The long-awaited Joey Ramone biopic has been announced to premiere on Netflix starring Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson. The film, titled, I Slept With Joey Ramone, was announced yesterday (April 15), on the 20th anniversary of Ramone's death at age 49 from lymphoma. The project, which is in pre-production, will chronicle Ramone's life and times along with the often chaotic and comical career of the Ramones.
The script for the film is based on the memoir of Ramone's brother Mickey Leigh (pronounced Lee), with the new treatment written in collaboration with Davidson. Both Leigh and Davidson will serve as executive producers, with the film developed via Netflix and STXfilm.
STXfilms chairman Adam Fogelson said in a statement:
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. 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. . .
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.
As quiet and private as Joey Ramone was, he was fully aware of how influential the Ramones were both with their peers and beyond: “Being emulated is the highest form of flattery and all that and it just makes things better. It keeps things exciting and fresh. It inspires people to do it as well. So, there's nothing wrong with that, y'know?”
A few years before his death from lymphatic cancer in 2001, Joey Ramone told us that the Ramones pretty much did everything they set out to do: “Maybe the only thing that didn't come our way was makin' a lot of money. But that's not what it's about. It's the love of it, the art of it. The Ramones were the trailblazers for the whole punk rock movement. I'd say we unconsciously kind of wrote the blueprint.”
Mickey Leigh told us that I Slept With Joey Ramone, spotlight the man behind the iconic punk image: “The idea is to show the adversity this guy had to overcome, which was tremendous — growing up with some medical problems, and just, y'know, awkward looks, and taking a lot of abuse — more than, you know, most people would ever imagine — and overcoming all that adversity to achieve what he did, and to become, y'know, a very influential person, and an idol and a hero to many people.”
