ARTHUR press conference with Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, director Jason Winer and screenwriter Peter Baynham.
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HELEN, WHAT WAS IT LIKE PLAYING NANNY TO SUCH AN IRRESPONSIBLE CHARACTER?
MIRREN: It was an education for me – I learned so many things. I’ve never done a movie that was a “comedy” before, so it was one of the reasons I really wanted to o the film. I was very lucky that I was working with such brilliantly experienced people in the world of comedy.
RUSSELL, DID YOUR HISTORY OF ADDICTION INFORM YOUR ROLE?
BRAND: I am such a thorough actor that I did two decades of research into alcoholism just to make sure it was 100% right. The difference of course is that Arthur is a fictional alcoholic and has much more latitude for clowning and fun, and his adventures don’t lead to broken glass and howling women. Although he is of course arrested at the beginning the film, It was important that we established a context where the alcoholism was humorous and good fun, but was not irresponsibly portrayed – this is 2011 and it’s important to see a resolution to Arthur’s alcoholism. That’s one of the aspects, as a recovering alcoholic myself, I was happy to see how that was rendered.
PETER AND JASON, HOW DID YOU APPROACH WRITING AN UPDATE OF THE CHARACTER PLAYED BY DUDLEY MOORE IN THE 1981 MOVIE?
BRAND: Peter’s not normally allowed to talk to people so we’re all excited. If I were you - direct your questions at Peter – you’ll get stuff. He doesn’t know how to monitor himself properly! Ask about 911!
BAYNHAM: They made me take out the broken glass and the howling women. I forgot the question ... this isn’t a searing examination into the dark soul of an alcoholic – obviously that’s what I wanted it to be, but ... it’s a man who happens to be an alcoholic, and in this day and age it’s something that could be treated more openly than in 1981, and you could do something which was about a drunk who’s a drunk and a fun guy and at the end he’s a drunk and a fun guy who’s addressed some of his problems. This time around you have to address that somewhat, we just wanted to be able to address it a little bit, but I hope we did it with a light tough without getting too dark.
WINER: There’s a scene that takes place in AA, but those scenes are undercut by irreverent jokes that hopefully walk the line between funny and inappropriate. AT the end of the original Dudley is pretty much as drunk as he was in the beginning and Liza Minelli is in the position of being his caretaker, and that’s something we thought would be rejected by modern audiences and certainly not embraced by women.
BRAND: Certainly social services would not allow Liza Minelli to become a nurse. If you went to visit a home for a sick relative and were greeted by Liza Minelli, you might request a refund!
WINER: I was skeptical about the idea of remaking Arthur – it was one of my favorite movies as a kid, it was in heavy rotation on HBO when my family first got cable, and it was this naughty glimpse into adulthood that I relished. So when they came to me with the idea of remaking it, I said, Why? There’s nothing wrong with the original. But then I heard that it was going to be Russell, and if there’s one character that could reinvent this character for a generation of viewers that haven’t even heard of the original film, it was him. And then it was Peter’s brilliant idea to transform the role of Hobson into a nanny instead of a butler, and the idea of a 35 year old man, let alone Russell Brand, with a nanny was a delicious comedic idea that was unique to this film and felt original. And lastly I’ll say this: Arthur is a kind of throwback to a kind of movie that doesn’t get made anymore, a combination of irreverent comedy, romance and drama. Studios might be afraid to mix those things if it weren’t for the comfort of the familiar title. I know this sounds of, but the fact that it’s a remake allowed us to do something that we might not otherwise get to do.
RUSSELL, WHEN YOU GET CAUGHT BETWEEN THE MOON AND NEW YORK CITY, WHAT’S THE BEST THAT YOU CAN DO?
BRAND (with astonishing alacrity, as if he’s been waiting for this very question, or he’s just in a hurry to spew out the answer that has been drilled into him by what he later refers to as an “army of publicists”) The best that you can do is fall in love. That’s why this film resonates so strongly with me and why I’m so happy with it. My life has been changed by falling in love, so I know that whilst that is a romantic idea and in this case fictional, it’s something that’s happened to me. And that’s why I’m so enamoured of this story. I loved the original movie, Dudley Moore is a great hero of mine, and to be able to recreate that film with such a talented ensemble of people was such an incredible gift. To work with this Oscar winning wonderful actress in Helen Mirren, a brilliant director like Jason Winer, who I think this is but the first of what will become a career of excellent movies, someone who accommodated by improvisation but told the story so wonderfully well visually, it’s almost a trite cliché to hear, oh we used the city like another character, but it does make Manhattan look like (the site for) a magical fairy story. I think Greta wonderfully brought to life a different aspect of the character’s trajectory with her experience in independent films, a more gentle and naturalistic performance that spoke to the child in Arthur. And it was written by Peter – in retrospect that was a mistake.
No, Peter, like Dudley Moore he’s a hero to me – he’s one of the great comedy writers of the last 30 years – Alan Partridge, Bruno, Borat, it’s a great honor to work with him.
HELEN, TALK ABOUT YOUR SECRET FOR LOOKING SO AMAZING.
MIRREN: Many virgins have died in my pursuit of youth.
BRAND: You realize that question will never be successfully answered. No one’s going to tell you, there’s fountain somewhere ...
HELEN, HOW WAS IT GETTING TO PUNCH RUSSELL?
MIRREN: That was great, but the best thing was being taught how to punch by Evander Hollyfield [who plays himself as Arthur’s sparring partner], who was my personal trainer on the set. I went up to him —he’s such a gentleman, but he is the champ, a big guy and quite scary. He was very quiet, on the set in the corner with his, um, I don’t know who he was with, his person –
BRAND: His boyfriend, I think.
MIRREN: I went up to him and asked, I’ve got to punch Russell, can you show me how to do it please? And he said sure and he gave me a little training. So that was one of the highlights of the shoot for me.
[AN OLDER WOMAN BEGINS TO ASK RUSSELL BRAND A QUESTION, BUT BEFORE SHE GETS PAST THE FIRST WORD HE INTERRUPTS]
BRAND: Is this about sex?
WELL, THAT COMES LATER.
BRAND: Very presumptuous – I like it! (pointing upstairs, sotto voice, mimicking a room key) 1206! Which is also my favorite position! For those of you who know the kama sutra!
IT SAYS IN THE NOTES THAT YOU’RE AN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE FILM. CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU DID IN THAT CAPACITY?
BRAND: Nothing! Executive producers don’t have to do anything! Nor do any kind of producers. They just sit around on deck chairs watching stuff, and if it gets cold they leave. No kind of contribution!
As a producer, you have to be involved with helping out in solving problems. Warner Brothers brought me this idea very early on. But you talk about things and they don’t always happen. They said, who would you like to right it, I said Peter. And they said who would you like to direct it, I was already a fan of “Modern Family,” Jason’s show, so I thought he’d be able to make this relevant and pertinent while maintaining its storyline. And when peter came up with the idea of making Hobson a woman, we thought of Helen, and for me that was the idea that made the film feasible.
HOW WAS GRETA GERWIG SELECTED TO CO-STAR?
BRAND: We saw loads and loads of different actresses, which was all right, but of course I was on the way to getting married then so I couldn’t enjoy it like in the good old days! When auditions had a rather more primal quality! We did the audition with Greta, and afterwards I was sitting quietly, and Jason said what’s the matter, I said I feel sad that she’s gone. Because I’d enjoyed playing with her, she had such a brilliant imagination, she’s a great improviser, has a wonderful understanding of comedy, wide range of ideas, very peculiar choices – good peculiar, not like you come home to find, I don’t know, a babysitter covered in sick, not macabre, peculiar in a magical way, a strange mutation like only nature can produce.
WAS IT A GREEN CONSCIOUS SET?
BRAND: I recycled George Clooney’s Batman suit.
WINER: That’s right – it’s distinctive because it has the nipples.
BRAND (leering): George’s nipples!
RUSSELL, HOW DID YOUR LIFE CHANGE WHEN YOU FELL IN LOVE?
Love has a transformative quality – the first thing that happens when you fall in love is that you realize you’re not the most important person in the world.
ONCE YOU GOT A NICE HOLLYWOOD PAYCHECK, WHAT’S THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT PURCHASE YOU’VE MADE?
MIRREN: A castle in Puglia [a region in the bootheel of Italy].
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
It is like turning on the taps full and money just ours out into the desert. It’s not finished. It will be beautiful! It’s not really a castle – it’s a farmhouse, but it’s got a little bit where you can pour boiling water out, because they were getting invade all the time. It’s a fortified farmhouse.
RUSSELL, DO YOU HAVE AN EXTRAVAGANCE STORY?
BRAND: No. I’m a simple man.
DID YOU WORRY ABOUT GETTING AUDIENCE SYMPATHY FOR A SPOILED RICH CHARACTER AT A TIME OF ECONOMIC HARDSHIP?
BRAND: I’m glad you asked this question because it’s an important question. But I’m going to ignore it. No, it’s a brilliant question, and I’ll tell you why. Arthur has everything, he has all the money in the world, and yet he is lonely. Yet he is unhappy. And I’ve experienced it - I grew up poor, I didn’t have no money, now I’ve got some,, but the greatest poverty one can have is to be poor in one’s heart. And from falling in love is he truly happy, he discovers purpose. All of us know, don’t we, that money’s transient, that its pleasures are illusory, that the happiest moments in our life aren’t, oh, I’ve got a new hat or some silvery object, some glistening bauble, but it’s when you connect with another human being. If you can find the $18 (for tickets) in your pocket, you are purchasing dreams with the money!
WINER: The truth is that Arthur’s world is an escapist one, and in tough times we wanted to present a world that was fun to get away to, to present a man with unlimited resources and incredible toys that people could have fun watching. Whether it’s the Batmobile or a $1.5 million magnetic floating bed. Those aren’t indulgences that most people can afford these days. But you can go to the movies for a relatively small amount of money and escape to a world where that exists.
BRAND: Plus you can watch our one then you can sneak in and watch another one! But pay for our one!
GERWIG: I thought that my character got to be the eyes of the audience on this world. I got to walk into this apartment and completely be in awe of it. I went to college in New York and I live in New York but I didn’t grow up there, and I certainly had that experience when I went over to friends’ houses and I thought, oh my goodness, you live in a townhouse in the upper east side, hwo amazing is that! I loved doing it, and I hope viewers connect through my fantasy and wonderment.
MIRREN: I think it’s also a fantasy that people have, what would we do if we had a billion dollars? That’s why when the lottery gets really big, 40 or 50 million dollars, we all - I go out and buy a ticket because maybe I’ll win!
BRAND (sneering): Going to buy another castle? “Oh, that castle’s ruined – I need another castle! It’s a shithole!”
MIRREN: But you fantasize about what it would be like to have millions and millions of dollars. We all do that. And here you can see what would happen. I think it’s a fantasy that we all carry, everyone who’s ever bought a lottery ticket. Who’s never bought a lottery ticket in this room? {One hand goes up] One person! We’re all dreamers!
HELEN, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GETTING A STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME?
MIRREN: Gosh, I feel so really, really honored. When I first came to Hollywood many years ago, the first place you want to go to, because LA is Hollywood, and Hollywood is Hollywood Boulevard, and Grauman’s Chinese Theater is Hollywood Boulevard. So that’s the place you go to as a tourist, it’s the only thing you know about in Hollywood. So you go and you look at Joan Crawford’s hands and feet, and the whole history of American filmmaking is encapsulates in that one little area, and that has always been to me the street of dreams. So to find myself so many years later, my hands and feet are going to be there, I’m absolutely blown away by it. Becoming a dame, fantastic. Winning an Oscar, amazing. But hands and feet, incredible!
RUSSELL, WHAT WAS IT LIKE RIDING IN THE BATMOBILE AND WEARING THE BATSUIT?
BRAND: The car inside is not as interesting in the interior, it’s like a reverse metaphor for the nature of the human soul, the inside was boring. It’s a bit scruffy in there, and I was in there with Luis Guzman, who’s a brilliant actor, but he says unusual stuff. He’d say things like, imagine if the roof of the Batmobile opens and we’re not on the set anymore, we’ve gone back to caveman days! Then they call action, and I’m like, what? It’s like an ideological fart in the car, bizarre notions to contend with. I enjoyed wearing the suit because it had Clooney musk in it, the aroma, the pheremones of George Clooney, and I like to think that I absorbed them I’m certainly feeling a lot more altruistic. If anyone needs any help with anything I’m prepared to help.
RUSSELL AND HELEN, YOU HAD GREAT CHEMISTRY ON THE FILM, HOW WAS IT BEHIND THE SCENES?
BRAND: You go first, so then I can undercut you.
MIRREN: He was in his trailer all the time, quite honestly. When he came out, he was always surrounded my minders. He wouldn’t speak to anyone. So I didn’t really get to know him.
BRAND (shocked) People are going to write that now! You vicious queen! I’m going to go down to bloody Hollywood Boulevard and fill your handprints in!
MIRREN (laughing). No, that’s completely untrue. Well, actually I don’t know because I was drunk all of the time.
BRAND: I’ve been brilliantly schooled by publicists and minders of what to say – if you look back I’ve not said anything controversial, except for a couple of swear words, Helen says mad stuff you’re not supposed to say in front of the press!
We had a wonderful relationship is the truth of it. I’m a bit on love with Helen, I was very excited about the possibility of working for her – with her – that’s a weird Freudian slip, weren’t it!
MIRREN: I like that one!
Jason: Do you remember the second day of rehearsals, you were being rather timid, which is unusual for you -
BRAND: Yes, well it was the Queen, Jason, I’m an Englishman, there’s a different resonance. You lot buggered off just because of a bit of tax!
MIRREN: Helen smacked you on the arm and said, Stop respecting me!
Russell: And I did. Left the trailer and put on my underpants. In that order.
MIRREN: This is what it was like on the set. It was a very loving and funny environment. And thanks to our indefatigable young director, it was an exhausting environment—you drove us into the ground!
WINER: Do you remember the first thing you said to me? I came to meet you for the first time at your house, I parked in your driveway, got out of the car and you were waiting for me in your doorway, and you didn’t even say hello, you just stared at me, and the very first thing you said was, My god, how old are you?
HELEN, WHY DID YOU TAKE THIS ROLE, AS YOUR FIRST COMEDY
MIRREN: I did it because I met Russell, and he just blew me away. I worked with him kind of in The Tempest, but we just barely said hi to each other, never really spent time together. He just seduced me the way he does. I defy any male or female or child –
BRAND: Steady!
MIRREN: - to spend two hours with him and not be completely charmed and say, yeah, I’ll do what ever you want.
RUSSELL, AS A NEWLY MARRIED MAN, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO PRINCE WILLIAM, WHO WILL BE MARRIED SOON?
BRAND: I don’t go around giving advice to the British royalty. They’ll chop your head off!
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