Pete Davidson to play Joey Ramone in Netflix biopic

April 16 (UPI) -- Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson has signed on to play the late punk rock legend Joey Ramone in a Netflix/STXfilms biopic.

The movie is based on Mickey Leigh's memoir, I Slept with Joey Ramone.

Leigh, Ramone's brother, is a producer on the project, along with Davidson.

Jason Orley -- who previously collaborated with Davidson on Big Time Adolescence, Pete Davidson: Alive from New York and I Want You Back -- is directing I Slept with Joey Ramone.

"When you share a bed with someone -- and not just a bed, but a childhood, a family, and a lifetime -- you know that person better than anybody else," Adam Fogelson, chairman of STXfilms Motion Picture Group, said in a statement Thursday.

"Mickey Leigh not only collaborated with his big brother's band -- he has irreplaceable memories of and insights into Joey Ramone, having supported him when no one else would and witnessed him overcome adversity in the most dramatic way," Fogelson added. "I Slept with Joey Ramone is a great rock anthem that will make an equally great rock biopic, set apart by a universal story of family. Pete is perfect for this role and we're excited he and Jason will be bringing this icon of rock to life and thrilled to be collaborating once again with our friends at Netflix."

Ramone was the lead singer of the Ramones, a band popular in the 1970s, '80s and '90s and known for the songs, "Rockaway Beach," "Teenage Lobotomy," "Blitzkrieg Bop," "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Judy is a Punk" and "Pet Sematary."

He died of cancer in 2001 at the age of 49.