Dennis Wilson, the drummer and a founding member of The Beach Boys, has a biopic in the works called The Drummer from director Michael Sucsy, so it's only fair that Brian Wilson, Dennis' brother and lead singer of band, would get one of his own as well. And what's more the new project has gotten one of the biggest stars of the indie movie world to sign on to star.
Paul Dano, last seen in Rian Johnson's Looper, will play Brian Wilson in the upcoming drama Love & Mercy - or one version of him anyway. Described as an "unconventional biopic," the project will have two actors playing the lead. The movie will span decades of the singer's life and focus on 'seminal moments." Dano will play Wilson in his younger years while an actor yet to be named will play him as an older man. Bill Pohlad, who normally serves as a producer, is directing the film himself and Atticus Ross, who won an Oscar for Best Original Score with Trent Reznor for The Social Network, has already agreed to do the music. Oren Moverman, who wrote The Messenger and Rampart, is scripting the drama.
Said Wilson in a statement about the casting, "I am thrilled that Paul Dano has signed on to play me during one of my most creative explosions and most fulfilling musical times in my career. I still can't believe how cool it is that my life will be portrayed on the big screen and to have Bill Pohlad as the captain of the Sloop John B is amazing! It just makes me feel so humble. I can't wait to see it with a full tub of buttered popcorn."
It's only fitting that we would getting a Paul Dano casting story during the Sundance Film Festival, right? Next up he'll be seen in Steve McQueen's Twelve Years A Slave and will soon start production on Prisoners with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.
