To take on a movie about the legendary punk club CBGB, it must be a difficult casting call to decide who portrays so many iconic musicians and influential people.
While Alan Rickman was announced early on as CBGB founder, Hilly Kristal, a whole slew of actors are now set with roles and there are some interesting choices.
Some major players in the CBGB cast include Mickey Summer (The Bordias) as the androgynous, “Godmother of Punk†Patti Smith, Joel David Moore (Avatar) as frontman Joey Ramone, and the Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins as punk legend Iggy Pop.
This is Hawkins first significant acting role, and he most likely was casted for his resemblance to the Stooges rocker in his prime.
Other important figures chosen are Malin Akerman as Debbie Harry of Blondie, Rubert Grint (Harry Potter) as guitarist Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys, Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory) as Television’s manager Terry Ork, and Peter Vack (I Just Want my Pants Back) as famed journalist Legs McNeil.
Steven Schub and Julian Acosta will portray Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone, Evan Alex Cole is set for punk innovator Richard Hell, and Estelle Harris will star as Kristal’s mother, Bertha.
Jody Savin, co-writer and one of the film’s producers, described the importance of the venue and its history to Billboard in 2011, “It was an old-fashioned salon in an awful part of New York where people could fail while they worked to find their voice,†adding how Kristal “provided a voice to the disenfranchised. It’s a heroic and flawed story.â€
No word yet if and who will get casted as Television frontman Tom Verlaine or the Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, two other musical pioneers to emerge from the club. No doubt, however, some other eccentric characters and actors will be announced soon.
This article originally appeared on AllMediaNy.com
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