A documentary looking at the early years of Red Hot Chili Peppers is coming to Netflix on March 20.
Directed by Ben Feldman (Funny Not Funny, Bug Out), The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers will offer "a rare, intimate glimpse" into the alt-rock band's “gritty formative years," focusing on the “singular vision" of their original guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died of an accidental heroin overdose in 1988.
Slovak's brother James will serve as an executive producer.
Variety reports that the doc will interview founding members "Flea and Anthony Kiedis, as well as others who were close to Slovak, who discuss the band’s early evolution and the deep bond of their childhood friendship."
The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers had a secret screening at Cannes Film Festival in 2025, where it was shopped to buyers, followed by additional screenings in Los Angeles and New York before it was scooped up by Netflix.
“It’s a true honor to partner with Netflix to bring ‘The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ to a global audience. At its heart, this is a deeply relatable story — about the friendships that shape our identities and the lasting power of the bonds forged in adolescence,” Feldman said in a statement. “What’s less relatable, of course, is that here those friends went on to create one of the greatest rock bands in history. I’m profoundly grateful to the band and to Hillel’s family for their trust and generosity, and to Netflix for helping bring this story to the world stage.”