Henry Rollins to costar in rock n roll vampire comedy

You've got to give Henry Rollins credit. The punk rock singer is nothing if not tenacious in his ability to deliver focused energy, charisma and wit into all the projects he dips his fingers into. He's had many colorful descriptions lodged at him over a career that spans more than two decades; icon, hypocrite, renaissance, angry, intellect, intense, (he gets that last one a lot). And now you can add "Suck" to that ever growing list, as in the soon to be released amply titled vampire spoof Rollins stars alongside Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Moby, Malcolm McDowell and Dave Foley.

"Suck," written and directed by Rob Stefaniuk, follows the misadventures of a band called the Winners while they road trip and gig it to hell until the group is transformed when their bass player becomes a vampire and audiences cannot get enough of this girl gone Transylvania wild. I'm thinking the band never read "Get in the Van," or seen "We Jam Econo," but I digress.

Playing the obnoxious DJ Rockin' Roger, Henry is no stranger in the radio booth currently hosting his own live on air music show for public radio station KCRW based out of Santa Monica. The characters' 180 degree departure and throwback to sleaze gave Stefaniuk a case of the jitters on how to direct one of his rock heroes, but he was soon put at ease as he recalls asking Rollins to don a mullet for the role.

"I thought that would be a weird thing for him. But he said, 'I like making directors happy. I'll do anything. I want to play a douche bag.' He'd met tons of guys like that, so I think he had a lot of fun with it."

Hey, you don't get labeled iconic by playing it safe in this town. "Suck" is currently debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival before heading to the States.