Nick Jonas will aim to make moviegoers rock’n’roll all night when he stars as KISS vocalist/guitarist Paul Stanley in an authorized biopic about the face-painted rockers, Shout It Out Loud. Per Deadline, the project will be directed by McG and will go into production before the end of the year or in early 2026.
The report says Jonas will do his own singing in the film but will require training to mimic the style of Stanley, whose high-register yelps and attitudinal crowd banter set a template for generation of rock vocalists to come. Jonas is currently on Broadway in the musical The Last Five Years and has also acted in the FX TV series Kingdom and such films as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Shout It Out Loud will zero in on KISS’ 1973 formation in gritty downtown New York and their subsequent rise to global fame. Beyond Jonas as Stanley, no actors have yet been cast as fellow original members Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
KISS retired from full-production live shows in December 2023 ahead of being reborn as digital avatars, but will play an “unmasked” electric set as part of the fan event KISS Army Storms Vegas at Virgin Hotels from Nov. 14-16.
As for Jonas, he’ll be quite busy on the road with his brothers as part of an extensive tour beginning Aug. 10 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Dave Mustaine has chosen to bring Megadeth to an end after completing one final tour due to ongoing health challenges.
The band plans to step away next year once they wrap up their farewell run and release their final album. Frontman Dave, 64, has now shared that he reached this decision because arthritis and issues with his back have left him “unable to give a hundred per cent every night”.
Speaking on SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Dave said, “It had been building up for a long time, just physical things happening with my hands … My hands were starting to fail me.
“And there were other difficulties tied to everything going on with my neck and my trunk. That whole area has arthritis and some bulging discs.
“I have a fractured lumbar bone. And of course, my back has been fused near my shoulders and neck. There is just a lot going on …
“I always said that when the time came where I could no longer give a hundred per cent each night, that would be the moment I would start thinking about slowing down.”
He continued by sharing that the choice became clear after the band completed recording their final self-titled project.
Dave explained, “It was not that I couldn’t give a hundred per cent, because we finished the album and I feel we did well with it, but while we were working I had a moment where I told my manager … ‘I am not sure how much longer I can continue. My hands are really hurting.’
“I did not intend to set things in motion. I was just talking, but it led to conversations with the band, then taking time to reflect, speaking with my family, and praying about it.
“And the answer was obvious to me that by the time the album was finished, I would know how it would perform. If it does really well, I can still deliver one final strong tour.
“And the idea of a farewell feels connected to that. We have certain shows we want to play so we can say goodbye to the people who have supported us.”
Dave added, “We are an American band, but we perform all over the world. We are not weekend performers like some country acts in the States. We have a lot of ground to cover if we want to say goodbye the right way.”
The band’s seventeenth studio album, Megadeth, will arrive in January, and their This Was Our Life tour begins in Canada in February.
