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Actors Russell Brand and Helen Mirren attend the New York premiere of “Arthur” at Ziegfeld Theatre on April 5, 2011 in New York City.

(Photos)

Nice interview with Jason Winer, director of Arthur, can be read here.

Excerpt:

Cheeky and spontaneous, Brand is the rare actor who can play semi-fatuous and semi-brilliant — at the same time. He’s perfect for a fellow whose wit gets filtered through an alcoholic fog. Movie audiences fell in love with Brand, despite themselves, when he played self-absorbed rock star Aldous Snow in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” He was ineffably disarming, especially when telling an awe-struck hotel waiter, who has handed him a demo, “I was going to listen to that, but then I just carried on living my life.” …

What about the central challenge — molding a 2011 film around a comic hero who is loaded with money and also just plain loaded? “We wanted to keep the childlike innocence of Dudley Moore: That’s what makes the character so lovable. He’s a big kid. But as expressed through Russell it’s different. To say he’s articulate is an understatement. Russell has an almost Shakespearean ability with words. To not use that, to try to dumb down the character, would have been the wrong direction to go. Arthur can have a very innocent outlook on the world, but we wanted to allow him to also be smart. That was a delicate balancing act, but I think Russell really pulls it off.”

Arthur is scheduled to open in the US on April 8. No word on international release dates yet.

Russell filming with Greta Gerwig and director Jason Winer on location at Grand Central Station in New York City.

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