Get Him to the Greek

Get Him to the Greek
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nicholas Stoller
Produced by	Judd Apatow Joshua Blake Nicholas Stoller David Bushell Rodney Rothman
Written by	Nicholas Stoller
Based on	Characters by Jason Segel
Starring	Jonah Hill Russell Brand Elisabeth Moss Rose Byrne Diddy Colm Meaney
Music by	Lyle Workman
Cinematography	Robert Yeoman
Editing by	William Kerr Michael Sale
Studio	Relativity Media Spyglass Entertainment Apatow Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	June 4, 2010 (2010-06-04)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million[1]
Box office	$60,974,475 (domestic) $30,287,004 (foreign) $91,261,479 (total)[2]

Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director Stoller with stars Hill and Brand. Brand reprises his role as character Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, while Hill plays an entirely new character. The film also stars Elisabeth Moss, Rose Byrne, and P Diddy.

Plot

British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) releases an album and a titular single—"African Child", which is a commercial and critical failure. Despite having been drug and alcohol free for seven years, along with his pop-star girlfriend Jackie Q (Rose Byrne), when, in an interview, she drunkenly declares they have a boring life, he relapses—which effectively ends his relationship with her, makes him lose custody of their son, Naples, and sabotages his career.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) works as a talent scout at Pinnacle Records, a successful record company. He lives with his girlfriend, Daphne (Elisabeth Moss), a doctor. Pinnacle Records is performing badly as a result of poor record sales, and the head of the company, Sergio Roma (Diddy), asks for ideas. Green proposes that Aldous Snow play at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on the tenth anniversary of his legendary performance there. Sergio sends Aaron to London to escort Aldous to the performance. Before he leaves, Daphne informs Aaron that she has received a job offer in Seattle and that they are moving there, which leads to an argument resulting in an apparent break-up.

After retrieving Aldous from his apartment as well as learning that Aldous hadn't been expecting him and that the concert had already been scheduled beforehand two months ahead, meaning the concert wasn't Aaron's idea. They then bar-hop across the city and Aaron futilely tries to get Aldous to catch one of many missed flights. Daphne calls Aaron to apologize for the fight, only to learn that Aaron believes that they are broken up. Throughout his partying, Aaron's cellphone accidentally calls Daphne periodically, informing her of Aaron's activities.

Aaron and Aldous travel to New York for Aldous's appearance on Today. To keep Aldous sober for his performance, Aaron imbibes all of Aldous's whiskey and marijuana. Minutes before the performance, Aldous realizes he is unable to remember the lyrics to his most recent and unpopular song, "African Child", and replaces it with an older hit, "The Clap", to cheers and excitement from the audience.

About to embark on a flight to Los Angeles, Aldous forces Aaron to smuggle heroin in his rectum. During their travels, Aaron learns that Aldous has become miserable and lonely, as he misses his son and has been alienated from his own father Jonathan (Colm Meaney) for years. Aaron suggests he visit him after the show; instead Aldous insists they go to Las Vegas to see Jonathan. Sergio soon arrives, with plans to "mindfuck" Aldous to Los Angeles. Sergio hooks up Aaron with a sexually rambunctious girl named Destiny (Carla Gallo), who takes him to a hotel room and rapes him. After Aaron tells Aldous that he has been raped, Aldous gives him a "Jeffrey", a joint described as "a Neapolitan of drugs". Aaron panics and starts to have a bad trip, believing he is having a heart attack. Jonathan makes the trip worse by agreeing that Aaron is having a heart attack while Aldous attempts to calm Aaron down, primarily by the comforting sensation of stroking the furry walls of the hotel suite. Aldous fights with his father; Sergio (who is also high) jumps in the fight, and inadvertently sets the lounge on fire. Aldous attempts to help Aaron by giving him an adrenaline shot and they run out of the hotel, chased by Sergio, who is hit by a car but comes out unharmed.

Aldous and Aaron flee to Los Angeles, where Aldous visits Jackie Q. She has been sleeping with Metallica's drummer, Lars Ulrich (playing himself) and confesses that Naples is not actually his biological son, but instead is a photographer's son. This depresses him even further. Meanwhile, Aaron goes to his home to apologize to Daphne. They are interrupted when Aldous arrives at their house and proposes that he, Aaron, and Daphne engage in a threesome; Daphne (who is mad at Aaron) agrees and Aaron hesitantly goes along. During the threesome, Aaron angrily decides to kiss Aldous, breaking it up. Daphne and Aaron both immediately regret the threesome, and Aaron angrily tells Aldous to go, criticizing Aldous's overall mental state.

Instead of preparing for his show, Aldous goes to the rooftop of the Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, and calls Aaron, threatening to jump. Aaron rushes to the hotel, and attempts to coax Aldous down from the roof. Instead, Aldous jumps into a rooftoop pool several floors down, accidentally breaking an arm. Aldous tells Aaron that he is lonely, sad and embarrassed, but Aaron reminds Aldous that thousands of fans love him and are waiting just to see him. Aldous decides to perform at the Greek Theatre despite his injury, even though Aaron pleas for him to go to the hospital. Upon their arrival, Sergio offers Aaron drugs to give to Aldous so he will not cancel the concert. Aaron, tired of the abuse Sergio has given him, refuses and quits his job on the spot, much to Sergio's dismay. Aaron walks stage-side with Aldous, trying to convince him to go to the hospital instead. However, Aaron sees how happy Aldous is while performing and heads home to reconcile with Daphne.

Months later in Seattle (where Aaron and Daphne have moved), Aldous, sober once again, has returned to fame with a single "Furry Walls" produced by Aaron (now his official producer) based on events from their night in Las Vegas, performing on the VH1 Storytellers program.

Cast

Hill at a panel for the film at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas in May 2010.

• Jonah Hill as Aaron Green, a record company intern.
• Russell Brand as Aldous Snow, an out-of-control rock star with a faltering career who first appears in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
• Elisabeth Moss as Daphne Binks, Aaron's girlfriend.
• Rose Byrne as Jackie Q, a scandal-plagued pop star, Aldous's on and off girlfriend and Naples's mother.
• Diddy as Sergio Roma, a record company owner who assigns Aaron to court Aldous.
• Colm Meaney as Jonathan Snow, Aldous's father who mooches off his son for his own personal gain.
• Kali Hawk as Kali Coleman, one of Aaron's co-workers.
• Aziz Ansari as Matty Briggs, one of Aaron's co-workers.
• Nick Kroll as Kevin McLean, one of Aaron's co-workers.
• Ellie Kemper as Pinnacle Executive, one of Aaron's co-workers.
• Karl Theobald as Aldous's assistant.
• Carla Gallo as Destiny, a groupie.
• Alyssa Cooper as Girlband member.
• T. J. Miller as Brian, a drug-dealing hotel clerk.
• Lino Facioli as Naples, Jackie Q's son. He was thought to be Aldous's son but later in the film it is revealed that his biological father was a photographer.
• Kristen Schaal as Today Show production assistant.
• Kristen Bell as Sarah Marshall, an actress who used to date Aldous.
• Dinah Stabb as Lena Snow, Aldous's mother.
• Lenny J. Widegren as Infant Sorrow guitarist.

Cameo guest stars

• Tom Felton
• Christina Aguilera
• Pink
• Kurt Loder (as Kurt F. Loder)
• Meredith Vieira
• Mario Lopez
• Pharrell
• Paul Krugman
• Lars Ulrich
• Rick Schroder
• Zöe Salmon
• Katy Perry (deleted scenes)
• Johnny Depp
• Owen Wilson
• Dee Snider (uncredited)
• Holly Weber (uncredited)
• Billy Bush

In addition to Russell Brand's past companion Karl Theobald appearing in the film, Brand's friends Greg "Mr Gee" Sekweyama and Jamie Sives both appear in the film.

Production

Development

A week after the release of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Universal Studios announced a new film Get Him to the Greek, reuniting Jonah Hill and Russell Brand with writer/director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow.^[3] Variety initially announced the project would focus on "fresh-out-of-college insurance adjuster (Hill) who is hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star (Brand) from London to a gig at L.A.'s Greek Theatre."^[3] In July 2008, Brand mentioned that he would be reprising his Aldous Snow role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in a new film from Apatow in which the character was back on drugs.^[4] In an interview with CHUD.com, Apatow would later reveal that Get Him to the Greek was indeed a spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Brand again playing a no-longer-sober Aldous Snow while in a different interview Nicholas Stoller said that Jonah Hill will play a different character named Aaron Green, a young music executive.^[5][6]

Filming

Filming in Cavendish Square, London.

While Russell Brand was backstage at the Paramount studio lot preparing to present the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, he approached Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Katy Perry about filming cameos for Get Him to the Greek.^[7][8]

Rehearsals began on April 27, 2009 with filming beginning on May 12. The film was shot in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London, the first Apatow film to be filmed outside America.^[5] While filming in Trafalgar Square, Brand was attacked by a passer-by who pushed him into the fountain.^[9]

On April 17, 2009, Brand filmed scenes of him performing as rock star Aldous Snow at his sellout comedy show "Russell Brand: Scandalous", at the O2 arena in London, in front of an audience of 20,000 fans. He performed the songs "Inside Of You" and "I Am Jesus".

Release

Critical reception

The film has received generally positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 73% based on 183 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10^[10] The critical consensus is: "Thanks to a suitably raunchy script and a pair of winning performances from Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, Get Him to the Greek is one of the year's funniest comedies."^[10]

Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 65, based on 39 reviews.^[11]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars by saying that "under the cover of slapstick, cheap laughs, raunchy humor, gross-out physical comedy and sheer exploitation, Get Him to the Greek also is fundamentally a sound movie."^[12]

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film debuted at #2 behind Shrek Forever After with a gross of $17,570,955.^[13] The movie fell to fourth the following week with a weekend gross of $10,100,000. In the UK, Get Him to the Greek opened at #1 grossing £1,569,556 in its first week before dropping to #2 the following week with takings of £1,048,898. Get Him to the Greek had one of the best runs ever for a Rock n' Roll based comedy, second only to School of Rock. It has collected $60,974,475 in the United States and Canada as well as $27,400,000 overseas bringing its worldwide total to $88,374,475.^[2]

Home media

A 2-disc and 1-disc unrated and theatrical version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 28, 2010.

Music

Soundtrack

Get Him to the Greek: Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	June 1, 2010
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Universal Republic

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
allmusic	[14]
Pitchfork	[15]

Kim Garner, the senior vice president of marketing and artist development at Universal Republic said that Brand and Universal Pictures "felt very strongly about doing something like this as opposed to a traditional soundtrack," and that they "wanted to release it like we would an actual rock band's album."^[16]

The following songs were featured in the film, but not included in the soundtrack:

1. "And Ghosted Pouts (Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt)" by The Mars Volta
2. "London Calling" by The Clash
3. "Anarchy in the U.K." by The Sex Pistols
4. "20th Century Boy" by T.Rex
5. "Rocks Off" by The Rolling Stones
6. "Another Girl, Another Planet" by The Only Ones
7. "Strict Machine" by Goldfrapp
8. "Ghosts N Stuff" by Deadmau5 featuring Rob Swire
9. "Personality Crisis" by The New York Dolls
10. "Girls on the Dance Floor" by Far East Movement
11. "Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners
12. "Cretin Hop" by The Ramones
13. "Stop Drop and Roll" by Foxboro Hot Tubs
14. "Touch My Body" by Mariah Carey
15. "Love Today" by Mika
16. "Fuck Me I'm Famous" by DJ Dougal and Gammer
17. "What Planet You On" by Bodyrox featuring Luciana
18. "Inside of You" by Infant Sorrow (which was originally featured in Forgetting Sarah Marshall).
19. "Licky feat. Princess Superstar (Herve Remix)" by Larry Tee

References

External links

• Official website
• Get Him to the Greek at the Internet Movie Database
• Get Him to the Greek at Box Office Mojo
• Get Him to the Greek at Rotten Tomatoes
• Get Him to the Greek Production Notes