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Posts tagged as larry charles

Sounds British

Russell Brand in Talks to Act a Wee Bit French 'Pierre Pierre'

by | July 31st, 2012

British person Russell Brand is in discussions to star in the Larry Charles directed Pierre Pierre. Brand would play an insufferable French nihilist who is moving a stolen painting from Paris to London. Along the way he'll meet a zany cast of characters, like a serial murderer named Pigeonshit. (With a name like Pigeonshit, what else would his parents expect from him?) Previously, the Edwin Cannistraci and Frederick Seton penned script had Jim Carrey and Jason Reitman attached to star and direct respectively. Brand seems like a better fit for the part just because he'd have the advantage with the whole Les Misérables thing of speaking in an British [...]

History

Fridays: The SNL Ripoff That Nearly Surpassed the Original

by | January 31st, 2012

In 1979, ABC ordered an SNL show of its own. No variation; a straight copy. Same live format. Same type of cast. Musical guests. Fake news. Like Lorne Michaels before them, producers John Moffitt and Bill Lee scoured clubs and improv groups for talent. (Moffitt wasn't new to the process: he'd been Lorne's first choice in 1975 to direct SNL, which Moffitt turned down.) On April 11, 1980, Moffitt and Lee unveiled their LA version: Fridays. Even the name was abbreviated theft.

Fridays faced numerous obstacles. Most of SNL's original cast was still on the air, prompting negative comparisons. Critics were unkind, to the degree they gave Fridays any [...]

Movies

Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles Team Up Again For The Dictator

by | November 16th, 2010

Sacha Baron Cohen is prepping his third movie with director Larry Charles, who helmed both Borat and Bruno. It'll be called The Dictator, and in it Cohen will reportedly play both a goat herder and a deposed foreign dictator who gets lost in the United States. It's written by Cohen and Curb Your Enthusiasm writers Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel.

It's not clear if this is going to be a more straightforward scripted affair or another mockumentary like his last two. But the title and the plot make it sound like somewhat of an homage to Chaplin's classic The Great Dictator. We'll see if that's [...]

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