This year the MTV VMAs returned to L.A. for the first time in a decade and the production’s placement on the Paramount lot turned up some interesting collaborations. The group behind the forthcoming Judd Apatow produced, “Get Him to the Greek,” which is set to star VMA host Russell Brand and Britney Spears collaborator Jonah Hill, are doing pre-production work on the same lot and decided to take advantage of access to some the female musicians by shooting vignettes with them that can be inserted into the film.
The Apatow crew did some guerrilla style shoots of staged paparazzi chases at locations on the Paramount lot with Pink, Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera. Reportedly, Apatow’s crew and Brand himself were personally asking the ladies for 15 minutes here and there to shoot, causing a bit of havoc with VMA rehearsal times, but since everyone made it to the show and didn’t fall down or forget the words during their performances I guess it all worked out fine.
They also hit the red carpet the day of the awards show to interview some of the bigger name artists about Brand for potential use the movie – the speculation is that’s for the credit roll, but since actual production is so far out who knows how those dice will roll.
“Get Him to the Greek” is to be a spin-off of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” that focuses entirely on Brand’s over the top rock star character Aldous Snow. Variety have previously reported that Jonah Hill will not reprise his sycophant waiter character from ‘Sarah Marshall.’ Instead he’s an “out of college insurance adjuster hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star (Brand) from London to a gig at L.A.’s Greek Theater.”