JoBro to apply the Starchild makeup, strap on the guitar, and provide vocals to Stanley-sung Kiss classics for long-in-the-works film
In unexpected casting, Nick Jonas will apply the Starchild makeup and strap on the guitar to portray Paul Stanley in an upcoming Kiss biopic.
According to Deadline, Jonas will also provide his own vocals on Kiss‘ Stanley-sung classics in Shout It Out Loud, an authorized, McG-directed biopic about the Rock Hall-inducted rock legends that is co-produced by Stanley and Gene Simmons.
The role of Simmons has not yet been cast, though a draft of the screenplay by Darren Lemke has been completed, based off an idea developed by the Kiss duo and their label Universal Music Group. Production company STX and Sweden-based Pophouse — which acquired the global rights to the KISS brand, including name and likeness, and is working on those Kiss holograms — are also involved.
“It’s a biopic about the first four years of Kiss,” Kiss manager Doc McGhee said in 2023; Shout It Out Loud was first announced in 2021, and originally set to arrive on Netflix in 2024. “We’re just starting it now. We’ve already sold it, it’s already done, we have a director, McG. That’s moving along and that’ll come in ’24.”
Jonas is perhaps an offbeat choice to play Stanley, as the clean-cut pop rocker’s music itself is far removed from Kiss’ hard-rock, hard-partying anthems. Outside of his Disney film catalog and numerous Broadway roles, Jonas has previously appeared in big-screen movies like the Jumanji reboots, Midway, Chaos Walking, and Love Again. He’ll next co-star in the upcoming Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon rom-com, You’re Cordially Invited.
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Neither Jonas nor Stanley has commented on the casting.
It’s unclear when Shout It Out Loud will start filming, but Jonas will spend the bulk of this summer and fall with his Brothers on the road for their 20th anniversary Living the Dream Tour, which kicks off August 10 in their native New Jersey.
