The manager of KISS has given a long-awaited update about the band’s biopic.
The biopic was announced by Deadline in early in 2021, but since then fans have heard little more.
Doc McGhee, the longtime manager for Kiss, has said that production is underway. The biopic will arrive next year and will be streamed exclusively on Netflix.
It will be called Shout It Out Loud, after the band’s hit song from their 1976 album Destroyer.
The biopic will cap off five decades of KISS, the band forming 50 years ago.
KISS will play their final 50 shows together this year in their ‘End of the Road World Tour’, which will conclude at Madison Square Garden in December.
The band has already bid adieu to their Australian fans, having played all around the country in August last year.
That’s the end of “what we know of KISS”, McGhee said.
McGhee spoke about the band’s legacy, comparing them to modern superheroes
“KISS is like Spider-Man. KISS is like all of them, like Batman. They’re Marvel,” he said.
“So I don’t see it going away, but as [far as] going to see KISS and Gene perform and Doctor Ghee being backstage to do this, December 2nd will be the last time you’ll see that.”
From the beginning
Shout It Out Loud will be directed by Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Ronning, whose credits include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
The biopic is expected to be similar to Netflix’s only other music biopic, 2019’s The Dirt, which chronicled the career and debauchery of notorious rock band Motley Crue.
McGhee said the film is set to focus on the band’s early years.
“It’s a biopic about the first four years of KISS,” he said.
The whole band is said to be heavily involved in the biopic – particularly lead singer Paul Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons, who have remained the only consistent KISS members over the years.
The film will reportedly focus on Stanley and Simmons’ close friendship, first meeting as two misfit kids in Queens, and eventually enlisting guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss to form KISS.
Tweet from @PaulStanleyLive
Casting truths
While it’s unknown who will be playing the iconic rockers, Stanley confirmed in 2021 that the film was looking to cast actors “in their early 20s”.
“I don’t know a whole lot of actors in their early 20s. When people get asked these kinds of questions, they’ll say, ‘Oh, Brad Pitt,’ or this one or that one. Well, those guys are in their 50s or 60s, so you’re talking about another generation of actors. And I’m the first to say I’m not up on a lot of them.”
It’s not only the fans intrigued about who could land the roles. Stanley is equally fascinated.
“But as the casting process goes on, I’ll certainly be there and watching. It’ll be interesting to see how someone else — be it the casting people or the director — how they view who I am and who they see doing that,” he said.
“I think I’ll learn a lot about their perception of me by who they cast.”
