TV Entertainment News

Kristin Scott Thomas cast as John Lennon's aunt in Sam Taylor-Wood's biopic of the Beatle

She's done posh and glacial. She's done mysterious and French. Now Kristin Scott-Thomas is to try tough and Scouse after being cast as John Lennon's formidable aunt Mimi in artist Sam Taylor-Wood's debut feature film. The film, provisionally titled Nowhere Boy, is to tell the imagined story of Lennon's childhood and the women who helped shape him. Cast alongside Scott-Thomas are Anne-Marie Duff - best-known for her TV work in Shameless and Elizabeth I. She will play Lennon's mother, Julia, while newcomer Aaron Johnson, who recently starred as the romantic lead in Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, is to star as the young Lennon. The screenplay has been penned by Matt Greenhalgh, who won acclaim - as well as a Bafta - for his script for Control, the 2007 biopic of Joy Division's lead singer Ian Curtis. Taylor-Wood's nascent film-making career began last year when she was nominated for an award at the Cannes film festival for her Film4 short Love You More, produced by the late Anthony Minghella. She is not the only Young British Artist to turn to the silver screen in recent times. Also at Cannes with his Bobby Sands biopic Hunger was Steve McQueen. The brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman are also due to make a full-length film, subject currently unknown. Nowhere Boy is a co-production between Ecosse Films and Film4. Filming begins in March on the Liverpool streets where Lennon grew up. Interiors will be shot at Ealing studios. John Lennon guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (read more)