Netflix will explore the early period of the Red Hot Chili Peppers career in the aptly named documentary The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which will premiere March 20. Per Variety, the film will focus on the formative role of original guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died of a drug overdose in 1988.
The movie was directed by Ben Feldman and is based on new interviews with Chili Peppers members Flea and Anthony Kiedis, plus Slovak’s friends and family. It was produced by Asta Entertainment, Submarine Entertainment and Polygram Entertainment and was reportedly screened for interested parties at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
However, the Peppers released a statement clarifying their involvement and that the documentary is more focused on Slovak rather than the history of the band itself. They wrote, “about a year ago, we were asked to be interviewed for a documentary about Hillel Slovak. He was a founding member of the group, a great guitarist, and friend. We agreed to be interviewed out of love and respect for Hillel and his memory. However, this documentary is now being advertised as a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary, which it is not. We had nothing to do with it creatively. We have yet to make a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary. The central subject of this current Netflix special is Hillel Slovak and we hope it sparks interest in his work.”
Slovak’s wacky, perverse sense of humor and natural hunger for funk and freedom were the spark which became the Peppers’ signature hyperkenesis, but his death followed a headlong dive into addiction which had been deepening for years. In 1990, Kiedis told SPIN that the song “Knock Me Down” from the album Mother’s Milk was inspired by Slovak’s sad decline.
“The initial impetus for that song came to me while we were in England [in May 1988],” he recalled. “Hillel had a pretty bad drug habit when we left L.A, and when we got there he commenced experiencing withdrawal symptoms. He was really ill, but at the same time he didn’t seem to have compassion for his life or consider that he wasn’t beyond death or humiliation because of drugs. It just dawned on me that here he was in the face of misery, but he still wasn’t ready to concede that drugs were lessening his level of life and beauty. So the idea of ‘knock me down’ came to me, like someone’s got to knock him down before he dies. Because he’s not bigger than life. Then we came back to L.A, and immediately both of us started using again and then he died a very short time afterward, ’cause he was alone. I hadn’t really tried to reach him for a week. I could have saved him — I know CPR really well, and I’ve brought back a couple of friends who died from an OD.”
“It’s a true honor to partner with Netflix to bring The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers to a global audience,” Feldman said of the project. “At its heart, this is a deeply relatable story — about the friendships that shape our identities and the lasting power of the bonds forged in adolescence. What’s less relatable, of course, is that here those friends went on to create one of the greatest rock bands in history. I’m profoundly grateful to the band and to Hillel’s family for their trust and generosity, and to Netflix for helping bring this story to the world stage.”
The Chili Peppers are expected to take the year off while Flea promotes and tours in support of his debut solo album, Honora, due March 27 from Nonesuch.