Michael Fassbender, Domnhall Gleeson also star in Lenny Abrahamson’s comedy, which gets underway this week.

Shoot commences later this week in New Mexico on Lenny Abrahamason’s new comedy Frank, starring Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy and Domnhall Gleeson.

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Also starring are musician Carla Azar and French actor/musician Francois Civil. The production will shoot in Ireland at the end of January.

Frank follows a young aspiring musician, Jon (Gleeson), who discovers he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he joins a band of eccentric musicians led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Fassbender) and his terrifying sidekick Clara (Gyllenhaal).

Written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan, the comedy is based on the memoir by Ronson and is a fictional story loosely inspired by Frank Sidebottom (the persona of cult musician and comic Chris Sievey), as well as outsider musicians like Daniel Johnston and Captain Beefheart. 

Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales and Artificial Eye will distribute in the UK.

The Element Pictures and Runaway Fridge production is produced by  Ed Guiney (What Richard Did, The Guard) for Element Pictures with David Barron and Stevie Lee producing for Runaway Fridge. Executive producers are Tessa Ross, Katherine Butler and Andrew Lowe.

The film was developed by Film4 and is being financed by Film4, the BFI, The Irish Film Board as well as tax breaks in New Mexico and Ireland.