I was so excited when I heard that Randall Miller was on board to direct a new film following the story of the New York club CBGB (undoubtedly the birth place of underground rock n roll). The excitement peaked a little bit more when I heard that the film had secured Malin Akerman to play Debbie Harry of Blondie but anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a massive Ramones fan so my main question, and the the cause of my greatest anticipation, was which actors would be chosen to portray my beloved punk band!?
The Ramones made their CBGB debut in August 1974 and reportedly played 74 times there in that year alone.As far as the history of CBGB then, I think they're pretty relevant. I know that lots of other punk, new wave and rock bands were helped by the club (and in turn helped it) and they are all going to be represented within the film but for now the purpose of this post is to look at the actors picked to play (at least) my favourite band from that era.
So who is it going to be?
Joel David Moore was first to be announced, probably because he's taking on the role of front man Joey Ramone. I remember Moore from Dodgeball but he's probably better known as Norm Spellman from Avatar. As far as the film is concerned I don't know much about how it is going to play out.I mean, is it going to feature performances? Are these guys expected to 'be' the band? Details are thin and far between so because of this it's difficult to comment on what to look out for. I do know (from a girly point of view) that Moore is a very good looking man and Joey well.... wasn't... so they're better be some make up involved.
Julian Acosta is playing guitarist Johnny Ramone who was one of the founding members of the band and also a cause of controversy within it. Acosta isn't known to me but I am led to believe that he has been fairly big on American television. Again, I don't know if he is going to be expected to play the guitar but the Ramones sound was pretty D.I.Y and simple, that said their live performance were known for being VERY fast and that takes some talent.
Now, Dee Dee Ramone was always my favourite. I saw him as the driving force behind the band, he played bass and he released a rap album in the 80's (I know that bit isn't relevant) so when I heard that Steven Schub (who I instantly recognised from the TV series 24 and Scrubs) I wanted to know more about him. I must admit that of all the above actors Schub bares the most resemblance to the band member he's playing but that's not the be all and end all is it so when I started digging a bit more, I thought a casting mistake had been made.
Let me explain, from what I gather Schub is Jewish (or at the very least has massive Jewish connections) - just like Joey Ramone. Schub was born and spent a lot of his teenage life in New York - just like Joey Ramone. And... Schub has founded and sang in punk bands - (all together now) just like Joey Ramone!
Oh I don't know, maybe I am reading too much into it, I'm no casting director that's for sure. However, if you wanna check out one of Schub's bands you can do here - they're actually quite good.
There is a fourth member of this band, the Drummer and although there has been a few line up changes , during 1974 that would have been Hungarian born Tommy Ramone but as yet there's been no news as to the actor stepping into his shoes.. I do have my ear to the ground though and will update with news (and any more snippets of interest about the film's release as and when I get them.
In the meantime I'll leave you with the mighty Ramones grinding their way through Cretin Hop live at CBGB
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