7 months ago 26th Apr 08:15
Despite the character of Snow originally being written as an English author, Brand soon got his teeth into the role and started adding his flamboyant personality into the lines, causing the writers to rewrite Snow as a rock star and expand the part.
Brand as Aldous Snow has gained glowing reviews in the US and raised his profile enormously, with the 32-year-old comedian already being tipped for big things. He reckons the American film market is ready for a cool, gritty, smooth rock star with an appetite for women and wit - or at least his portrayal of one.
He said: "If you look at the cultural iconography from the 60s - the Beatles, the Stones and the idea of androgynous rockers - America gets that now. But I suppose Hugh Grant is about the most successful contemporary British movie star now. So yeah, hopefully my character will be a real breakthrough."
Brand's guise as Aldous Snow is a thinly veiled one. His performance as a stand-up comedian, or even his real life veneer, is hardly distinguishable from the role he plays in the film.
Brand has had his own fair share of rock and roll debauchery.
After his initial talents were recognised and Brand attended stage school, the vices common to an aspiring young talent soon set in.
He said: "I trained as an actor for three years, at a proper drama school called 'Drama Centre', which makes you an all-rounder. I had to do ballet for posture, and that's not easy when you're drunk, because I was drunk every day when I was at drama school. Ballet is hard enough without doing it drunk. Also I didn't like wearing tights very much."
Drink lead to further debauchery and soon enough heroin abuse. The day after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Brand's career suffered a huge setback when he was fired from his presenting job on MTV Select after he dressed as Osama Bin Laden. After this, Brand sunk further into drug abuse and fell completely from the spotlight for years.
Reportedly clean of drugs since 2003, the comedian has since built up a formidable body of work, with successful stand up tours, including 'Shame', based on his experience as a drug addict, presenting British TV show 'Big Brother's Little Brother', hosting his own TV show 'Ponderland' and enjoying sell-out bookings at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Brand has also settled on a different use of his recreational time than drugs - sex. British tabloids are crammed with stories of Brand's sexual prowess and conquests on a regular basis, a cause Brand doesn't help by being so candid in his interviews.
He laughed: "I read an article where I was going on about sex. I thought, I'm not actually really like that. I'm staring to get on my own nerves reading about myself talking about sex. Then I thought, actually it's only because people keep asking about it. I don't just walk into garages, and say 'Hello! I'll take a Flake chocolate bar and while you're at it I wouldn't mind a blow job'."
The culmination of Brand's tabloid notoriety came earlier this month when Britain's News of the World newspaper carried a report on Brand's trip to Los Angeles to promote 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' which included a 'kiss and tell' story claiming he had sex with a girl six times in an hour, a story he refutes.
He insists: "It was nothing like that, but I did sleep with that girl. It was a nice experience, I thought, until you read about it. I can't remember how many times I had sex with her, but probably a normal amount in that amount of time. There wasn't a Jacuzzi or a swimming pool - all these things, these preposterous things, that she alludes to just didn't happen and I just think it's bizarre that is really weird, the way its refracted through the prism of convenience, what would be a better parable for a kiss and tell."
However, while tabloid tales are quickly forgotten, Brand's image sticks in the mind.
After Sarah Marshall is forgotten, he has plans to break into Hollywood properly, and with a place secured in another Apatow production he is well on his way.
But it is the story he knows best that he is most excited about - in typical style, Brand is eager to make a film about himself.
Speaking about plans to turn his autobiography 'My Booky Wook' into a film, he said: "It's being made into a film. It's been scheduled. The first draft has been written. Michael Winterbottom - who directed 24 Hour Party People, Nine Songs, Cock and Bull Story, A Mighty Heart with Angelina Jolie - he and I have written the first draft of the script and we are probably going into production over the next twelve months."
He adds, with a cheeky smile: "I think Ray Winstone will be playing me - if he can be a bit less camp."
'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' is now in UK cinemas and will be released across the rest of Europe this summer.
By Andy Tillett
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