Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed and Patti Smith have joined the cast of Wim Wenders' new feature The Palermo Shooting which began shooting in his home town of Duesseldorf yesterday.

The production by Wenders' own outfit Wenders Images in collaboration with broadcasters ZDF and Arte, and Pictorion Das Werk with backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Province of Palermo (AAPIT) will be shooting in Duesseldorf, Neuss and Essen for the next two weeks before moving to Sicily where it will wrap on Nov 2.

UK-based HanWay Films is handling sales.

The lead is taken by fellow Duesseldorfer Campino, the lead singer of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, who has been cast as the successful photographer Finn who is experiencing an existential crisis. Finn's quest for an answer to the meaning of life sends him on a journey from Duesseldorf to Palermo - and along the way he finds a new love.

The cast also includes German actors Sebastian Blomberg, Udo Samel, Jana Pallaske and Inga Busch.

The Palermo Shooting is Wenders' first feature film for 15 years to be shot in Germany and Europe and the first time that he has filmed in his home town of Duesseldorf.

Wenders' previous collaboration with Dennis Hopper was on the 1976/7 film The American Friend, while Lou Reed had provided songs for the soundtracks of Until The End Of The World (1991), Faraway, So Close! (1993) and The Million Dollar Hotel (2000). Patti Smith also performed one of her songs on Until The End Of The World.

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