10:11am UK, Thursday October 16, 2003

Ronan Keating is about to shed his squeaky-clean boy band image - by playing a gun-toting crook in a movie.

The ex-Boyzone frontman has landed the role in Guns, Money and Home Cooking, according to the Sun.

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Ronan to shed good boy image

Shooting starts next month on the film, which will also star hardman Vinnie Jones and ex-Brookside babe Anna Friel.

Ronan's character runs wild with a bunch of friends just out of college who decide that violent crime DOES pay.

It will be his first stab at movie acting - and the paper's Bizarre column says he is "really excited".

But he insists that music is still his "number one priority."

The paper quotes a source close to the project as saying: "We wanted someone to play one of the robbers who you just wouldn't expect.

"I think it's fait to say you wouldn't tag Ronan Keating as a gun-wielding crook.

"But we think it will work - he's actually a very good actor."