As if the fact he was married to Katy Perry weren’t scary enough, Russell Brand is now going to star in the first ever Hollywood movie about haunts! Given that the haunt industry takes in $2 billion each year, it only makes sense that Hollywood is now ready to bring the fun and (hopefully) terrors to the big screen.
Brand has signed on for the lead role in the family-friendly film THE HAUNTREPRENEUR. The film follows a family who hires a peculiar “hauntrepreneur” to help them adjust to their new town by creating a haunted house full of oddball characters. The script is from Scott Rosenberg, who also wrote the underrated HIGH FIDELITY, but is also responsible for GONE IN 60 SECONDS and CON AIR, so don’t get too excited.
The Hauntrepreneur is being produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes (Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street remakes). The project has previously been described as similar in tone to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a bit of Beetlejuice thrown in. It’s expected that Brand will play the role as an off-center combination of Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka and Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice.
We guess Russell Brand is one of the best “scareactors” currently working in Hollywood, but we just hope that he’s able to convey the authentic “spirit” of the haunt experience on the big screen. We also pray that this movie doesn’t turn into another Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion type fiasco; now that was a scary mess.
