Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis is to develop his best-selling Scar Tissue autobiography into a television drama for US channel HBO.
The show, set to air on the same channel behind such classics as The Wire and Curb Your Enthusiasm, will depict Kiedis’ early years living with his father Spider, ‘drug dealer to the stars’. One for the CV there.
Whereas the book used this period as a jump-off point for a frank tackling of Kiedis’ later drug problems, the programme is expected to adopt a lighter tone, with the offbeat father-son relationship and ’70s LA rock scene providing the focus.
Speaking about his dad, Kiedis told Daily Variety: "He introduced me to the arts, to a more culturally magnificent life. But some of it was this heavy, adult matter that I wasn’t quite capable of digesting … It was a very rich but challenging period of my life. I was thrust into this adult mentality by age 11."
Marc Abrams, who will produce the project along with Catapult 360 partner Michael Benson, said:
"To be able to look at a very famous figure and get an origin story, to see the pieces of the puzzle that put him on the path to fame – it became very clear that this was a special project," said Abrams."
Kiedis added: "I love mulling over all this raw material. [My father is] into it too. He sees it as our last great hurrah. For us to be reconnecting to construct these memories – the women and the rock bands and the doormen of these clubs – is exciting."
