While they’ve got The Smiths frontman in actor Jack Lowden (’71) and it becomes only a matter of time before the production to announce who’ll play the guitar playing Johnny Marr, Deadline reports that Downtown Abbey starlet Jessica Brown Findlay will take on the role of Linder Sterling in Mark Gill’s biopic debut, Morrissey. Sterling is a visual artist, performance artist and musician from Liverpool, who became a close friend of Morrissey. Production begins this month. Orian Williams and Gill’s Voorman Problem partner Baldwin Li are producing.
Gist: Written by William Thacker and Gill, this is a portrait of Morrissey’s early life prior to forming a legendary songwriting partnership with Johnny Marr. Findlay stars opposite Jack Lowden in the lead role, which follows the character from his early life in the 1970s before he went on to become the lead singer in seminal 1980s band The Smiths.
Worth Noting: From Wiki: Ludus was a British post-punk band formed in Manchester in 1978 which featured artist, designer and singer Linder Sterling. It played jazz-, avant-garde- and punk- oriented material. The band influenced singer Morrissey, later of The Smiths and a solo artist, who remains one of the group’s most vocal fans.
Do We Care?: Fans of The Smiths and generally not big on the biopic format, we’re banking on Orian Williams (producer on Anton Corbijn’s Control) and Gill to take what we hope is a non-conventional route.
