Director Adam Shankman’s film adaptation of ‘80s-set musical Rock of Ages just scored a big casting coup with Catherine Zeta-Jones agreeing to sign on.
Originally created by Chris D'Arienzo, the show focuses on a small-town girl (Julianne Hough) who comes to Los Angeles to follow her dreams and is nearly swallowed up by it. She meets wannabe rocker Drew (Diego Gonzalez Boneta) and also has a dalliance with OTT muso Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise). Her story, and that of the club she originally washes up at, will be told through the medium of hair band rawk tunes belted out by the cast.
Zeta-Jones, who proved she had solid pipes when she scored an Oscar for Chicago, has agreed to play a brand new character created specifically by Shankman and his writers for the movie.
“It’s a character that we only really came to in the last month,” Shankman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The character was invented to streamline the stories.”
So who is this new threat to everything rockin’? “She is this hardcore, moral majority, arch-conservative who wants to shut down rock ’n’ roll in the great city of Los Angeles."
The film kicks off shooting in Miami next month and will also feature the likes of Paul Giamatti, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand and Mary J Blige.