‘Spinning Gold’ Tells Jewish Music Mogul’s Life Story

The life of legendary record executive and Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart will come to the screen in “Spinning Gold,” featuring the music of his most famous acts: KISS, Donna Summer, Village People, Parliament, Gladys Knight, The Isley Brothers, Bill Withers and Curtis Mayfield.

Jewish actor Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies,” “Waitress”) will play Bogart, who was born Neil Scott Bogatz and died of cancer and lymphoma at age 39 in 1982. Written and directed by Timothy Scott Bogart, the music mogul’s son, the self-financed film will begin production in Montreal in July.

Other MOTs in the cast include Dan Fogler, James Wolk, and Jason Isaacs as Al Bogart, Neil’s father. Playing the Casablanca roster’s stars are Steven Strait and Sam Harris as Jewish KISS founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, Jazmine Sullivan as Knight, Samuel L. Jackson and D.L. Hughley as Parliament’s George Clinton and Bootsy Collins, and Jason Derulo as Ron Isley. The cast also includes Neil Patrick Harris, Kenan Thompson, and Michelle Monaghan.

The soundtrack will feature such 1970s hits as Summers’ “Last Dance“ and “I Feel Love,” Mayfield’s “Freddie’s Dead” and “Superfly,” Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia,” Village People’s “YMCA” and “In the Navy,” and KISS’  “Rock and Roll All Nite.” Bogart will recreate some performance scenes at actual KISS concerts this summer.

“Spinning Gold” will not shy away from the excesses of the era or Bogart’s flaws and failings. “It’s a story of an enormously tight-knit group that made magic happen, who believed in their dreams and made them come true,” Bogart told Deadline. “It would be wrong for me or the film to judge these people, though the audience certainly can.”