Actor Aaron Eckhart has taken on countless captivating roles, from his turn as Harvey Dent/Two-Face in The Dark Knight to his sleazy, Big Tobacco spokesman Nick Naylor in Thank You for Smoking, but news that he's landed the role of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson in an upcoming biopic The Drummer means he will be relying on more than just his acting skills. He will, of course, be required to sing.
News of the flick, which chronicles the last six years of Wilson's life up to his drowning death in 1983, came last year, but filmmakers had yet to fill the role of the famously troubled Beach Boy.
"Dennis was a pained and tortured soul, yet brilliant and loved dearly by so many who knew him," director Randall Miller stated at the time. "This film has the makings of a tour-de-force performance in the hands of the right actor."
A recent interview with Variety reveals that Miller had a hard time finding the right candidate for the job before they found Eckhart.
"We'd been trying to figure out who the right person would be to fill this role," Miller said. "It's quite a demanding role so it had to be a great actor who could sing."
Along with revealing Eckhart's role in the film, Miller went on to tout the revelatory nature of The Drummer. Centering on the period that birthed Wilson's cult 1977 set Pacific Ocean Blue, The Drummer is poised to let people in on a previously unheard chapter on a less celebrated Beach Boy.
"There's a discovery about Dennis with this film," he continued. "Everybody knows Brian, but nobody really knows Dennis's music."
The Drummer is scheduled to start shooting next spring.
News of the flick, which chronicles the last six years of Wilson's life up to his drowning death in 1983, came last year, but filmmakers had yet to fill the role of the famously troubled Beach Boy.
"Dennis was a pained and tortured soul, yet brilliant and loved dearly by so many who knew him," director Randall Miller stated at the time. "This film has the makings of a tour-de-force performance in the hands of the right actor."
A recent interview with Variety reveals that Miller had a hard time finding the right candidate for the job before they found Eckhart.
"We'd been trying to figure out who the right person would be to fill this role," Miller said. "It's quite a demanding role so it had to be a great actor who could sing."
Along with revealing Eckhart's role in the film, Miller went on to tout the revelatory nature of The Drummer. Centering on the period that birthed Wilson's cult 1977 set Pacific Ocean Blue, The Drummer is poised to let people in on a previously unheard chapter on a less celebrated Beach Boy.
"There's a discovery about Dennis with this film," he continued. "Everybody knows Brian, but nobody really knows Dennis's music."
The Drummer is scheduled to start shooting next spring.