Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson and Lenny Abrahamson will attend the European Premiere of ‘Frank’ tonight, Thursday April 24, at the Light House Cinema, Smithfield.
Irish director Abrahamson’s follows up his award-winning films ‘Adam & Paul’, ‘Garage’ and ‘What Richard Did’ with an offbeat comedy about a young wannabe musician, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), who finds himself out of his depth when he joins an avant-garde pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Michael Fassbender), a musical genius who hides himself inside a large fake head, and his terrifying bandmate Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
Written by Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare At Goats) and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Men Who Stare At Goats), ‘Frank’ is based on the memoir by Ronson. It is a fictional story loosely inspired by Frank Sidebottom, the persona of cult musician and comedy legend Chris Sievey, as well as other outsider musicians like Daniel Johnston and Captain Beefheart.
The feature is an Element Pictures/Runaway Fridge production for Protagonist Pictures, Film4, BFI and the Irish Film Board (and received funding from the latter three). The film was produced by Ed Guiney, David Barron and Stevie Lee, with executive producers Tessa Ross, Katherine Butler, Andrew Lowe and Nigel Williams.
Protagonist Pictures recently announced it had secured a number of global deals for ‘Frank’, following Magnolia acquiring the film for distribution in North America. The comedy was also sold to Japan (Nettai Museum), Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Italy (I Wonder), Scandinavia (Non Stop), Benelux (Wild Bunch), CIS (Cinema Prestige), Portugal (Lusomundo), Turkey (Bir Film), Israel (Lev Film), Poland (Gutek Film), Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia (ACFK/Mozinet).
Fassbender, Gleeson and Abrahamson are among the guests on this week's The Late Late Show on RTÉ One.
Distributed by Element Pictures, ‘Frank’ will be released in Irish cinemas nationwide on May 9th. Watch the trailer for the film below: