SNL star Pete Davidson is taking on a new acting role, having been cast to play punk rock legend Joey Ramone in a new Netflix biopic. According to Deadline, the film is titled I Slept with Joey Ramone, and is based on the memior of the same name by Mickey Leigh, who is Leigh is Ramone’s brother. The film is set to re-team Davidson with director Jason Orley, who the comedian worked with on the Hulu film Big Time Adolescence, as well as his Netflix comedy special, Pete Davidson: Alive from New York.
Adam Fogelson, Chairman STXfilms Motion Picture — who has partnered with Netflix to produce the movie — issued a statement on the new project, praising the source material and express his excitement over the creative team and casting. “When you share a bed with someone – and not just a bed, but a childhood, a family, and a lifetime – you know that person better than anybody else,” said Fogelson. “Mickey Leigh not only collaborated with his big brother’s band – he has irreplaceable memories of and insights into Joey Ramone, having supported him when no one else would and witnessed him overcome adversity in the most dramatic way.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Fogelson continued, “I Slept with Joey Ramone is a great rock anthem that will make an equally great rock biopic, set apart by a universal story of family. Pete is perfect for this role and we’re excited he and Jason will be bringing this icon of rock to life and thrilled to be collaborating once again with our friends at Netflix.” In addition to staring in the film, Davidson will also serve as a producer. At this time, I Slept with Joey Ramone does not have an announced premiere date.
Pete Davidson will produce and star in I SLEPT WITH JOEY RAMONE, a new biopic chronicling the life of the king of punk — whom we lost 20 years ago today.
The film, directed by Jason Orley from a treatment by Davidson and Orley, is based on Mickey Leigh’s memoir of the same name. pic.twitter.com/4r49gZfsmo
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) April 15, 2021
Born Jeffrey Ross Hyman in Queens, New York in 1951, Ramone would go on to take on his famous moniker while co-founding the Ramones in 1974. The band quickly became an unrivaled force in the punk scene and is widely considered to be the most influential punk band of all time. Sadly, Ramone died in 2001, at the age of 49, after several years of battling lymphoma. The biopic news coincides with the 20th anniversary of his death, on April 15.
