Arthur might not have exactly been the box office success all involved were hoping for, but it appears Warner Bros. still wants to work with Russell Brand. He’s now locked in to star and produce a new comedy called The President Stole My Girlfriend for the studio.
There's no director attached yet, but Matt Portenoy wrote the script, which Warners grabbed and handed to Brand to develop with his Branded Films production company. There are few details about the plot, though Brand did lay it out briefly to The Hollywood Reporter: "In this movie, the president steals the girlfriend of a sexy hippie — me, obviously," he says. "It was inspired by the night I naively invited [Warners president] Jeff Robinov for dinner."
Portenoy is seeing his star rise as a writer, having worked on a draft of the Porky’s remake and contributed a segment to Movie 43, a collection of short comic tales overseen by the Farrelly brothers. Portenoy’s chunk was directed by Griffin Dunne and starred Emma Stone.
Brand will next be seen in Rock Of Ages, followed by work on Diablo Cody’s currently untitled crisis-of-faith comedy drama alongside Ages’ Julianne Hough and The Help’s Octavia Spencer.