Film4's 'Frank' signs helmer, 'Goats' scribes

LONDON -- Film4, the film financing division of Channel 4, announced Friday it has signed director Lenny Abrahamson and "The Men Who Stare At Goats" writers Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan to its latest project "Frank," about a musical genius and his band. David Barron, one of the "Harry Potter" franchise producers, and Stevie Lee of Runway Fridge Productions are on board as producers.

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Set in the offbeat world of 1980s subculture, the movie tells the story of the mixed-up relationship between musical master and disciple. The film is currently at the script development stage with shooting scheduled for later in the year. The script has been attracting attention since it appeared on the 2009 Brit List of industry recommended unproduced scripts.

"We are passionate about this brilliantly original script and now Lenny is the perfect collaborator to take us into the wild and wonderful world of 'Frank,' " said Katherine Butler, senior commissioning executive of Film4.

Film4's current slate of British feature films includes Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones," "Chris Morris' Four Lions, Mark Romanek's "Never Let Me Go" based on Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, Peter Mullan's "Neds" and Mike Leigh's "Another Day."