Tenacious D's 'Destiny' In Sight

[AKA]

Tenacious D's 'Destiny' In Sight

By Jonathan Cohen
Billboard

The highly anticipated film "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny" will likely begin shooting in March, group member Kyle Gass tells Billboard.com. Beforehand, Gass and partner Jack Black will hit the studio with the Dust Brothers' John King to record new songs for the soundtrack, which is expected to double as the next Tenacious D album.

As first reported here, the script was penned by Black and Gass with director Liam Lynch. "It's definitely the funniest movie on paper that I've ever read," Gass says. "It starts off as kind of how the D was formed. It goes into a quest for 'the pick,' a magical pick that will supposedly help us rock like the rock gods we so admire. It's a zillion laughs."

Gass is itching to get moving with production for a variety of practical reasons. "I do know if we continue waiting, I'll have to hire someone to play me," he says with a laugh. "I will be too old to play me. The wheels of Hollywood grind very slowly so I'm going to have some collagen or some sort of plastic surgery."

Among the finished songs earmarked for the soundtrack are "Dude, I Totally Miss You" and the Gass-penned "The Pick of Destiny," which he describes as "a rockin' anthem. I'm imagining it playing over the end credits. You'll be so jazzed after seeing a great movie and then you'll hear this rockin' song at the end."

Even more integral to the storyline is an as-yet-unnamed song at the beginning of the film, which will be performed by a childhood-era Black. "He's in Kickapoo, Ark., growing up," Gass says. "Hopefully we'll get Meat Loaf to play his dad. Jack tries to rock for his parents, but even as a child he's working blue. He gets in trouble and goes up to his room and starts talking to a poster of Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy talks back and inspires Jack to sing this incredible rock song about how he's going to rock the world. We'll have to find some crazy child whose parents won't mind him swearing!"

Gass says the D may try to recruit some of the stars that played on the duo's self-titled 2002 Epic debut for the upcoming sessions. "We'll try to beg Dave Grohl to come back," he says. "Best drummer ever. We liked all the old players. But let's face it. Everyone is dying to play with us, so we can just get on the phone. I'd love to go in and play all the instruments, but I just don't know how."

The D will tune up for the studio with four shows late next month in Australia and New Zealand, where Black is filming his role in Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong." And although the specific dates are still in flux, Gass has Tenacious D's master plan already set in stone.

"I'm sure New Line would love to have the movie come out by Christmas next year," he says. "Then, we'll embark on the Tenacious D world tour. Then, we'll make the really bad sequel. But we'll make zillions of dollars. Then, one more crappy album and that is it. We are done. The goal is to not ever have to do it again."

[Steve M.]

This should be great!