When you sit down to interview Russell Brand, it's good to be ready for anything. That's because while you might have a few questions ready to go, Brand is the type that can and will talk about anything. I've found the secret to talking with Brand is to have some fun questions at first, and then to try and get the conversation onto the subject at hand. Thankfully, when I recently say down with Brand to talk about his work in Julie Taymor’s The Tempest, he was more than happy to talk about getting cast, what he learned on set, and he even talked about some of the cool props and costumes that he got to wear in his next film, Arthur. Of course, this was after we talked about my Superman t-shirt.
Hit the jump for more on The Tempest and the interview:
Adapted from William Shakespeare, Taymor has added a twist to The Tempest by switching the gender of the sorcerer Prospero into the sorceress Prospera (who is played by Oscar winner Helen Mirren). In addition, Taymor has brought along an all-star cast featuring Brand, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming, Ben Whishaw, Reeve Carney, Felicity Jones, and Tom Conti. You can watch some clips and check out some images here.
Finally, if you've been reading our coverage of Brand's remake of Arthur, you've already seen pictures of the Batmobile and the DeLorean from Back to the Future on set. However, we haven't run any quotes from Brand about making the movie, and towards the end of this interview he talks about filming with those props and wearing George Clooney's Batman suit.
And one last thing, after the cameras were off, Brand told me he recently saw an early cut of Arthur and that it was a bit over 2 hours and he was really happy with it. I have a funny feeling Brand is going to nail Arthur. It seems like it was tailor made for him. Here's the interview. The Tempest is currently playing in limited release.
Russell Brand
- Superman t-shirt talk
- Did he debate taking the part in The Tempest.
- Talked about what he learned while filming
- Arthur talk. He talks about filming with the Batmobile (Val Kilmer's Batmobile), the DeLorean from Back to the Future, and how he wore George Clooney's Batman suit
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