Apr 28 2009 Russell Brand Starring in a 'Drop Dead Fred' Remake
Guess what. There's this now:
Universal is resurrecting "Drop Dead Fred," this time as a starring vehicle for Russell Brand.Dennis McNicholas, one of the writers of Universal's upcoming "Land of the Lost," will pen the remake.
The 1991 original starred Phoebe Cates as a wallflower who loses her job and husband during the course of a lunch hour. Forced to live back home, she's reunited with her childhood imaginary friend (Brit actor Rik Mayall), who promises to help but causes more havoc.
Produced by PolyGram and Working Title, the first "Fred" was critically drubbed and commercially unsuccessful. But it did achieve a certain cult status and is considered a film that fell short of its full potential.
The take for the new "Fred" is to make a film in the tone of "Beetlejuice," building a universe around the concept of imaginary friends. Brand would play the trouble-making pal.
Yeah, everyone is always talking about how Drop Dead Fred fell short of its full potential. What happened, Drop Dead Fred? DDF was the at the top of his class until he got into drugs between his junior and senior years, metaphorically. Really, such a shame the movie was critically and commercially rejected, because otherwise it could have been really good.
Honestly, I'm so dumbfounded that someone even thought to remake Drop Dead Fred that I can barely piece together any sort of sensible reaction. Except: wouldn't combining an imaginary friend movie with the tone and universe of Beetlejuice just end up creating a remake of the Fred Savage/Howie Mandel monster-under-the-bed thesis Little Monsters? I think Universal bought the wrong rights.
Dec 4 2008 Let's Remake 'Arthur' Too
Speaking of remaking '80s movies with unbearable theme songs, British comedian Russell Brand is reportedly looking for writers to develop a new take on 1981's Arthur:
The British comedian is developing a remake of "Arthur," the 1981 comedy that starred Dudley Moore, for Warner Bros. as a potential starring vehicle.Brand is meeting with scribes to write the screenplay, which will be produced by MBST's Larry Brezner, whose credits range from "Good Morning, Vietnam" to HBO's recent "Little Britain USA."
The original movie followed a boozy playboy rascal who is set to inherit a fortune if he marries an heiress his family thinks will make something out of him. However, he falls in love with a working-class woman and turns to his valet for help when his family makes him choose between money and love.
How is it everyone but the person remaking a movie realizes it's a terrible idea? Is this really what every person with money, celebrity, or some sort of media influence thinks when they finish watching a movie? "Hmm, that was pretty good, but I could have done it better. Let's give it another go, but with me. Arthur, only I'm Arthur." Meanwhile, some producer is, for whatever reason, watching Romancing the Stone and thinking, "It would be great if this exact same scenario were again played out but in a slightly more modern setting." That borders on deranged.
Nov 13 2008 Popular Actor/Comedians Providing Voices to CGI Family Comedy
Sorry, trained voice actors, an all-celebrity roster led by Steve Carell is once again dominating the cast of a new animated film called Despicable Me:
Illumination Entertainment topper Chris Meledandri has kicked off his Universal Pictures-based family film unit with "Despicable Me," a 3-D CG-animated film that has Steve Carell voicing the title character.Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Russell Brand, Jemaine Clement ("Flight of the Conchords"), Jack McBrayer ("30 Rock") and Julie Andrews are providing the other lead voices. The film will be released in 2010.
Carell's title character is a deplorable man known as Groo who masterminds the mother of all heists when he plots to steal the moon. Egged on by an evil mother (Andrews), Groo finds one obstacle in his way: a trio of orphan girls who temporarily come under his care and won't leave.
I'm normally pretty skeptical about any computer-animated family comedy that isn't a Pixar, but I'll give this a pass for now because:
- This is a really good cast of mostly genuinely funny people, not Angelina Jolies.
- It isn't a sequel.
- I like the plan of stealing the moon. It's like Chairface Chippendale's plan to carve his name in the moon, but even more grandiose. How do you steal the moon? I'm willing to find out for now.
But so help me, first mention of anything equivalent to liking to "move it" and I'm done.
Steve Carell to voice 'Despicable' [Variety]
Nov 5 2008 Baseless Rumor Says Russell Brand is in 'Pirates 4'!
It's a pretty slow day in the entertainment "biz" (business). For some of us, that means covering stories about Jonathan Lipnicki roles and pretending someone cares what Jonathan Lipnicki is doing with himself, and how he wants you to vote. For others, it means making up stories about who might be in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and even make a hasty Photoshop mockup for the hell of it. Take, for example, The Sun's report that Russell Brand will be playing Jack Sparrow's brother (via digg):
Brand is reportedly thrashing out a deal to appear in the fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean film - as Captain Jack Sparrow's younger brother Jonathan. The deal to appear in the children's film could be worth as much as £5million and would catapault the 33-year-old into the Hollywood A-list.A source told The Sun: 'There couldn't be a role more perfectly suited. There's a lot of Jack Sparrow in his mannerisms and behaviour. Depp's accent isn't a million miles away from Russell's either.'
There's part of me that has to respect an organization that can take a casual conversation beginning with "you know who Russell Brand kind of reminds me of?" and turn that into a purportedly factual story about a £5 million movie deal. In a way it's dishonest, but in a way it's thoroughly honest, in that it's basically an admission that you're horrible and should not be trusted for any reason. These are not the people to housesit your apartment. I will be looking elsewhere for someone to water my plants while I'm away, Sun employees.
Russell Brand set to land £5m role as Jack Sparrow's brother in next Pirates Of The Caribbean [Daily Mail]
Sep 22 2008 'Bedtime Stories' Overtakes 'Click' as Most Nightmarish Adam Sandler Comedy Concept
Here's the trailer for the new Adam Sandler movie in which a pair of reckless child-gods impose their will upon humanity. At the children's mere mention, puerile whims--like the desire for gumballs to rain from the heavens, without regard to logic, safety, or how much it seems like a Sony Bravia commercial--are met without question. Uncontrollable juvenile omnipotence always makes for such great family comedy.
Apr 10 2008 Infant Sorrow Asks That We 'Do Something'
In the upcoming Judd Apatow-produced Forgetting Sarah Marshall, our puppet-loving hero Peter's celebrity girlfriend dumps him for the lead singer of the tragically-titled band Infant Sorrow, Alduous Snow. So obviously we want to hate that guy. Thanks to a brilliant marketing move, that's become easy, as you can now indulge in two of Snow's dreadful, pseudo-meaningful music videos online. Sorrow's "We've Gotta Do Something" gives a vague, conflicting message of saving the planet, while the sensual epic "Inside of You" paints a lurid picture of sexual desire. Both are at once laughably ridiculous and sadly, frighteningly believable.
Watch them both, B the C (below the cut).
Continue Reading " Infant Sorrow Asks That We 'Do Something' "
