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Russell Brand Ready to Rock for Adam Shankman's 'Rock of Ages'

by Ethan Anderton
January 20, 2011
Source: Deadline

After being offered a role in Adam Shankman's big screen adaptation of musical Rock of Ages, it sounds like Tom Cruise is very close to finalizing a deal to play a bartender who gets to rock out to a slew of classic 80's song from all the best hair bands of the time. But while that deal isn't official yet, the project may have landed another great name who has plenty of experience with rocking out. Deadline reports Russell Brand is circling the role of Lonnie, a guy who runs an 80's rock club called The Bourbon. It sounds like this is the same club where Tom Cruise would be belting out rock hits while reliving his bartending days from Cocktail.

Apparently the role would have him singing a duet of REO Speedwagon's Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore with the club's owner Dennis, a role that is apparently being circled by Alec Baldwin. This sounds like a hell of a tribute to classic rock. My only concern is the musical talents of actors like Cruise and Baldwin. They've never really shown that they've got the pipes to pull off a role in a musical. Brand on the other hand has plenty of experience leading his own band Infant Sorrow as the out-of-control rock star Aldous Snow in both Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. Brand also previously worked with Shankman on Bedtime Stories, so that seems to have helped as well. While the prospect of the musical sounds exciting, I'm just going to be cautiously optimistic. This assembly of talent sounds wholly intriguing, but Hairspray didn't really impress me as a big screen musical. What do you think?

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