Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis may soon by the topic of a biopic.
According to reports from Deadline Hollywood, Universal Pictures has optioned Kiedis’ 2004 autobiography, Scar Tissue. According to Deadline‘s report, the film is currently in the early development stages at the studio, and will see Kiedis as a producer, alongside Brian Grazer through Imagine Entertainment and Guy Oseary.
A tentative release date for the film has yet to be announced, nor has its director and cast.
Kiedis’ Scar Tissue chronicles his relationship with his father, their addiction to drugs, the death of founding Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak of a heroin overdose, how he and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea kept the band alive and more.
Universal Pictures, per Deadline Hollywood, is promising that its silver screen adaptation of Kiedis’ memoir that will be “a shockingly candid portrait of an artist, addict, and ringleader”.
Kiedis has been candid about his regrets in writing the memoir, telling The Sun in 2016: “I did regret the book for a while as there was some pain caused. But then, I started seeing the long term positive reverberating. People were reading it in hospitals, in prisons and schools and it was having a positive effect.”
He continued: “I realised that the whole point of writing that book wasn’t for me, but to show that somebody can go all the way down and come all the way back and have a productive, successful happy interesting life. And so whatever shame, pain or difficulty or discomfort I went through, then it was worth it because I get so many people coming up to me saying their kids had read it and got their act together because of it.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers released two albums in 2022, both featuring a returning John Frusciante. ‘Unlimited Love’ scored a four-star review from NME, while its follow-up, ‘Return of the Dream Canteen’, earned a three-star rating.
Bassist Flea spoke to NME in 2022 about the replacement of Josh Klinghoffer, who they ousted to make room for Frusciante. “It was a big shift for us, parting ways with Josh. He’s been with us for 10 years, and it was an emotionally difficult thing to do. Not only was he a great musician, he was also a thoughtful, supportive team-player – a communally-minded, kind and intelligent person.
“But artistically, in terms of being able to speak the same [musical] language, it was easier working with John. Getting back into a room and starting to play and letting the thing unfold… was really exciting.”