Ruari Spooner, who plays Percy Weasley in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series, has joined the cast of Bender, a coming-of-age comedy currently filming in Ireland. The casting adds another notable name to a project that already features Bill Burr, Chris O'Dowd and Slow Horses actress Ruth Bradley, underlining the growing profile of the production as it shoots this summer.

Bender is described as a mix of Superbad and Derry Girls, drawing on writer Adrian Cunningham's own late-1970s post-punk Dublin youth, with the script co-written by Ciaran Bartlett. Set during the frenzy of a papal visit, it follows a suburban Dublin family under financial strain, with Burr playing a record-store owner who convinces a group of teenagers, led by Spooner's character, that a huge open-air papal mass is their best chance to lose their virginity before finishing school; newcomer Kitty Graham plays an American arrival who catches their attention. Michael Medico is directing, with producers including Stephen McCormack, Craig Verdon and Lesley-Ann Brandt, and filming is under way in Belfast.