In brief: Cherry Kiss Got a Biopic. Retired Legend Axel Braun Wrote It for Free and Played Himself.
Most performers get a showcase. Cherry Kiss got a biopic, a script from a retired legend, and that legend in a cameo as himself. Not bad for someone who, in the movie’s telling, started out in the makeup chair.
Uuppsss
Elegant Angel has released Cherry On Top, a semi-biographical feature starring Kiss, directed by Claudia Ross from a screenplay by Axel Braun, according to a release published by PVM Chicago on Sept. 21. The film follows her path into the industry, from the makeup chair to international success, and ends at the moment she started directing. The full film is out on ElegantAngel.com and VOD, with a DVD to follow.
Kiss called it the most personal thing she has made:
“For my fan base, this will be a true reveal of my life story. In this showcase, we go through absolutely everything — from the very beginning of my journey in the industry all the way to the moment I started directing. I wouldn’t say directing is the end of my story, though. It is actually the beginning of a completely new chapter in my career and in this industry.”
The casting doubles as a reunion. Octavia Red plays her best friend, the real-life friend Kiss brought into the business. Vince Karter, her ex-boyfriend and, in her words, “still one of my best friends,” plays himself in a recreation of their relationship. Ella Reese, Seth Gamble, Lexington Steele and Milan round out the cast. Kiss admitted the hardest role was her own: recreating her younger years while playing herself as she is today.
Then there is Braun. The retired director says Ross told him Kiss wanted to pitch a life-story showcase, he offered to write a free treatment, and then got carried away and wrote the entire script. His explanation:
“It happens.”
Ross then asked him to play himself in a non-sex role, the director Kiss calls her “guardian angel.” Braun suspects he got the part because he worked for free. Ross spent 25 years as his editor and collaborator before moving into directing, and Braun said there’s something satisfying about her finally getting “to tell her boss where to stand and what to do.”
Why it matters, as we see it: a showcase sells a performer, but a biopic says she has a story worth telling. Our read: Kiss is using the movie to rebrand herself as a director, and she has the industry’s most famous retired director in the movie backing her up.
Cherry on top, indeed.