Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson are attached to star

From Variety

Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson are attached to star in Film4's comedy "Frank." Lenny Abrahamson will direct from a script by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan.Film4 will co-finance the pic with the Irish Film Board.

Gleeson will play an aspiring musician who finds himself in over his head when he joins an eccentric rock band led by Fassbender. Pic is a co-production between Runaway Fridge and Element Pictures, produced by David Barron, Ed Guiney and Stevie Lee.

Abrahamson's latest film "What Richard Did" sees its world preem at the Toronto Intl Film Fest. International sales on both films are handled by Protagonist Pictures.

Fassbender is currently filming Ridley Scott's "The Counselor." Gleeson, who was recently named one of Variety's 10 Actors to Wtch, can be seen next in Working Title's "Anna Karenina." Fassbender is repped by CAA and Troika and Gleeson is repped by Paradigm and The Agency.

Well, we've always said that Michael Fassbender could probably do anything. The chameleonic actor has been a mutant, a robot, an IRA prisoner, a sex addict, a resurrected Nazi ghoul and whatever-the-hell he was in "Jonah Hex." And while almost all of his performances have featured wry strains of humor, he's never had to be outright funny. Until now. Variety reports that the actor has been cast alongside Domhnall Gleeson (who has a memorable turn in this month's terrific "Dredd") in Film4's comedy "Frank," to be directed by Irish filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson.

The plot revolves around Gleeson, who plays "an aspiring musician who finds himself in over his head when he joins an eccentric rock band led by Fassbender." The script, by Peter Straughan and journalist Jon Ronson (whose amazing book "The Men Who Stare At Goats" was made into a lousy movie by George Clooney), was a Brit List entry a few years ago and is loosely based around the life of Chris Sievey, an English musician and comedian who formed the band The Freshies and later performed as the character Frank Sidebottom.

This is yet another project Fassbender has in the works – he recently finished filming a part in frequent collaborator Steve McQueen's "12 Years A Slave" and is currently in production on Ridley Scott's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's original screenplay thriller "The Counselor." Sometime very soon he'll put on the helmet and cloak to play Magneto again, in Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: Days of Future Past," and he also has a deal to co-produce and star in an adaptation of popular videogame series "Assassin's Creed." For his part, Gleeson, who made a name for himself as Bill Weasley in the "Harry Potter" films, has not one but two films at the Toronto Film Festival this year – not only is "Dredd" playing the Midnight Madness slate but he also co-stars in Joe Wright's stagey (in a good way) adaptation of "Anna Karenina."
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/michael-fassbender-and-domhall- gleeson-headline-comedic-biopic-frank-20120904

The film, scheduled to shoot late this year, is a co-production between Runaway Fridge and Element Pictures and will be produced by David Barron, Ed Guiney and Stevie Lee. Exec producing for Film4 are Tessa Ross and Katherine Butler and for Element Pictures, Andrew Lowe.Abrahamson's latest movie What Richard Did is scheduled to unspool in Toronto and also is being handled by Protagonist.

Abrahamson is set to begin shooting Frank late this year.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-fassbender-frank-rock-co medy-domhnall-gleeson-367743