Image courtesy of rockstarwallpapers10.net

The punk band that started it all (well, one of them!) is finally coming to the big screen. According to Johnny Ramone’s wife Linda (Joey Ramone’s former girlfriend), a Ramones “biopic” (pronounced “by-oh-pic”) is in the works. Not much is known about the project; however, Linda has said it will either chronicle the band’s rise to fame in the late 1970’s or focus on Johnny Ramone’s biography, Commando.

Linda has said she would like Johnny Depp to play the role of Johnny Ramone, but that he is too old for the part. It’s interesting why she wants such an A-list actor to play Johnny, when in reality the Ramones’ Joey Ramone was the frontman and lead vocalist.

In 2003, the Ramones were the subject of the 2003 documentary End of the Century. As opposed to documentaries, biopics are meant to be films with story, such as Lincoln (2012) or J. Edgar (2011). Hopefully, this biopic will be an epic cinematic feat, not a bland reflection of their music which some criticize as being boring. Admittedly, The Ramones’ typical songs only have four chord changes and a few simple choruses, but that’s what makes them great. The film should bring out the feeling evoked by the following quote by Ira Robbins and Scott Isler of Trouser Press:

“With just four chords and one manic tempo, New York’s Ramones blasted open the clogged arteries of mid-’70s rock, reanimating the music. Their genius was to recapture the short/simple aesthetic from which pop had strayed, adding a caustic sense of trash-culture humor and minimalist rhythm guitar sound.”

This is what punk is all about.