, she was avidly following his British career via his podcast and BBC America. There have been many humbling moments in my Cinematical salad days, but none quite so humiliating as when I told her Brand was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. "I know. I followed the filming on his podcast." At least Weinberg promptly humiliated her by getting all cozy with her favorite Englishman.

As my sister wasn't one of the casting directors for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Brand had to make an audition tape to convince them of his weirdly-coiffed worthiness. In honor of its DVD release, MTV has the exclusive, and I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. And if you're like my sibling and can't get enough, I've also included the karaoke version of his in-film music video, Infant Sorrow.

5-1 my sister writes "I've already seen both of those videos" in the comments. Hopefully, you'll be more appreciative.

Oh man -- I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall again over the weekend (I first saw it at SXSW back in March) and the laughs held up beautifully; it really is a comic treasure, even if it does suffer a bit from the typical Apatow bloat. So this is great news for me: director Nicholas Stoller is reteaming with Judd Apatow for Get Him to the Greek, a comedy starring Sarah Marshall's Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. Hill will play a young insurance adjuster assigned to get a wild rock star (Brand) from London to LA's Greek Theater for a gig. I don't dispense headline exclamation points willy-nilly, so you know I'm excited.

The idea was apparently hatched at a Sarah Marshall table read, where Hill and Brand exhibited a surprising chemistry. They only had a few scenes together in that film, and since I thought Hill's character was generally a weak spot, I spent most of those scenes being mildly annoyed. But I've seen Superbad, so I know that Hill has the funny, and Brand, whom I had never heard of before Sarah Marshall, has some of the movie's biggest laughs. So: more, please.

Stoller will write Get Him to the Greek in addition to getting back in the director's chair. He has some other projects in the works, including Five Year Engagement, which he will direct and co-write with Jason Segel. He's also working with Segel on his planned Muppet movie. And he co-wrote the screenplay for Jim Carrey's Yes Man, due in December. Busy guy; lucky, too.