RUSSELL BRAND believes the media wants CHARLIE SHEEN dead or in prison! Brand talks Sheen, his own WILD past, his shot to fame, kids, his new flick Arthur with NY mag.
On Charlie Sheen:
Well, as someone who’s struggled with addiction and been in recovery, all I should say is that I wish him the best. Off the record … [Brand pauses and smiles.] [The media is probably hoping he’ll end up] dead, or in prison, so they can then do the retrospective, and then sort of switch the attention to whoever puts their head above the parapet next. Because we are all stimulated by the salacious. But when you’re in the middle of it, it’s a right odd process. The process for me of becoming famous was one of thinking, I’ve got this unique perspective. I kind of thought I’d be given a forum through which I could communicate spiritual truths to change the world! But then what you realize is that it’s very, very difficult to overwhelm the preexisting narrative paradigm.
On his wild past:
When I was 20 years old I thought it was super cool that I was at a good English drama school, just like Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, and Oliver Reid, and I was sort of walking around drinking bottles of whiskey, like, RARRRARARAR, being so confused. People were contradictory, like, “Oh, well, you’ve got to stop this — but bloody hell, this is glamorous!” And it was confusing. I did feel pressure. And there was no off switch, no self-regulation. Some performances were bloody great and other times I was ill and red and sweating and no good at all. There’s that great Dennis Hopper quote, “Anyone can cut off their ear, but only Van Gogh painted Crows over the Wheatfield.” You sort of realize that art is 99 percent perspiration. It is about discipline and study and care. Neal Cassady wrote fuck-all. The person that most exemplified it, that lived it, came back empty-handed. What did he write? Nothing.
On Arthur’s humor:
I loved the original because I loved Dudley Moore. I thought he was sort of warm and beautiful to watch and my favorite line was, “How did you become a prostitute?” “Because my mum died when I was 6 and my dad beat me up when I was 12.” “So, 6 relatively good years?” That’s very English. I get very charged by comedy when it’s fearless in the face of severity. I’ve always thought, Why do we give the high ground to people who want to be cerebral and serious? Humor and comedy is a great art form, and people get kind of stuffy, and say, “Stop being stupid,” and it makes me think, Fucking comedy done properly is not stupid, it’s sublime, it’s fast, it’s quick, it’s rapid, and intuitive and dangerous.
Arthur, also starring Helen Mirror as Russell’s mom and Jennifer Garner, hits theaters nationwide this coming Friday.
Are you planning to watch Arthur?
images via WENN
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