Russell Brand nearly missed out on his Hollywood debut movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall after he turned up at the audition without reading the script.
Brand plays a British rock superstar in the latest Judd Apatow comedy, and film insiders believe the funnyman could be a big hit in Hollywood. However, he nearly lost out on the part during the audition process.
Director Nicholas Dollar recalled, "Russell came into the audition and he said, 'I've only had a chance to take a cursory glance at the script, 'What is it you require of me?'.
"We thought our casting director was playing a prank on us so we just said, 'You can be loose with the pages,' and he said, 'Oh, you mean like improvisation?' as if he'd never heard of it. We just laughed and did a dance for joy."
While he managed to succeed at that audition, it has been revealed that Brand was rejected for a part on cult comedy Peep Show.
The show's star David Mitchell claimed Brand was turned down for the part of drug user Super Hans. "Apparently Russell auditioned for the part of Super Hans before he was well known on the first series. So he was almost in it. But I bet he would be a handful now," said Mitchell.