Matt Adcock Meets Russell Brand (and Adam Sandler too)
As the new Disney magical fantasy adventure / comedy Bedtime Stories hits the screens I got to meet up with two of the stars of this fun family film.
Matt: I liked the ideas behind the stories your character tells the kids in this film coming to life. It must have been fun playing out the fantasy sections?
Adam: I looked great in a cowboy hat, so the Wild West scene was fun and I think I looked fantastic in leather pants in the space scene. I really looked good in the gladiator costume too. At least I am guessing I looked good judging by the reaction I got from my co-star Keri Russell.
Russell: I get to play a robot called ‘Lieutenant Mike’ in the Outer Space chapter and they were very diligent and assiduous in their make up job, painting even the inside of my mouth golden, in spite of what we learned from the film Goldfinger that being covered in gold paint can lead to death. There was one area of skin that didn’t get painted gold though… and when I went for a wee my genitals looked ridiculous, this pink organic object emerging from C-3PO’s robotic torso!
Matt: And so how did you pick Russell for the part?
Adam: We had a great part in the film for this room service guy at the hotel who was my best friend and kind of loose and great with the kids. First of all we imagined Russell doing it; we got excited just thinking about the possibility and then Russell was cool enough to say yes. I thought he would be good. He was more comfortable with the children than me in fact. Then we completed the movie and we screened it for the first time. When they ask audiences who is their favorite character, I got a score of 91 which is very high and I thought, ‘great’. But then I looked at Russell’s score and he got 96. I thought to myself: how dare he? The children of America have embraced the long and lean and handsome Russell Brand.
Russell: Thank you Adam and I look forward to in about 15 year’s time that will really start paying dividends!
Matt: What was it like making your first Disney film?
Adam: I always loved Disney movies growing up with my own family. Every Sunday we would watch a Disney movie with Kurt Russell. I was a very big Kurt Russell fan as a child and in fact I wanted to be the modern day Kurt Russell.
Russell: What I’d do is think ‘there are children here’. But it’s not mentally hard because, obviously in my life, I have friends who have got kids and hang out with kids. With them, I don’t think ‘right, now for some X-rated filth’ to pass the time. I use the usual methods I’d use socially and it’s nice to see myself doing something in a film and like it’s not all rude.
Matt: I’ve heard you’re both big sport fans – did you get to watch much whilst filming?
Russell: Sandler is obsessed with sport and, in fact, it seems to be prioritised over making the film. There were screens everywhere showing basketball, football and stuff like that next to the monitor that I’m trying my hardest to be doing my acting on. I’d say, what about that bit of acting? Was it all right?’ and someone would shout ‘they’ve just scored a touchdown’.
At least they understood the significance of West Ham United in my life. Sport was one of the things that made me feel very comfortable in that environment and enhanced my masculinity. It was like: ‘sport, hey? I like sport too. We’re not so different, are we?’
You can see Adam and Russell in Bedtime Stories from 26th December.
Read our review
here and enter our competition
here
