The Randall Miller written/directed indie film CBGB is shaping up to have a pretty solid looking cast, with Malin Akerman recently brought on board to join Alan Rickman and Rupert Grint in the film, which tells the story of the legendary New York music venue. And now it looks like one of the stars of CBS' The Big Bang Theory is set to join the cast.
CBGB was a club in New York City, which played host to some notable bands during the start of the American punk rock and new wave music scene back in the mid-70's. Malin Akerman has been brought on board to play Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry, while Alan Rickman will play CBGB owner Hilly Kristal. And Rickman's former Harry Potter co-star Rupert Grint is on board to play Dead Boys' guitarist Cheetah Chrome. The latest bit of casting news for the film, according toDeadline, is that Johnny Galecki has signed on to play band manager Terry Ork.
It should be interesting to see how Galecki portrays the role of a band manager in the film, and whether there's any comedy involved in the role, considering that seems to be his area of expertise as an actor. While he's currently known for his starring role as Leonard Hofstadter in The Big Bang Theory, there are likely to be many of us who will always associate him with David, his character from Roseanne. And going back even further, if Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold were to yell "Russ!" loudly enough, Galecki might be among the guys to answer the call (see also: Anthony Michael Hall, Ethan Embry and Jason Lively).
On a somewhat related note, Galecki isn't the only Big Bang Theory star to land a feature role recently. Earlier today, we shared the news that TBBT's Melissa Rauch was set to join the cast of You Are Here.
Dave Grohl, lead singer of the Foo Fighters and former drummer for Nirvana, has been known to dabble in acting. While he's never had a starring role or even anything that could really being considered a supporting role, he took part in movies like The Muppets (where he played the Animal replacement in The Moopets) and Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny (where he played Satan). Now one of his bandmates is getting in on the whole Hollywood thing as well.
According to THR, Taylor Hawkins, who serves as the drummer for the Foo Fighters, has been cast as Iggy Pop in the punk documentary CBGB. The indie film, which is being directed and co-written by Randall Miller, follows Hilly Kristal (Alan Rickman) as he opens the now-famous New York music club and nurtures some of the biggest music acts in history to stardom. It was previously reported that Johnny Galecki, Mickey Sumner, Malin Akerman, Joel David Moore, Stana Katic and Rupert Grint are part of the cast as well and the trade says that in addition Hawkins other casting announcements include Steven Schub as Dee Dee Ramone; Evan Alex Cole as Richard Hell; Peter Vack as Legs McNeil; and Kerry Bische as Mary Harron.
Iggy Pop, of course, was the lead singer of The Stooges and one of the biggest icons to come out of the 70s punk music scene. CBGB will be Hawkins first time acting in a film.
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