Anthony Kiedis’ memoir will be brought to the big screen

Universal has optioned the rights to Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis’ 2004 memoir.

Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis’ stories of drug addiction and unusual relationships are about to be brought to the screen. Universal Pictures has optioned the singer’s 2004 memoir, Scar Tissueto make a biopic of it, according to Deadline. The producers are Kiedis, Guy Oseary, the band’s manager, and Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13).

The book, one of the best rock autobiographies of all time, could provide a much darker story than most music biopics. Keidis’ book, co-written with Larry Sloman, discusses his father, who introduced him to drugs, but also the death of the founding guitarist of the Chili Peppers, Hillel Slovak, from a heroin overdose, the numerous relationships that he’s had over the years and the way he and bassist Flea have kept the band alive through all the turmoil.

In 2016, Kiedis told the Sun that he had initially regretted the revealing nature of the book. “ I regretted the book for a while, because it caused me paindid he declare. But then I started to see the long-term positive impacts. People read it in hospitals, prisons and schools, and it had a positive effect. I realized that the point of writing this book was not for me, but to show that someone can go all the way, come back and have a productive, successful, happy and interesting life. And no matter how much shame or pain or difficulty or discomfort I went through, it was worth it because so many people come up to me and tell me that their kids read it and they feel are taken back in hand thanks to him. »

Music biopics have become big business for Hollywood over the past decade. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), which tells the story of Queen, grossed over $216 million domestically, while the film Straight Outta Compton (2015) from NWA grossed over $161 million, Elvis (2022) grossed over $150 million (in 2022, according to Billboard), and the film Rocketman (2019) about Elton John grossed over $96 million.