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Legendary KISS bassist and co-founder produces new survival film starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley
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Published Apr 30, 2026 • Last updated 2 days ago • 4 minute read
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Gene Simmons, a founding member of the rock band KISS, is seen on Capitol Hill on Dec. 9, 2025. Photo by Andrew Harnik /Getty ImagesArticle content
Earlier this month, KISS icon Gene Simmons fired back at fans who were critical of him for launching another business venture.
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Even before the legendary rock band he co-founded in 1973 wrapped up their final concert tour in 2023, Simmons, 76, was already readying his next project — producing movies alongside Gary Hamilton.
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As he plugged their first release, Deep Water, which is now playing in theatres, some fans groused about Simmons’ penchant for finding new ways to make money.
“How about this. Stop looking at my plate,” Simmons told one complainer on X. “What makes me happy, is to never stop, and continue to add value to my family, their future generations, to charity, and to these blessed United States of America. Sending good wishes to you.”
Speaking to Postmedia this week from Los Angeles, Simmons said his foray into the business of making movies is part of his ongoing passion to continually challenge himself.
“You and I know the same thing. At the end of today, we’re going to be alive one less day,” he said, before posing a question. “So what do you want to do? If God gave you one extra day of life. What do you want to do? Do you want to coast your way through it, and do the usual stuff, the ordinary stuff? Or do you want to be associated with extraordinary things so at the end of the night you go, ‘Wow, what a day that was.’ ”
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When Variety announced the venture in 2023, Simmons/Hamilton Productions stated its goal is to release 25 movies over an initial five-year period.
Simmons is looking for titles with box office potential, and Deep Water is the type of summer blockbuster that fits the bill.
Inspired by 1970s disaster movies, Deep Water casts Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley as pilots captaining an airliner flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai that crashes into shark-invested waters in the Pacific Ocean mid-flight.
As they wait to be rescued, the survivors have to fend off hungry sharks who are continuously circling in for the kill.
Aaron Eckhart battles a hungry shark in the new survival thriller ‘Deep Water.’ Photo by Sherry Media Group
Simmons was hooked when he read the script and immediately tapped Die Hard 2 filmmaker Renny Harlin to direct the survival thriller.
“If I can’t physically do it myself, or if I don’t have the imagination or the ability to do that, I certainly want to get close to the greats. People who can do great things, so I can be a part of that. I can tell you after all this hard work, the script, the talent, Sir Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart, what Renny has been able to achieve with this motion picture, I’m so proud of it … It’s a killer. It’s gonna rock everybody’s world,” he says.
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‘Everybody wants to go see this movie’
Harlin is no stranger to the shark genre, having also directed 1999’s Deep Blue Sea.
The underwater predators have become Hollywood’s most bankable on-screen villains because they allow moviemakers to put ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances, the Finnish director says.
“Any time we go in the water, it’s the great unknown,” the 67-year-old says, seated alongside Simmons. “When we go into their world there’s nothing we can do about it, but just hope for the best.”
Sharksploitation flicks have continually found audiences in the multiplexes because the stories are “endlessly fascinating.”
“It’s the whole element of the ocean. It’s not our environment. But sharks are not evil … they’re not bad animals, they are just animals. It would be the same thing if you were dropped into a jungle full of lions. They would just make a meal out of you,” Harlin says. “The same thing will happen in the ocean if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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Ahead of the Los Angeles premiere Monday night, Simmons was planning to welcome “friends and enemies” to see Deep Water in cinemas.
“Everybody wants to go see this movie. You’ve seen it, you know what I mean. This is gonna rock everybody’s socks off,” Simmons says.
As for the next mountain he wants to climb, Simmons, who is set to tour parts of Canada later this year, will decide on his next move a little bit later.
“Tomorrow, I’ll figure everything else out,” he says.
“There’s a word we don’t say enough, and that’s ‘pride.’ This is a movie to be proud of. It’s a great film for people of all ages and all walks of life,” Simmons says.
But he offers up another piece of advice before signing off. “Don’t go alone. Bring people with you,” Simmons says, flashing a smile. “This is one of those communal things that you have to see with other people.”
Deep Water is now playing in theatres.
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