Early on during the production of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Nick Stoller decided he wanted to make another movie starring his then relatively unknown supporting cast.
“During the first table read, actually, I thought Jonah [Hill] and Russell [Brand] had amazing chemistry,” says the director. “I thought of this idea, pitched it, and they both thought it was fun.”
A spin-off of sorts of “Marshall,” “Get Him to the Greek” has Brand reprising his role as partying musician Aldous Snow, who is barely escorted from London to Hollywood alongside a meek executive (Hill, in a new role).
For Brand, it was familiar territory: Not only had he played the character, but he once walked a perilous path as a heroin-addicted comedian.
“I would sit down with him when I was writing the movie and basically interview him,” says Stoller. “I’d ask him what would cause him to fall off the wagon, what would he act like when he was an addict, how would he treat his assistant.”
If the comedy is any indication, his assistant was treated rather callously. But Aldous Snow has little in common with the Russell Brand of today.
“[Brand’s] a very polite, charming guy who’s very effusive and talks a mile a minute and wants everyone to be comfortable,”?says Stoller. “But there’s certainly an emotional truth from his past that we kind of brought into the movie.”
