Mike Adams | Banana1015

Cadillac, Michigan became the adopted home of the legendary rock band KISS back in 1974, after the group showed up in the small town to lend several days of support to the high school football team. Since then, the people of Cadillac have held KISS in high regard, and the experience was such a memorable occasion that a movie called ‘Cadillac High’ is now in the works.

According to reports, Gene Simmons confirmed last week that KISS is about to begin production for the film, which was originally proposed by the Michigan Film Office back in 2012. However, as with any film, finding the proper financial support kept production from immediately moving forward. “It’s now been fully funded and it’s now in pre-production,” Simmons told MLive. “The only date or timeline [for a release] I can give would be a guess.”

Philip Steuer, who is best known for his work on ‘Interview with a Vampire’, ‘Narnia’ and ‘Saving Mr. Banks’, will produce ‘Cadillac High’. The film is expected to employ 205 Michigan residents and will spend over $27 million, according to data from the Michigan Film Office.

To learn more about when KISS visited Cadillac, Michigan, be sure to check out the video above.

Eric Lacy | mlive

DETROIT, MI — The phone conversation last week started a bit awkward.

Me: “Hi Gene! My name is Eric Lacy and I’m a reporter with MLive.com. We own eight newspapers in the state of Michigan and cover Detroit entertainment.”

Gene Simmons: “I’m sorry.”

Fortunately KISS’ on-stage demon warmed up quickly after I asked him to reflect on the impact the Motor City made in the early 70s when the band needed some love.

“We broke in Detroit before any other city,” Simmons said quietly, seemingly with conviction. “We did it even though we’re from New York.

I caught up with Simmons last week to find out more about the band’s relationship with Detroit and Michigan through the years, its future that includes a variety of projects and a current tour with Def Leppard.

The tour makes an Aug. 23 stop at DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston.

During the chat, Simmons broke some news when he revealed that a movie about KISS’ 1975 visit to Cadillac, Mich. is fully-funded and in pre-production.

Enjoy the interview and feel free to post any questions/reaction in the comments section below.

What does playing in Detroit mean to you after all these years knowing this city helped get the band popular across the country?

It was the heartland of America because America was built on wheels. Without cars and trucks and stuff like that, we wouldn’t have the structure of the highways and everything else. Detroit was the heartbeat of that; it was the Motor City. And it wasn’t just the home of Americans working their butts off so that the rest of us could ride in comfort and create the infrastructure, but also the home of America’s music, this kind of amalgam of R&B, soul and Motown.

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