Former “Saturday Night Live” star Chris Kattan and a cadre of other actors gathered in San Diego over the past few weeks to film a new comedy movie about concert culture.
Titled “Concert Heroes,” it’s written and produced by local filmmaker Steven Mark, whose most recent theatrical release as a producer was “The Samuel Project” in 2018 starring Hal Linden and San Diego native Ryan Ochoa.
Mark said he wrote this new screenplay with his brother, and the pieces started coming together when cast members such as Robert Romanus from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and E. G. Daily of “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” signed on to the project. Ken Davitian, who co-stars in the “Borat” films, also joined the cast filming locally this week in San Diego.
Hair and makeup artist Sarah Ankerman adjusts a wig for actor Ken Davitian before shooting a scene for the film Concert Heroes at Spark Studio Soundstage in Kearny Mesa on Feb. 11, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Actor and comedian Joe Nunez, who started in comedy at Second City and ImprovOlympic in Chicago and has acting roles in a range of films and TV shows such as “Superbad” and “Bless This Mess,” is making his directorial debut. He spoke highly of the San Diego actors and crew who participated in filming “Concert Heroes,” as well as the location options they were able to use. Filming took place at Full Circle Saloon and Estrada’s in Santee as well as at Spark Studio Soundstage in Kearny Mesa and a few other places.
“Being introduced to the film community here — people are hungry to create, they’re hungry to work, they want it bad,” Nunez said. “This film is home-grown.”
Nunez and Kattan have a podcast together, known as “Idiotically Speaking,” and the pair also play the San Diego-based buddies who star in “Concert Heroes.”
“The story is about these two filmmakers in San Diego that get hired to do a documentary based on this not-so-great band that comes back together for a reunion tour,” Mark said.
Mark has written about his obsession with going to concerts — he thinks the number is well over 1,000 — in the past and decided to turn those stories into a screenplay featuring the archetypes of people who can always be found at rock shows. He counts KISS and Cheap Trick at the Sports Arena in 1977 as a favorite local concert. “The real rock stars face the stage,” is the unofficial motto and joke of the film, Mark said.
A scene for the movie Concert Heroes is filmed at Spark Studio Soundstage in Kearny Mesa on Feb. 11, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“There’s a heart to it,” Mark said of the film, which doesn’t yet have a formal distribution plan. “It’s pure nostalgia.”
Part of that heart comes from the band Carolina Liar, Mark said, which is providing its music for the fictional band in the film. Chad Wolf, the band’s lead singer, lives part-time in Leucadia, said he jumped at the chance to be involved.
“I got to go see Saturday Night Live a couple times back in the day because Max Martin (who produced Carolina Liar’s album “Coming to Terms”) was there and so I got to see some of what this kind of comedy is and I just always wanted to be a part of something like this,” Wolf said.
Locals can follow along with the journey of the filmmaking process going forward on Instagram: @concertheroes.