Aside from a cameo in Wim Wenders’ “Million Dollar Hotel” and a strange appearance looking almost identical to Robin Williams in “Across the Universe,” U2 frontman Bono has thankfully refrained from any major acting ambitions. But with the upcoming comedy “Killing Bono,” he’s set to be the center of a movie for the first time.
Based on British music journalist Neil McCormick’s memoir “I Was Bono’s Doppleganger,” “Killing Bono” follows Neil and Ivan McCormick (Ben Barnes, from “Prince Caspian,” and Robert Sheehan), two brothers who form a band together, but are consistently overshadowed by their classmates, who go on to form U2. The film’s already wrapped, and Paramount International have just picked up the film for distribution in the UK and Ireland later in the year, and have revealed some further details on the supporting cast, which includes Krysten Ritter (“She’s Out Of My League”), Pete Postlethwaite (“The Usual Suspects”), Luke Treadaway (“Brothers of the Head”), Ralph Brown (“Withnail & I”) and Peter Serafinowicz (“Couples Retreat”). Irish actor Martin McCann (“Clash of the Titans”) will play the young Bono.
We’re not really U2 fans here, but it’s an interesting premise, and the cast is very strong — we’re particularly excited to say Robert Sheehan get a lead role. The Northern Irish actor is best known as traumatized rent-boy BJ in the “Red Riding” trilogy, and as the lead in excellent British superhero series “Misfits” — he’s got charisma to spare, and is likely to be massive within the next few years. Whether “Killing Bono,” is the film to do it, remains to be seen. “Killing Bono” will most likely hit the UK and Ireland later this year, though there is no U.S. distributor in place at this time.