Lanky Saturday Night Live and The King of Staten Island star Pete Davidson has been tapped to portray punk icon Joey Ramone in Netflix’s upcoming I Slept With Joey Ramone biopic. The news about the film honoring the lead singer of New York punk godfathers The Ramones was announced on Thursday (April 15), the 20th anniversary of Ramone’s death at age 49 after a seven-year battle with lymphoma.
Netflix and STXfilms are developing and producing the film from a treatment written by Davidson and director Jason Orley (Big Time Adolescence) based on the 2010 memoir of the same name by Ramone’s brother, Mickey Leigh.
“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,” STXfilms chairman Adam Fogelson said in a statement. “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. 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.”
The film, which is being made in cooperation with Ramone’s estate, will be executive produced by Davidson, Leigh, David Spiegelman and Rory Rosegarten (Everybody Loves Raymond). Ramone (born Jeffrey Hyman) co-founded the group that kicked off the punk revolution in the U.S. with his childhood friends Doug Colvin (Dee Dee Ramone) and John Cummings (Johnny Ramone), with all the members taking on family-like pseudonyms inspired by Beatle Paul McCartney’s early stage name.
Though he originally played drums, 6’6″ Joey switched to vocals early on, quickly establishing his iconic stage presence — one foot planted firmly forward, one hand tightly gripping the mic, floppy hair covering his face and his eyes shaded by rose-colored glasses. And always, always a leather jacket matched with ripped jeans, and his growly vocals about pinheads, punk rockers, glue-sniffers and other misunderstood miscreants.
Despite churning out dozens of ear-candy punk standards such as “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Blitzkreig Bop,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” “Rockaway Beach” and “Rock n’ Roll High School,” the famously fractious “brothers” never achieved the breakthrough chart success Ramone craved, even as the group toured the world relentlessly from 1976 until their breakup in 1996.
Their final show, at the Palace in Hollywood, was recorded for We’re Outta Here!, featuring such friends and acolytes as Motörhead’s Lemmy, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Ben Shepherd.
