Russell Brand has an interview in the April issue of Details, likely to promote his starring role in the Arthur remake. The Details piece doesn’t really have any new information or scandalous quotes, because that’s not really who Russell is trying to be at this point. The point of the article is that Russell – with this remake of Arthur and his marriage to a pop star – is aiming for complete mainstream American acceptance. He wants to be Dudley Moore, he wants to be Tom Hanks, he wants to be accepted by everyone. It’s a pretty good read – the full piece is here, and here are some highlights:

On his marriage to Katy: “at once the most mundane and spectacular thing in the world.” “There are a lot of areas where I’ve simply relinquished decision-making. It really does make my mates laugh, though.”

More about marriage and how it‘s changed him: “Because now I have something to protect, and it is very odd indeed. There are a lot of things you have to amend to be in a monogamous relationship. I’ve had to readdress everything and start buying deck furniture. On the Titanic. Avoiding the constant icebergs. In the end, putting snowshoes on the bottom of it?”

On his tabloid-fueled rocker-sex-god persona: “Well, it seems obvious that to turn myself into a character—incredibly theatrical and rock-and-roll and languid and sexualized—was to emphasize areas where I was confident, to draw the eye from the obvious deficit of a man only just getting over being a junkie. I’ve very confident in the physical manifestation of a rocker. And there are aphorisms I still deem tight: the carnal self is the true self. In that barbaric, marauding period of promiscuity, there was a type of Aleister Crowley ‘Do what thou wilt’ as the sum of the law. That voice you use when you come? I was using it to perform. Not some distant, attic-dwelling emotion brought out occasionally, like a front room you never use except when the vicar visits. I was in there f-cking all the time.”

On coping with addiction: “The only way to cope is with a program. If you stop doing recovery, even eating too much chocolate, something will flare up, and I know where that leads, because I’ve been there before. To me, gravity is heroin, and then death.”

[From Details]

He talks about Katy and their marriage quite a bit, and I still feel… like it’s going to end up in disaster. I don’t think Katy and Russell really have the same goals in life, or for their marriage, and I think Russell is more in love with the idea that he’s a changed man rather than being in love with his wife. Plus, I feel very strongly that Russell’s true love is Dame Helen Mirren.

Photos courtesy of Details.