Maggie Gyllenhaal Joins Lenny Abrahamson's 'Frank'

LONDON – Maggie Gyllenhaal has signed up to join Lenny Abrahamson's Frank opposite Domhnall Gleeson (Anna Karenina), Michael Fassbender (Prometheus) and Scoot McNairy (Argo).

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Production is set to start later this week in New Mexico before moving to Ireland at the end of the month.

Directed by Abrahamson (Adam & Paul), the movie also stars musician Carla Aza, most recently drummer on Jack White's Blunderbuss album and French actor/musician Francois Civil.

Abrahamson's movie is a comedy about a young wannabe musician, Jon (Gleeson), who discovers he's bitten off more than he can chew when he joins a band of eccentric pop musicians led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank (Fassbender) and his terrifying sidekick Clara (Gyllenhaal).

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Written by Jon Ronson (The Men Who Stare At Goats) and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Men Who Stare At Goats), the project is based on the memoir by Ronson and is a fictional story loosely inspired by Frank Sidebottom (the persona of cult musician and British comedy legend Chris Sievey), as well as outsider musicians such as Daniel Johnston and Captain Beefheart.

Frank is an Element Pictures and Runaway Fridge production.

Ed Guiney (What Richard Did, The Guard) produces for Element Pictures with David Barron (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 and Part  2) and Stevie Lee (The Making of a Lady) producing for Runaway Fridge.

Executive producers are Film4 chief Tessa Ross and Katherine Butler and Andrew Lowe.

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

Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales while Artificial Eye has U.K. distribution rights.