All one has to do to determine the future big screen prospects of Russell Brand is to simply look at the titles at some of the movies he's been attached to: "Rentaghost," "Hauntrepreneur," "The President Stole My Girlfriend" (seriously), "Man That Rocks The Cradle" and earlier this week, "Pierre Pierre" (though of all these flicks, this one is the promising). And you can now add "Cupid" to the list.
The funnyman will star in the Warner Bros. project with a script from Joe Nussbaum, whose credits include "Prom" and "Sydney White," which should be warning enough to any rational person. But alas, they aren't, and Brand will play a cynical Cupid who is forced to create an ideal romance. [Insert Katy Perry joke here.] Sounds pretty dreadful to us to be honest, and it's somewhat fitting that Disney figured out a way to properly utilize Brand's outsized personality by casting him as Captain Hook in their latest batch of theme park ads photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Brand as a pirate? Yeah, we totally buy that. In a lame-sounding comedy like "Cupid"? No thanks.
Brand will next be seen in Diablo Cody's "Lamb Of God" (or whatever it winds up being called) and we can only hope that instead of trying to fit him into a mainstream mold (attention Hollywood, not the right way to use his talents), it will show off a bit more of his unhinged, verbose and intelligent personality. [Variety/JustJared]
@neil – Agreed 100%. Brand can be stone-cold hilarious, but not since he started his US career. I have never seen someone so awesome be cast so consistently badly, although I agree that's mostly his own fault… bring back Matt Morgan! D:
This breaks my heart. Brand is an extremely intelligent and loquacious stand up with wit as quick as I've seen. His radio show on the BBC and Channel 4 show were both excellent but his talents have been completely wasted in Hollywood. I can't help but feel it's his own fault by settling for sub-par projects in his obvious hunger to make it big stateside as quickly as possible. America hasn't seen the best of Russell by any means and while those that have seen him at his best know better, I'm not surprised so many people dislike the guy.
I am rooting so goddamn hard for that crocodile right now.