ACE FREHLEY: 'I'm The Most Interesting Member Of The Four Founding Members' Of KISS

During an appearance this past Monday (September 21) on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley confirmed that he has been approached by the producers for the upcoming official "definitive" documentary on his former band. "They offered me a small fee to be involved with it, and I turned them down," Ace said. "I thought the fee was embarrassing, because I know how much money they're gonna make on it. So, either share the wealth, or c'est la vie. So I decided not be involved. But they have plenty of old footage of me, and they'll probably use that and get by. But it won't be the same as if they get current footage. Unfortunately, I decided the money that they offered me wasn't anywhere near what I felt I deserved, so I turned it down. The footage you're gonna see of me in this documentary is only gonna be old footage."

Earlier in the year, it was also announced that a KISS biopic was in the works. KISS manager Doc McGhee revealed that producer Mark Canton, who worked on the movie "300", is involved in the project. Asked if he would like to see a biopic made on KISS, and which actor he would like to see play him, Ace told "Trunk Nation": "I'm not even thinking about a KISS movie; I'm thinking about an Ace Frehley movie, because I think I'm the most interesting member of the four founding members. And I have the best stories and the most interesting life. I grew up in the Bronx, poor, lower middle class, living in a one-bedroom apartment, and next thing you know, I'm in one of the biggest rock groups in the world. That's a huge success story. I've already been pitching to eOne, my record label, who also has a division for movies — they put out films. And I was talking to the president of eOne, plus I was also talking to the president of [toy giant] Hasbro, because Hasbro just acquired eOne… They did all the 'Transformers' movies. They made billions off those films. Hasbro has billions of dollars. So Hasbro has acquired eOne. And I did a Zoom call, and I told those guys, 'Hey, we've gotta do an Ace Frehley movie. And let's get [Martin] Scorsese to direct it, because he grew up in the Bronx, and he would get it better than any other director.' So, I planted the seed, and we'll see what happens. Maybe in a couple of years, the Ace Frehley story. I'm not concerned with the KISS story. Everybody knows the KISS story. How many documentaries have we done? [Laughs]"

This past March, KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer told Sweden's RockSverige.se that the band's official documentary was "at least halfway" done. "The director is John Dorsey and he's done great things before," Tommy said. "We've done interviews on camera and he's putting together a lot of historic footage and talking to a lot of different sources, including us and our archives. It's coming along. I've seen a little bit and I think it will be really exciting and really well done."

As for the fan-submitted material that will be included in the documentary, Thayer said: "I know some guys that are big collectors and there's this guy called Mark Cicchini, he's one of the 'Three Sides Of The Coin' [KISS] podcast guys and he's not only contributed material, but he also pointed John Dorsey in a lot of good directions as far as making contact with a lot of fans. We have a lot of great stuff in our archives for certain, but there's still a lot of other unique and rare stuff out there that we don't have. It's a matter of sourcing that stuff."

KISS's current lineup consists of original members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, alongside later band additions, Thayer (since 2002) and drummer Eric Singer (on and off since 1991).

Formed in 1973 by Stanley, Simmons, Frehley and drummer Peter Criss, KISS staged its first "farewell" tour in 2000, the last to feature the group's original lineup.