Boston bomber lookalikes - including a Nickelodeon star - are cast to play the Tsarnaev brothers in Mark Wahlberg's controversial movie about the terror attack

By Bobbie Whiteman For Dailymail.com

Published: 14:00 EST, 5 April 2016 | Updated: 19:10 EST, 5 April 2016

Two young stars have been selected to play the Boston Marathon bombers in Mark Wahlberg's controversial movie about the terror attacks. 

Alex Wolff will play Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with newcomer Themo Melikidze as his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in the movie called Patriots Day, according to The Wrap.

Alex, 18, is best known for HBO's In Treatment and Nickelodeon's The Naked Brothers Band TV series and movie. He also appears in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.

Tough role: Alex Wolff will play Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Bombers, in Mark Wahlberg's Patriots Day, it was revealed on Tuesday

Tough role: Alex Wolff will play Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Bombers, in Mark Wahlberg's Patriots Day, it was revealed on Tuesday

Real life: Dzhokhar, now 22 and a former University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student, was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He is at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, as the appeal process continues

Real life: Dzhokhar, now 22 and a former University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student, was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He is at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, as the appeal process continues

Themo has appeared in three shorts and 2015's Beautiful Something.

The casting has come late in the process as filming has already started in Boston on the film directed by Peter Berg, and produced by and starring Wahlberg.

He plays Boston Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders, a composite character based on several real-life officers present on the day.

Co-stars include Michelle Monaghan, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons and Kevin Bacon. 

Break out role: Newcomer Themo Melikidze has been cast as Dzhokhar's brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev,  who masterminded the bombings that happened just before the finish line at the Boston Marathon in 2013

Break out role: Newcomer Themo Melikidze has been cast as Dzhokhar's brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev,  who masterminded the bombings that happened just before the finish line at the Boston Marathon in 2013

The CBS Films and Lionsgate production will center on the terrible events of April 20, 2013, when the terrorist brothers detonated two bombs during the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring 264 others.

Last May, Dzhokhar, now 22 and a former University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student, was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

He is currently at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

FightinTamerlan Tsarnaev was killed by the police in a shootout a few days after the attacks. He was 26; here he is pictured in 2009

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed by the police in a shootout a few days after the attacks. He was 26; here he is pictured in 2009

His lawyers appealed in January, urging the court to reverse the conviction.

Tamerlan was killed by police officers in a shootout a few days after the attacks.

The drama will premiere in Boston, New York and Los Angeles on December 21.

The movie has had a mixed response among people in Boston and survivors of the attacks. 

Some support Hollywood's attempt to record the heroics of the police officers who tracked the Tsarnaev brothers in the wake of an unprecedented security situation for Boston. 

But others felt it was too soon to fictionalize something so traumatic. 

'For me: There's no way they can do this,' resident Maria Van Ryn told NPR. 'Because I'm thinking to myself: That's going to stir things up all over again.'

Survivor Lynn Julian told the network: 'For me, it's going to trigger a lot of PTSD but we don't ever want people to forget that we were Boston strong and that we took care of each other. How it's not how you fall down, it's how you get back up.'

Wahlberg has himself acknowledged the controversy but believes the end result will be welcomed in the city. 

'We are committed to [getting it right]', he told Boston magazine. 'We won’t accept anything less.'

In character: Mark Wahlberg sported two black eyes and a Boston Police uniform while filming scenes on the set of Patriots Day in Boston on Thursday

In character: Mark Wahlberg sported two black eyes and a Boston Police uniform while filming scenes on the set of Patriots Day in Boston on Thursday

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