Russell wants his past kept secret

Russell Brand has dropped plans to make his chequered life story into a film.

The comic says he’s afraid a movie version of his warts-and-all autobiography, My Booky Wook, might tarnish his image with the American public, just as his Hollywood career is taking off.

The film – which was to have been made by 24 Hour Party People director Michael Winterbottom – would have highlighted his drug addiction and sexual debauchery in a way that might not have played will with conservative Middle America.

‘I’m not going to make the Booky Wooky into a film any more because then people in America will learn what my past is like,’ he told MTV News.

‘[Of course], people that can be bothered to read will know that I have a chequered past. Fingers crossed, we give them a book I’ve written already; I don’t have to do no more homework!’

Brand had previously said he wanted Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe to play the younger version of him, ‘But I thought he wouldn't be able to take all the drink. Or the drugs or fraternising with women. So I thought I should do it.’

He had also lined up a part for Oasis's Noel Gallagher as ‘seedy homosexual’ and had hoped to get parts for David Walliams and Michael Palin.

Instead, Brand’s next movie role will be in the comedy Get Him To The Greek, where he plays another wayward rock star – just as he did in the recent Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

‘I’m going to play rock stars for the first 10 years of my career, and then I’m going to move on, and I’m only going to play mailmen for the next 10 years,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be fun.’

Published: 30 May 2008