Directed by Adam Rifkin
Comedy
"Kiss the rules goodbye."

"You wanted the best, and you got the best.  The hottest band in the world......KISS!"

     Detroit Rock City is the comical story of four Midwestern High School students coming of age in the late '70s.  The film stars Edward Furlong (Hawk), Giuseppe Andrews (Lex), Sam Huntington (Jam) and James DeBello (Trip).  They have their own KISS cover band called Mystery, and are completely devoted fans to the group KISS.

     After they lose their KISS concert tickets, they leave for Detroit on an unstoppable quest to get into the KISS concert any way they can.  Over the course of one day (note that even the date on the newspaper says Friday, the 13th), each character goes through harrowing experiences and comic misadventures that pit them against seeing their favorite band.

     Giuseppe plays Lex who is the bass player for their band, Mystery.  He describes his character as "the worrier, the nervous one, the one who has to steal his mom's car against his better instincts and watches helplessly as things start to go really wrong." Giuseppe says that Lex is the character that he is most proud of (as of fall, 1999) as it is the character that he has had the most control over, creatively.

Giuseppe as Lex.

Thanks to Rena for sending this great picture!

     The illustrated poster for Detroit Rock City was actually not the only poster proposed for the film.  The cartoon poster depicts almost every character in the movie, and also includes Adam Rifkin (director) and the film's producers.  The concept for the poster originated with Rifkin and was influenced from cartoon posters from the 70's such as Rock 'n' Roll High School, American Graffiti, Animal House, and Mad Magazine.  Rifkin sketched out an idea of what he wanted and paid Phil Roberts to illustrate it out of his own pocket.  The poster was completed in a week and approved by New Line Cinema.

Thanks to Rena for sending me the following pictures.

     Below are three other posters that were proposed for the film.  The one with the school lockers ran as an ad for the film in the New York and Los Angeles Times before being rejected as the official poster.