LOS ANGELES — It’s a slippery slope when a new version of an old movie or TV show is attempted. They often find new audiences, but rarely do they re-create the same critical or box office success.
Dudley Moore’s 1981 comedy “Arthur” is a classic contemporary comedy that gets the redux treatment by British bad boy Russell Brand playing the alcohol-drenched man-child, who is about to lose a $950 million inheritance.
When I talked to Brand recently, I wondered how an actor makes a role his own while still true to the original.
Q
Did you study Dudley Moore, or did you avoid watching him?
A
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It’s too late for me to avoid Dudley Moore. … I grew up 10 minutes away from where Dudley Moore was from. “Arthur” was one of my favorite movies as a kid, so when I was offered to play the part that made Dudley Moore a star, I was truly honored. I watched it again to refresh myself on it and also because I don’t drink anymore — I haven’t had a drink in eight years. When I realized I was going to be spending this whole movie pretending to be drunk — I mean nothing but drunkenness and being in underpants, two things that I seldom do — I thought I’d better study up. I not only watched “Arthur” but Charles Laughton’s “Hobson’s Choice,” Nicolas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas.” Now there are some great drunken performances.
Q
Considering that you’re a recovering alcoholic, did you have any trepidation about immersing yourself into a world that was potentially destructive?
A
I did, but I fully immersed myself without any setbacks. I did it by smelling bottles of booze that I would carry around on me all day, vodka or whiskey, depending on how drunk I was meant to be in the scene.
Q
When the original movie came out, it was more accepted to watch a comedian “play” drunk. It’s so different now that we recognize alcoholism as a disease and see people like Charlie Sheen having, what medical experts have called, a meltdown. Is the “Arthur” concept outdated?
A
Well, firstly, I think these are two very distinct ideas. Charlie Sheen is a friend of mine, and I think we have to be careful. There is a distinction between what people might speculate is going on and the reality of that situation. If people truly believe that Charlie is having a meltdown, then it’s very poor taste to seek to make entertainment from that.
“Arthur” is a fun-loving, joyful, fantastic drunk, and this movie focuses on when you drink a lot, it makes you kind of socially clumsy, and you say the unsayable. In 2011, we do have to have a more responsible attitude towards alcoholism.
Q
In the movie, Helen Mirren plays your nanny, sort of your adult supervision. In real life, does that role fall to (wife) Katy (Perry)?
A
Oh my word, no. It couldn’t be further from the truth. In real life, there’s great parity across that relationship. What I do identify with though, because of my relationship with my wife, is the moral of the film — that the capacity of love can change the direction your life.
Travel expenses paid for by WGN-TV and Warner Bros. Pictures. Watch my interviews 5 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday on WGN-Ch. 9 Morning News. My radio show airs 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on News 720 WGN-AM and wgnradio.com. You can also go to wgntv.com/deanslist.