At the end of last year, director Randall Miller and writer Jody Savin — the duo behind the 2008 wine world comedy “Bottle Shock” — announced they had begun development on two music centered movies. The first was an untitled film about the early days of American punk rock centered around the famed club CBGBs, while the other was “The Drummer: The Story of Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys,” which should be fairly self explanatory. The plan was for the CBGBs to go in front of the cameras first over the summer, but as things usually go in Hollywood, plans change and it now looks like the latter movie will gear up instead.
In what is definitely an interesting choice, Variety reports that Aaron Eckhart will take the lead playing Dennis Wilson in “The Drummer.” Little did we know, but apparently Eckhart has some singing chops which helped land him the part in what will certainly be a different side from than actor than we’re used to seeing. Tough quite as famous as his brothers, but the late drummer and songwriter led a very interesting and tragic life. He briefly rolled with Charles Manson, battled an alcohol addiction and released a single, critically acclaimed solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, which has become a cult favourite. He died at the age of 39, drowning in Marina Del Rey after a day of drinking.
It’s certainly going to be a very interesting 2012 for Eckhart. He’ll start off the year lurching around in “I, Frankenstein” before moving onto “The Drummer” which will start lensing in the late summer/early spring. And oh yeah, Eckhart won’t be lip-syncing either, as he’ll record his own renditions of Wilson’s tunes, which the filmmakers have secured the rights to. So yeah, we’re definitely curious about this one. Listen to Wilson below and then close your eyes, and now picture Eckhart doing it. Yeah, we don’t see it either, but we’re willing to be convinced.