CASTING BEYOND NOWHERE BOY

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...But Tim Riley, who just finished his big bio John Ono Lennon, hails Nowhere Boy's musical authenticity and "weird mother/son/aunt love triangle, one of the most screwed-up relationships ever." Riley screened it for his Emerson College students, who loved it, though for them it was "a weird time warp." Keith Richards they know (if only from Pirates of the Caribbean). "Their parents dragged them to Rolling Stones shows." But early Beatles seem remote. Riley salutes Aaron Johnson's sensitive Lennon. (Johnson is also hottish thanks to Kick-Ass, startlingly nominated this week for best picture and director in the British Independent Film Awards). He loves Duff as Lennon's nutty, slutty, creative ma. "She's fabulous. She overdid it." Riley thinks less of Scott-Thomas. "She underdid it. We have lots of evidence Mimi was much fiercer and meaner and more physically violent than in this movie." -- Tim Appelo in the Hollywood Reporter