Russell Brand In 'Rock Of Ages': Director Confirms Casting

Russell Brand To Rock With Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin

It's official: Russell Brand is set to rock out.

"Rock of Ages" director Adam Shankman took to Twitter to confirm that Brand, long in negotiations for the role, will play Lonny, rock venue owner and narrator, in the big screen adaptation of the hit 1980's, LA rock club-set Broadway show.

"I can officially announce Russell Brand as your Lonny in #rockofagesmovie ! I see a mullet in his future...maybe a Nikki Six?" Shankman tweeted.

Brand joins an already star studded cast. He'll sing a duet of an REO Speedwagon song with Alec Baldwin, who will play Dennis Dupree, a washed up rocker and club owner. Tom Cruise this winter was cast to play megastar Stacee Jaxx, Julianne Hough will play the young, naive singer new to LA, and Mary J. Blige will also be in the film. Amy Adams was in talks to play a journalist who falls for Jaxx. However, Deadline reports that thanks to her casting in "Man of Steel," Adams will be unable to join.

Brand has played a rock star before, in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and its spinoff, "Get Him To The Greek," and has the perfect appearance for the role, but off screen, he's done with that lifestyle. A longtime drug addict, he recently spoke about his recovery with Details Magazine, giving quite a visual of what his addiction felt like.

"To me, the gravity is heroin, and then death. You know, to sleep," he said, "that incremental suicide of turning your life into a dream, to make being awake as similar to sleep as possible. Drowsily, lazily, dry-mouth your way through the day's ceremonies, fumble your way back into the dew-bather you never really left, draped in brown, brown now all around, the haze!"

The news should serve as a boost for Brand; while his animated family friendly Easter film, "Hop," just took the box office number one spot for the second weekend in a row, his starring vehicle, "Arthur," flopped to a number three opening weekend.

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