Netflix has just dropped a trailer for a coming-of-age comedy film about band geeks-turned-heavy-metal-heads with Metal Lords.
The film is written by D.B. Weiss, a co-creator of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Adding to the rock cred of the film is the fact that Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello serves as executive music producer.
According to the film’s synopsis, the story centers around two kids who start a metal band “in a high school where exactly two kids care about metal.” Needing a bassist for the lineup, they approach a girl who plays the cello. The now-trio must work together to achieve ultimate high school glory by winning the Battle of the Bands.
The film stars It actor Jaeden Martell, Isis Hainsworth, Stranger Things actor Murray Bauman, Adrian Greensmith, and True Blood actor Joe Manganiello, among others.
The film is directed by Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist director Peter Sollett.
Weiss originally came up with the idea for the film in the early 2000s, before he and writing partner David Benioff landed Game of Thrones for HBO. He said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly that the idea of metal fanatics being outcasts at a high seemed to only become more timely with age now that we are living in an era largely dominated by pop acts such as Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, and Justin Bieber.
“The thing you had to believe that didn’t totally make sense at the time was the kids who were heavily invested in rock music would be outliers to the extent that the kids are in this movie…What happened unintentionally in the intervening years was that part of the story started to make more and more sense and this kind of music drifted further and further from the mainstream.”
As for Morello, he said in a recent interview with Billboard that he related to the story of metal-loving kids being outcasts amongst their peers. The Prophets of Rage musician said advising the teen actors during a rehearsal of the climatic band competition scene was probably the most important piece of input he provided.
“It doesn’t matter the accuracy of your cymbal hits. You just have to go fucking berserk the entire time…That’s metal! Don’t worry about the rest. Kick my ass with your facial expressions, which should be, at a minimum, Neanderthal-like and at a maximum, like you’re just in some sort of roiling pain and never stop doing that. Your face should always look like you’re an enraged barbarian.”
Metal Lords comes to Netflix April 8.