steve coogan

7:12AM STV | And Your Host, Steve Coogan: The British comic who vied with Rainn Wilson for August’s Worst Flop honours today took Wilson’s old job hosting the Independent Spirit Awards on Feb. 21. Not quite what we’d call a huge step up for the organisers, but, said Spirit Awards executive producer Diana Zahn-Storey in a statement, “He’s a brilliant actor and comedian whose style and accent will bring an international flair to the event.” In other words, Ricky Gervais turned them down. [The Envelope] More »

Steve Coogan or Rainn Wilson: Who Had the Worse Weekend?

3:00AM STV | It’s probably asking a lot for a Monday, but pretend for just a second that you’re Focus Features, Universal’s mini-major offshoot and the folks who last January made the single biggest buy in the history of the Sundance Film Festival: Hamlet 2, which sneaked into Park City at the last minute and left 10 days later with lukewarm (at best) reviews and a check for $11 million. So imagine your signature was on that check, and imagine how much weight you’ll lose this week as your appetite plunges with Hamlet 2’s box-office prospects: $435,000 on 103 screens, averaging $4,223 per for one of the most profound festival flops of the decade — not to mention the film that bumps Steve Coogan back to ensemble/supporting-class in American movies. More »

The Breakout Star Of Sundance 2008 Is … Steve Coogan?

5:18AM Defamer Hollywood | Last we heard from Steve Coogan, Courtney Love (of all people) was throwing him under the bus for being a bad influence on Owen Wilson. But now that Hamlet 2 has sold for a whopping (and probably ludicrous) $US10 million to Focus Features at Sundance, Steve Coogan has officially rebounded from scoundrel to star status. While it may be too early to proclaim him to be the next Mr. Bean (who, by our humble estimation, is the last British comedian to break here Stateside), his starring role in what may turn out to be this year’s Park City standout can’t do anything but help raise the British comedian’s rep from the murky depths of tabloid hell. More »

Steve Coogan Finally Gets His Breakthrough Moment As Owen Wilson’s Enabler

7:00AM Defamer Hollywood | At the height of Owen Wilson’s very public personal crisis, Courtney Love uncharacteristically offered up her own, highly opinionated views on the topic – suicide and hard drugs being two subjects that run, pun only partially intended, deeply in her veins. Suspecting she knew exactly who and what led Wilson to his act of desperation, the singer told Us magazine that the culprit was Steve Coogan: A far bigger star in the U.K. than in the U.S., Coogan gained fame overseas for his TV portrayal of dim-bulbed newsman Alan Partridge. (In this clip, he fittingly admits he has no idea who Kurt Cobain is, and is baffled over why he might have taken his own life.) Coogan and Love had a brief affair, which was rumoured to have caused a pregnancy, but that thankfully produced no illegitimate children – between Love’s body dysmorphia and Coogan’s English dental genes, the kid never stood a chance. More »

Owen Wilson: It’s Kate’s Fault! No, It’s The Royal Tenenbaums’ Fault! NO, It’s Steve Coogan’s!!

10:33AM Clem Bastow | As we all continue to clutch at straws regarding Owen Wilson’s recent misfortune, now Courtney Love has spoken out in support of Wilson – and reckons it’s all Steve Coogan’s fault. Glad to have cleared it up at last! Coogan and Wilson appeared together in A Night At The Museum and apparently became party buddies, to the dismay of Kate Hudson – and, evidently, Courtney, who thinks Coogan’s hard-living ways are to blame. While Coogan’s peeps have already released a statement rebutting Love’s comments, the Mail reckons Love isn’t alone in her thoughts: Wilson’s friends have privately placed the blame for Owen’s problems squarely on Coogan, who has battled his own demons. The comedian, who starred alongside Wilson in several films, has admitted to drug-taking and being a serial womaniser – traits which his new friend has also been accused of. All we need now in this sorry saga is for the Scientologists to come out and offer their support to Owen (whilst having a jab at the psychiatry he is no doubt receiving) and for Owen to be interviewed by Barbara Walters, and we’ll be able to sleep happily and soundly. More »