Rupert Grint under pressure in CBGB role
Rupert Grint felt the pressure shooting scenes for Cbgb when the rocker he portrays in the upcoming nightclub biopic showed up on set.
The Harry Potter star plays The Dead Boys' Cheetah Chrome in the movie about the New York punk scene, and admits he was desperate to do his character justice after the guitarist turned up to watch him film.
Grint tells Britain's Metro newspaper, "Cheetah Chrome was actually
on set. It's the first time I've played a real person and there's a
pressure to get it right... It's amazing he's still alive, given
the amount of drugs he did. He's got a young son who was a big
Harry Potter fan, so it was nice to meet him. Cheetah had some
advice about my performance and I had to get his voice right - he
had quite a distinctive drug-affected mumbling voice and I had to
do an American accent. We're both ginger (red-haired) so look
similar. Hopefully people will buy it."
And mastering an American accent wasn't the only challenge
presented to Grint.
He adds, "I also have to play the guitar, which I can't do - I was
faking it. I learned the chords and rough shapes but you won't see
my hands too much in the film."
CBGB, which hosted a slew of punk and new wave artists, including
Blondie and The B-52's, in its heyday, closed in 2006 after 33
years.