Bartha, Rickman to Star in Indie Film CBGB

Deadline.com reports that Justin Bartha has joined the cast of 'CBGB'. The actor will portray Stiv Bators, lead singer of the 'Dead Boys', in the upcoming indie punk film. Randall Miller is set to direct.

The film centers on CBGB, the historic club located in New York's Bowery district which is considered by many to be the birth place of punk rock. The Ramones, Blondie, and Television all got their start at the legendary club. Dead Boy's band member Stiv Bators died in 1990.  

Batha will join previously announced cast members Malin Akerman in the role of Blondie's Debbie Harry, Alan Rickman, as the East Side bar's owner Hily Kristal, Twilight Saga's Ashley Greene as Kristal's daughter, and Johnny Galecki as band manager Terry Ork. Foo Fighters' drummer Taylor Hawkins will portray legendary punk rocker Iggy Pop while Harry Potter's Rupert Grint will play Dead Boys guitarist Cheetah Chrome.

Filming is set to get underway next month in Savannah, Ga., before moving on to NYC.

Bartha will soon be seen in the new NBC comedy series The New Normal. His film roles include Riley Poole in the National Treasure series and Doug Billings in the Todd Phillips films The Hangover and The Hangover Part II. Bartha starred as Max in Broadway's recent revival of Lend Me a Tenor and co-starred with Jesse Eisenberg in the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater production of Asuncion.

An internationally-renowned actor of stage, screen and television, Alan Rickman recently returned to the Broadway stage in Seminar. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his acclaimed starring performance as Elyot in the 2002 production of Noel Coward's Private Lives. He previously made his Broadway debut and earned his first Tony Award nomination as Valmont in the 1987 U.S. premiere production of Les Liasions Dangereuses.

On film, he is perhaps best known for his iconic performances as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise and Hans Gruber in the 1988 hit Die Hard, as well as award-winning roles in such films as Sense and Sensibility and, more recently, Sweeney Todd and Bottle Shock.