'If you want your life back, you'll have to kill me. 'The problem with knowing you is that you've done everything I ever wanted to,' Neil once complained to his famous friend. But sometimes it is life's losers who have the most interesting tales to tell.įeaturing guest appearances by the Pope, Bob Dylan, and a galaxy of stars, Killing Bono offers an extremely funny, startlingly candid, and strangely moving account of a life lived in the shadows of superstardom. Bad drugs, weird sex, bizarre haircuts: Neil experienced it all in his elusive quest for fame. As Bono and his band U2 ascended to global superstardom, his school friend Neil scorched a burning path in quite the opposite direction. Killing Bono is a story of divergent lives. The boy sitting on the other side of the classroom had plans of his own. Killing Bono is based on Killing Bono: I Was Bono’s Doppelganger, the memoir of early U2 friend and rival Neil McCormick. There was only one thing he hadn't counted on. He had it all worked out: the albums, the concerts, the quest for world peace.

It was his destiny to be a veritable Rock God. But as a young punk in Dublin in the 1970s, Neil McCormick's ambitions went way beyond mere pop stardom. The movie is based on Ivan's autobiography, I Was Bono's Doppelganger, and features the late Pete Postlethwaite in his last big screen performance prior to his death in January.

Elton John called it the best book I have ever read about. Longtime friend and reporter, Neil McCormick, reveals childhood and present day stories about Bono and his band, U2.Įveryone wants to be famous. His memoir I Was Bonos Doppelgnger was published in 2004 (retitled Killing Bono in the US).

Killing bono i was bono's doppelganger