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Frank Sidebottom returns for new movie

And the cult comic character is now being played by a Hollywood A-lister.

Cult comic character Frank Sidebottom is back thanks to a surreal new film which just made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah.

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The first clip for ‘Frank’ which you can watch above, shows the film has inherited the surreal and anarchic nature of Chris Sievey’s comic creation who rose to fame on British TV in the late 1980s/early 90s.



The film, which is inspired by the life of Sievey, shows the story of a bunch of young musicians who join an avant-garde pop group led by the enigmatic and papier-mâché masked Frank played, believe it or not, by Michael Fassbender.

Domhall Gleeson (‘About Time’), Maggie Gyllenhaal (’The Dark Knight’) and Scoot McNairy (’Killing Them Softly’) also appear in the film which is due for release in the UK in May.



Early reviews out of Sundance have been largely positive, with the Telegraph calling it “off-beat and punk-spirited” and Variety praising its eccentricity saying, “amid so much arch weirdness, 'Frank' proves remarkably accessible."

It's unclear whether Fassbender ever reveals his face in the film, but it seems unlikely if it stays true to the spirit of Sidebottom.



The screenplay was co-written by Welsh author Jon Ronson, who also wrote 'Men Who Stare At Goats', based on the writer's true-life experience of joining the Frank Sidebottom band temporarily in the late 1980s.

[Sundance 2014 in pictures]

British comic Chris Sievey who passed away in 2010 is the subject of two upcoming films, the other ‘Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story’ is a straight documentary about the comedian’s life, also coming this May.