Michael Fassbender and
Domhnall Gleeson have been cast in
Lenny Abrahamson’s upcoming project,
Frank. The film is a comedy about a young wannabe musician by the name of Jon (Gleeson) who ends up joining forces with eccentric pop band led by Frank (Fassbender). The script has been penned by Peter Straughan and journalist Jon Ronson and seems to be based loosely around the life of Chris Sievey. He was an English musician and comedian who formed the band The Freshies and later performed as the character Frank Sidebottom.
Frank has been developed by Film4 who will also co-finance the film with the Irish Film Board (IFB). Chief Executive of the Irish Film Board, James Hickey, was delighted to announce the collaboration between the IFB, Element Pictures and Film4. He added, “Lenny is a great Irish filmmaker while Michael and Domhnall are exceptional world class Irish actors making this project a wonderful opportunity for the Irish Film Board to support Irish talent on the world stage.”
This project will mark the fourth feature film collaboration between Abrahamson and Element Pictures. Previously they have paired up for
Garage, which won the CICAE Prize in Cannes 2007, and
Adam & Paul which won Best Director award at the Irish Film and TV Awards. Abrahamson’s most recent film,
What Richard Did, is set to premiere at the Toronto Film festival in mid-September and is being released in Irish cinemas on October 5th.
Fassbender is certainly keeping busy these days and rarely seems to put a foot wrong. He recently finished filming a part in
12 Years A Slave and is currently in production on Ridley Scott's adaptation of
The Counselor alongside Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz. Gleeson made a name for himself in the Harry Potter films, but has recently finished shooting Richard Curtis’ new comedy
About Time. We are curious to see how this project shapes up and will be keeping a close eye on it.