Nelly To Star As Chuck Berry In Buddy Holly Biopic
Nelly is gearing up to play a huge role: he’ll be starring as rock and roll legend Chuck Berry in the forthcoming Buddy Holly biopic Clear Lake.
Variety reports that Clear Lake will tell “the story of how Holly and other famous musicians of the late 1950s gave birth to rock ‘n’ roll while changing the trajectory of civil rights in America.”
In real life, Holly died in a plane crash outside of Clear Lake, Iowa, at just 22-years-old on Feb 3, 1959.
Holly is being played by Ruairi O’Connor, mostly known for his role as Henry Tudor on the Starz series The Spanish Princess. Colin Hanks, the son of Tom Hanks, will play his manager, Norman Petty. Diane Guerrero will play Holly’s wife, Maria Elena Holly.
The script is written by Patrick Shanahan and set to be directed by Bruce Beresford, who has previous credits with Double Jeopardy and Driving Miss Daisy.
This is a big move for Nelly considering the fact that, as Pitchfork reports, both he and Chuck Berry played a free concert for their hometown off St. Louis back in 2010.
Complex notes that this will be Nelly’s first feature film role since he starred in a supporting role in Reach Me back in 2014. He can currently be seen on Season 29 of Dancing with the Stars.
