It’s almost hard to remember Ben Kingsley once had a career so notable that it was a shock when he didn’t win awards. Sadly, his days of Gandhi and Schindler’s List type performances seem to be gone. I can’t tell if he’s trying to have fun with the later part of his career and using that to guide his role selection or if he’s just taking any part that comes along, but whatever the reason, the lower quality trend continues as Kingsley joins the cast of the new Mike Myers comedy, The Love Guru.
Actually, that’s not fair. Despite repetitive gags and the reuse of jokes that proved successful in previous franchises, there’s no way The Love Guru could be worse than Bloodrayne or The Last Legion. Mike Myers may have his downfalls, but at least he provides something interesting in his movies most of the time.
Kingsley will play the mentor for Myers’s Love Guru, a character called Guru Tugginmypudha, who teaches Myers how to love himself and wear a chastity belt, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hmm, maybe I spoke too soon about the movie not being worse than an Uwe Boll flick.
Also joining the cast is Meagan Good, and the latest sensation from The Daily Show, John Oliver, who will play Dick Pants, a manager who aims to get Myers's Love Guru on Oprah in order to settle a rivalry with Deepak Chopra. I’m really hoping Chopra doesn’t follow in Kingsley’s footsteps and put in an appearance.
Previously announced members of the cast include Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, and, of course, Mike Myers, who also co-wrote the story. Presumably he’ll need that writing credit to account for the amount of unscripted material that will wind up in the final cut. I’m betting there will be some joke about The Love Guru being stuck in a nutshell. Why not, it’s worked for Wayne and Austin Powers.
The Love Guru starts filming Friday with a scheduled (but not necessarily anticipated) June 20th release date.
