Russell Brand skips SXSW appearance over uncomfortable-to-watch biography

AUSTIN, Texas, March 13 (UPI) -- Actor Russell Brand said in a blog post Thursday he was canceling his appearance at the SXSW premiere of the documentary BRAND: A Second Coming.

Brand, 39, is the subject of the picture which has been in production for the past seven years under the same number of directors. Director Ondi Timoner eventually took over the reigns of the film and said Friday she predicted the actor would likely back out of the premiere.

"He watched it and he had a hard time -- really hard time with it," she told IndieWire Friday. "I really wanted him to be at peace with this film, but I don't know if he'll ever really be at peace with it. It's so raw and so personal and he's never let anything like this out before."

In the post about his non-attendance Brand stated his involvement with the project began when he was a "newly recovering junkie sinking my teeth into succulent transatlantic fame," but now that he has transitioned "into a man who, whilst still a show-off, was becoming disillusioned and disconnected from fame" watching his life in retrospect is not as appealing as it once seemed.

"I suppose what I didn't consider was that in letting go of the film, I was agreeing to be the subject of a biography," Brand wrote in his blog post.

"Posthumously this is a great honor but while you're alive, oddly intrusive and melancholy. You'd think a narcissist would like nothing more than talking about themselves and their 'rags to riches,' 'hard luck' story but actually, it felt like, to me, my life was hard enough the first time round and going through it again was painful and sad. I know Ondi is an artist and I'm told the film is good."

Brand also apologized to the SXSW organizers for his non-attendance.

The 2015 SXSW Film Festival kicks off Friday night with BRAND: A Second Coming, a documentary that offers a candid view at the Get Him to the Greek actor's life over the last few years.