Mike Fleming

Deadline broke the news in April that Russell Brand was making a first-look producing deal at Warner Bros, a studio that has stocked the lot with star-based companies featuring the likes of Robert Downey Jr, Ben Affleck/Matt Damon, Zac Efron, Steve Carell and Leonardo DiCaprio. Now that Brand has completed work in the summer 2012 New Line/Warner Bros musical Rock of Ages for director Adam Shankman, he is ready to get busy on the Warner Bros lot. He has named his company Branded Films, and he and his partner Nik Linnen have hired Beau Bauman to run it. Brand wrote a statement for Deadline that reveals the kind of movies he wants to make for the studio. Here goes:

“We at the newly founded Branded Films are very excited to announce our new company and the opportunity for puns that it affords us. Russell Brand and Nik Linnen have coerced Beau Bauman into running our company. Our offices will be on the lot, our sincere hope is that we’ll be in that water tower in which some of the Looney Tunes also live. For this we will expect a reduced rent. If you have any film ideas, send them to: Beau Bauman, the water tower, Warner Bros, Hollywood, America (care of E Fudd). We particularly welcome ideas that could feature a long-haired actor with an unintelligible accent (Rasputin/Tarzan/British Jesus). That’s all folks.”