Reel Movie News

Romany Malco Speaks on The Love Guru

While Jessica Alba, Mike Myers and Justin Timberlake have received most of the publicity for The Love Guru, let's not forget about Romany Malco.

The Weeds and 40-Year Old Virgin star enjoys a prominent role in the film, as well. He recently talked to SI.com about the comedy:

SI: What was the biggest highlight of making this movie?

Malco: Playing a hockey star was the biggest highlight. Wait, no, I can't say that. I think working with Justin Timberlake was the biggest highlight. He was really funny. You expect to say, OK, he's a singer so we give him a little bit of a grace period because...well, he's a singer trying to act. But no, he was actually good. He's actually better than most actors.

Romany Malco

Getting to play a hockey player was definitely a highlight because, the minute I found out about the job, I rented every video of hockey I could find and I trained for about six hours a day.

[Another highlight] was hanging out with the hockey players who were in the movie. We showered together, we hung out together, we got into fights together, we pulled pranks together, we did everything together. I really, really feel as though being around that energy gave me a sense of who these hockey players really are.

Reel Movie Reviews: The Love Guru

Trying to decide which comedy to see this weekend, Get Smart or The Love Guru? You can check out the movie reviews for the former now.

As for The Love Guru, Mike Myers' return vehicle from a self-imposed exile? Let's just say critics are far, far from in love with it...

- Offensive, revolting and jawdropingly awful from beginning to end, a complete and total piece of Singularly Horrid Infantile Trash (TM)... -- ComingSoon.net

- The Love Guru is so relentlessly juvenile as to merit a new twist on the PG-13 rating - one that strongly cautions not only those under 13 but anyone much above it, too... -- Variety

The Love Guru Picture

- Myers wants us all to love him, wants us all to be in on his jokes. But love and laughs are earned, not given just because you mug for the camera behind a wild wig and beard... -- Associated Press

- Not only does the film stumble badly from one skit to another, the skits themselves have too much dead air... -- Hollywood Reporter

Verne Troyer Talks on The Love Guru

Verne Troyer, better known as "Mini-Me" from the Austin Powers franchise, appears alongside Mike Myers again in The Love Guru.

The diminutive actor recently sat down with MoviesOnline to discuss the role:

MoviesOnline: You must have a fantastic relationship with Mike Myers?
Verne Troyer: Yeah. I guess so. It's fun to do the films that he asks me to do. If Mike Myers calls and asks you to do a film, you're going to say yes.

A Small Role

Verne Troyer in The Love Guru.

MoviesOnline: There were a lot more of the little jokes in this particular movie. Were you a little bit worried about how much they were making fun of your size?
Verne Troyer: No. It's a movie. It's comedy. Entertainment. If you don't like it, I'm sorry. It doesn't bother me. If that were to happen in the outside world, depending on the tone or how they said it, it might offend me a little bit. But, like I say, it's a movie and it's there to entertain people.

MoviesOnline: You get to talk in this one. As Mini-Me, you didn't. Were you really happy when you read the script? Did you go "Ooooh, dialogue!"?
Verne Troyer: Yeah, I was. It wasn't like I hadn't done anything with speaking lines before. I have. I've done a bunch. Just being in this big movie, everybody is going to see that he can actually speak.

Justin Timberlake Talks The Love Guru

Many teenage girls would likely say it's appropriate for Justin Timberlake to star in The Love Guru, considering the effect he has on them on a daily basis. (i.e. He's hot!)

With that in mind, MoviesOnline recently talked with the singer/actor:

MoviesOnline: What do you think Mike Myers saw in you that made him think you could pull this off?
Justin Timberlake: I can't say, really. I would assume that my interaction with Mike promoting Shrek the Third and probably most likely my couple of stints on SNL let Mike know that I could play the part.

Jacques Grande

MoviesOnline: Did he just send you the script or did he call you up and describe it to you?
Justin Timberlake: He called first and then he sent the script and our conversation went something like, "Hey, I want you to come play the villain in this new movie I'm working on. I've been, you know, workshopping the character." I don't know if you guys know Mike's process, but it's pretty amazing, right? I wish I would have gotten to workshop Jacques Grande. That was pretty amazing. Now he's just going to be too famous. I'm not going to be able to show up and do it.

MoviesOnline: Did you work on the accent? Did you have a dialect coach?
Justin Timberlake: Both. Yes. I figured the best way to do it was to get the accent down proper. And so I got the accent down proper and then when we got to set, for the first couple of days that I was on set, I just kept the dialect coach with me, and said, "You have to help me find ways to milk this."

Because we're in a Mike Myers film, okay, so we have to be funny." I didn't think about it, somebody just pointed this out to me, I'm the only other caricature really in the film. I mean, between Mike and myself, everybody else plays it kind of straight. But we are the antagonists in the film. I'm the other guy who's basically in a clown suit.

Deepak Chopra Addresses Critics of The Love Guru

Deepak Chopra has a response to Hindus that oppose Mike Myers' depiction of self-help guru Pitka in The Love Guru: Simmer down.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the best-selling author and spiritual teacher is defending the comedy - in which Myers plays an aspiring self-help guru that aims to achieve Chopra's level of popularity. Chopra posted an essay online in response to those in the Hindu community who claim The Love Guru is offensive, mocking tenets of their faith.

Pitka

Deepak Chopra approves of Pitka.

"The premature outcry against the movie is itself religious propaganda," Chopra wrote, noting that the protesters based their views on the film's brief trailer. "As viewers will find out when the movie is released this summer, no one is more thoroughly skewered in it than I am - you could even say that I am made to seem preposterous."

Chopra obviously doesn't mind, though; he even makes a cameo appearance in the film.

The author said he and Myers have been friends for 15 years. Myers wrote the foreword to Chopra's latest book, "Why is God Laughing?" It explores the relationship between comedy and spirituality.

During a period of depression, Myers has said he discovered Chopra's books and videos and began imitating his accent. Myers tried out his new character in New York comedy clubs and - presto! - The Love Guru was born.

Pitka Guest Stars on American Idol

Adam Sandler appeared in a commercial for the NBA Playoffs a few weeks ago, in an attempt to hype his movie You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

Mike Myers, though, took self-promotion a step further this week: he starred in a segment on the American Idol finale. Dressed as the character of Pitka from The Love Guru, the actor attempted to shave eventually winner David Cook. He was unsuccessful.

American Idol Guest Star

A New Poster for The Love Guru

It's hard to figure out the funniest part of this new poster for The Love Guru.

Is it Mike Myers, dressed up as yet another ridiculous character? Verne Troyer, re-joining his Austin Powers co-star? Or Justin Timberlake looking like, well, a 1970s porn star?

You tell us!

Another Love Guru Poster

New Photos from The Love Guru

Our thanks to MoviesOnline for the following photos.

They're taken from Mike Myers' first on-screen role in five years, The Love Guru. And the beauty standing next to him in one of the folllowing shots? Only FHM's second most sexy woman in the world, according to a recent poll: Jessica Alba.

As Wayne Campbell would say: Schwing!

Pitka and Friend

A Little Help

The Love Guru Cameos: Revealed!

In this day and age of Internet buzz and gossip, it's difficult to keep any movie cameo a secret. So the makes of The Love Guru have found out.

The June 20th comedy features Mike Myers as the character of meditative self-help guru Pitka. He's hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs to settle the romantic difficulties of the hockey team's star player.

Pitka

One surprise costar in the movie has now revealed to MTV the appearance of another: Jessica Simpson.

"When she needs help she comes to the love guru, Mike," said Verne Troyer, who plays a diminutive, mean-spirited hockey coach in the flick. "I don't want to tell you every one of [the cameos], but you're going to be surprised."

Although the actor formerly known as "Mini Me" in the Austin Powers franchise was eager to reunite with Myers, Troyer said that the day of Simpsons' cameo may have been the most difficult one he's ever spent on a set.

"That one day we had Jessica Simpson there, it was difficult for me and every other guy," he said, not needing to elaborate on why.

Mike Myers Talks About The Love Guru

USA Today has an exclusive first look at the latest Mike Myers' inspired comedy, The Love Guru.

The film, which also stars Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake and Ben Kingsley, features Myers as Pitka, an American left as a child at the gates of an ashram in India. Pitka becomes a self-help guru who tries to smooth the marital rift of a hockey star and his wife.

The Love Guru

Myers, a native of Ontario, says he wrote the film because of his interests in Eastern philosophy and hockey. But he isn't the type to zip out a script the moment an idea hits.

"I enjoy having the Lamaze birthing process of it," says Myers, who also authored the Wayne's World and Austin Powers franchises. "It usually takes me three, 3½ years in between characters."

Why so long? The actor very protective of his original live-action characters.

"I've written and created everything I've done, and it takes me a year to reflect on what I've done, a year to let the idea incubate and a year to create" a new character.

This time around, that included playing a philosopher of Eastern religion in New York and Los Angeles, where some unsuspecting passersby sought advice from Myers, who never broke from character.

"They asked some very spiritual and deep questions," he says. "It's been fascinating combining comedy with a nice life-affirming message."

So, will The Love Guru be a hit? Don't ask Myers. He didn't expect his two most famous alter-egos to be so loved.

"When I did Wayne's World, I thought you had to grow up in my neighborhood to get it," he says. "When I did Austin, I thought you had to grow up in my house to get it, because my parents are from Liverpool. But I've been very lucky to create things people have liked, so I have to stay true to the things that interest me."

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