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Dan Higgins talks to Russell Brand about Forgetting Sarah Marshall and his new found fame stateside

Did you work out for the film?
I tried to get a bit more fit, the script justified nipples.

Would you have played Jason Segal’s role?
With the willy out? Yeah. If people wanted to see it.

Do you marvel at his confidence?
Well there was a technique employed before the revelation. I did that… I was well into the fluffing.

How much of the role is you?
Well it’s similar, in a way, to me because of things like “ooh, I’m an alcoholic” and “ooh, I like to have it off”. You tend to get people similar to the roles you want them to play.

How much licence did you have over your own dialogue?
Loads! They let me ad-lib. Like the bit where Sarah is having a go at me and and I went “Yeah, well I f*cked the housekeeper”.

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Sandra Omo recounts the experience of winning a major contest

The joy of winning – whatever it may be – is unexplainable to someone who has never experienced it. If you have ever won anything, even as little as a penny, then you have an idea of what I am talking about right here. It is not the prize that brings the joy, although this does play a huge role, especially when there are opportunities in it as in my case right now. Rather, it is the fact that you have emerged the best in whatever it is you competed for. Is this not what life is all about: trying to be the best at work, school or home?

“I remember a few drops of tears flowing down my cheeks as I returned backstage”

After winning this competition, I reckon it is easier to be excited for a win you did not expect than for one you have always hoped for. It is not that I wasn’t happy when I was announced the Nigerian Model of the Year, it was rather a feeling of calm and ‘so I finally won’. Read the rest of this article »

Katie discovers that despite being famous, celebrities have feelings nonetheless

Five minutes into the conversation it’s already become apparent that Clarissa Dickson Wright doesn’t like Jamie Oliver. I’m pleased.

As the fat lady launches into a a vitriolic attack on the cockney wide boy, I sit back and take notes. Smiling.

It’s par for the course when talking to a celebrity to see if you can get them to slag off another one. Boris, what do you think of Ken? Cameron, what do you reckon to Brown?

“We turned them down – I think supermarkets are the Antichrist, and Jamie is a sell-out”

Kate, what’s up with Naomi? But usually it’s never this easy. Clarissa DW is sitting in the corner at a book awards party. And she is reading a book. Read the rest of this article »

Dani is dealing with demons from the past that should be laid to rest

When I was at secondary school a friend of mine died.
It was self inflicted.
At the time, I didn’t really feel anything about it.
We had kind of drifted apart and were not as close as we had been.
But all I can remember about that time was that I felt nothing. A simple shrug would have described how I felt at that time.
It wasn’t numbness. When you feel numb you have to be able to feel to feel the numbness. But I felt absolutely nothing. Well, not so much nothing. But as if nothing had happened.
I didn’t cry.
But now I feel guilty.
I should have gone to the funeral.
I should have cried.
But I didn’t.
I cannot recall when this guilty feeling caught up with me. Or why. But it did and I have thought about it nearly every day since.
When somebody dies, there is very little that can be done about it.
That is just a fact.
We have to learn to deal with it, and understand that no amount of kicking and screaming can ever change it.

“When somebody dies, there is very little that can be done about it. We have to learn to deal with it“

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