Randall Miller(Bottle Shock) is putting together an odd assortment of characters to play...well, an odd assortment of characters in his punk rock biopic, CBGB. With Malin Akerman, Alan Rickman, Rupert Grint, and Joel David Moore set to play punk rock fixtures of the New York City night club, three more have come aboard that help solidify this as one of the most interesting casts being assembled right now.
The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki has joined the film, taking on the role of manager Terry Ork, who helped found the influential rock band, Television. More interestingly, Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters has come aboard as mercurial rock music icon, Iggy Pop. Iggy has had minor roles in a number of movies(he's great in Coffee & Cigarettes), but portrayals of him have been few and far between. The last I can remember was by Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine as a version of Iggy Pop.
Lastly, Mickey Sumner, probably best known for being Sting's daughter, will play Patti Smith, the rocker and leader of the The Patti Smith Group, famously referred to by Mick Jagger as a "poser of the worst kind". She gave the final performance ever at the CBGB in October 2006, an epic 3 1/2 hour show before the doors were closed down for good.
As great as this movie sounds right now, I hope there isn't too much reverence for the time period or the genre. As with any art form that claims to be "counter culture", there is always that point where it becomes mainstream and cliched, and punk rock definitely falls into that category. It happened to my beloved hip hop as well, and many of the movies I've seen on it have tried to ignore that aspect of it. Filming on CBGB begins later this month.
