7/13/13

Saturday Night Special: KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park

 Factoids pulled from IMDB and Wikipedia:


-For years after its airing, no one who worked for the group was permitted to mention the film in their presence.

-According to an interview with Paul Stanley, the film was described during the pitch to band members as A Hard Day's Night meets Star Wars.

-Prior to completing the script, (the) screenwriters spent time with each Kiss member, in an effort to get a feel for how they each acted and spoke. Frehley, known for his eccentric behavior, said little to the pair but "Ack!" As a result, Frehley was not originally given any lines, except to interject "Ack!" at various points…  upon learning of his lack of dialogue, Frehley threatened to leave the project — soon after, lines were written for him.

-Peter Criss was dubbed, because he wouldn't show up to do looping (re-recording lines in post-production). His voice was dubbed by voiceover artist Michael Bell, who did a lot of work for Hanna-Barbera.

-The international release played theaters, and featured a vastly different version of the film, with several scenes that did not appear in the original television airing added to the cut. It was variously translated as Attack of the Phantoms. In some countries, the film was simply titled Kiss Phantoms.

-When Gene sets the mummy on fire, the flames apparently spread much faster than intended. The stunt man playing the mummy says "Shit!" as he stumbles backwards. It's a made-for-TV movie aimed at children, so the language was not intentional.

-On a few occasions, Frehley left the set during filming due to arguments with the film's director. In one scene that Frehley abandoned, his African American stunt double can be clearly seen instead.
 





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