{alltv} Isaiah 'Old Spice' Mustafa won't make 'Community's' Shirley happy, can't talk 'Madea'

Back in April, Old Spice commercial star Isaiah Mustafa Skyped himself from his bathroom onto "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and learned quite unexpectedly from director Tyler Perry, a guest in the studio, that he'd landed a job in an upcoming Perry flick.

Despite initial reports that the part was in Perry's movie version of Ntozake Shange's play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf," Mustafa is actually doing a part in the movie version of Perry's own play, "Madea's Happy Family."

Some reports say Mustafa -- who rocketed to fame in the surreal Old Spice ad campaign that has featured him in a towel, on a horse and on a motorcycle in a hot tub -- is playing "the brother-in-law," but Mustafa himself is mum on the details.

Sitting in the set for the Buy More big-box electronics store while shooting a guest role in the second season-four episode of NBC's spy caper "Chuck," which premieres Monday, Sept. 20 -- and sporting, instead of a towel, a Kelly green Buy More polo shirt -- Mustafa reveals that he's not allowed to reveal anything about "Madea."

"I'm not allowed to say anything," he says, not quite in the rolling baritone he uses in the ads.

Asked why not, Mustafa says, "Your guess is as good as mine. Perry's movies are awesome. He's got a niche, and it works, He's doing it. He's pretty great. But that's off the record. I can't talk about it.

"Perry specifically said, 'Don't talk about what you're doing.' So I said, 'I won't talk about it.' Sorry, guys!"

Apparently this is a problem that Mustafa has run into before.

"I get in trouble for saying stupid stuff," he says, "because I don't think it's as crazy. Then people are like, 'You shouldn't say that!' I'm like, 'What? No one told me.'

"I did that with Old Spice, too. Right before the commercial came out, they were like, 'You can't talk about the commercial.' Then someone said [later], 'You're doing a second commercial, right?' I'm like, 'Yes.' Then they're like, 'You're talking about it!' 'No, I didn't. Do you want me to lie and say "No," then it comes out?'

"And they're like, 'Uh ...'"

yvette-nicole-brown-isaiah-mustafa-comic-con-2010-large-gi.jpg Since Mustafa has a talent deal with NBC, there has been speculation that he might drop into the Thursday-night comedy "Community," as a new love interest for student and single mom Shirley, played by Yvette Nicole Brown.

There's even a Facebook page devoted to bringing Mustafa on for Shirley, and Brown and Mustafa have been known to tweet back and forth on Twitter.

But when asked recently about the possibility, "Community" executive producer Dan Harmon let the hammer fall.

"Oh, enough with that," he says. "Yeah, I've had it with her. She's trying to order a human being like a pizza. I have plans for Shirley that Yvette may not like. I want to dimensionalize that character, which involves hitting her with a meat tenderizer. I want to see what's inside there.

"She's not going to like it, Yvette. It's not going to involve her just sleeping with Isaiah Mustafa. It's going to be hard going for that character this year."