Loud music? Misbehaving bands? Silly hair? Snape would never approve. Well, maybe he wouldn’t have much argument with the hair… And still Alan Rickman is front and centre in the new trailer for CBGB, which charts the difficult birth of the iconic and sadly defunct New York music club.
Rickman is Hilly Kristal, the man who had a vision of bringing country, bluegrass and blues music to a squalid lower Eastside locale. While he didn’t have much luck luring anyone from those genres to the place, CBGB grew into a launching pad for punks and rockers.
With only one condition – that the bands on stage play their own, original tracks – Kristal’s venue saw the early days of Talking Heads, Blondie, The Ramones, The Dead Boys, The Police, Iggy Pop and Patti Smith Group. And vying for the title of Most Eclectic Cast, the various musos and hangers-on are played by Malin Akerman, Ashley Greene, Johnny Galecki, Ryan Hurst, Stana Katic, Justin Bartha, Donal Logue, Bradley Whitford and others. Even Rupert Grint shows up as Cheetah Chrome, guitarist for The Dead Boys. Five points for Gryffindor!
CBGB lands in US cinemas this autumn, but there’s no sign of a UK release just yet.