Bono has been talking for years about doing a musically-themed movie that’s based in Las Vegas. And the film is apparently still alive at some level.
Last week, actor Liam Neeson mentioned it in an article that originally ran on the Belfast Telegraph’s website:
“I never thought about becoming a professional singer, but I am in touch with Bono [from U2] about releasing a musical movie,” he revealed.
“It will be about an Irish band during the ’70s who are looking for fortune in Las Vegas. I should play the singer of the band but I don’t want to sing in front of anybody. So when nobody looks at me I’ll start to sing.”
As far as I can tell, the movie project was first mentioned by Variety way back in the summer of 2005. We have an article about it in our news database. That article gives the title as A Version of Las Vegas and says it’s about an Irish musician who comes to the U.S. to work with a showband in Las Vegas.
The film popped into public consciousness again in 2009, and again in a Variety article that also mentioned Neeson’s involvement, but gave the film a new title: The Virgin of Las Vegas.
Neeson will play an aging show band singer, prone to drink and living in Vegas, who finds his life turned on its head following the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Barry Devlin is penning the script.
Barry Devlin, as you likely know, is a longtime friend of the band, former member of Horslips, and directed several U2 videos including “Bad” and “A Sort of Homecoming.”
Interesting that this has been talked about for seven years now and is still alive. Then again, I recall that Bono’s script for The Million Dollar Hotel was also a looooooooong time in the making.