If you’ve ever gone down the rabbit hole of indie sci-fi from the late 90s, you’ve probably hit a wall trying to find the Kiss the Sky movie. It’s a weird one. Honestly, it’s one of those projects that sits in the graveyard of "almost made it," and it’s mostly remembered now because of the tragic and legendary names attached to it. We aren't talking about the C. Thomas Howell flick from 1999, which usually pops up first in search results. No, the real intrigue lies with the unproduced or obscurely developed scripts involving comic book royalty.
Specifically, we have to look at Roger Slifer. If that name doesn't ring a bell, he’s the guy who co-created Lobo for DC Comics. He was a powerhouse in the 80s and 90s animation and comic world. Slifer had a vision for a project called Kiss the Sky, and for years, it was the "next big thing" in his circle.
What was the Kiss the Sky movie actually about?
Most people get this confused with a generic rock-and-roll biopic or a Hendrix tribute. It wasn't. The project Slifer was shopping around was a gritty, high-concept piece that leaned heavily into his background in edgy storytelling. It’s kinda heartbreaking. Slifer was a master of the "anti-hero" before it was a sanitized trope you see in every Marvel movie today.
His version of Kiss the Sky was supposed to be a visceral experience. It dealt with themes of transcendence and the cost of fame, but through a lens that felt more like Heavy Metal magazine than a standard Hollywood script. This wasn't going to be a "safe" movie.
But here’s where things get messy.
In the film industry, a title is rarely unique. By the time Slifer was pushing his vision, other projects with the same name were already surfacing. The 1999 Kiss the Sky, directed by Roger Young, ended up taking the oxygen out of the room. That movie featured William Petersen and Gary Cole—solid actors, for sure—but it was a drama about middle-aged men having a midlife crisis in the Philippines. It wasn't the boundary-pushing sci-fi/fantasy epic that Slifer’s fans were waiting for.
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The Tragic Wall: Why development stopped
Life is messy. In 2012, Roger Slifer was the victim of a brutal hit-and-run in Santa Monica. He spent years in nursing homes with a traumatic brain injury. The industry moved on. The "Kiss the Sky" project he had championed basically evaporated with him.
When we talk about the Kiss the Sky movie today, we are often talking about a ghost.
It’s an example of "Development Hell" in its most literal, painful form. There are thousands of scripts in Hollywood that have "Heat," which is industry-speak for momentum. Slifer’s work had heat. He had the connections. He had the street cred from Lobo and Sunbow (the folks behind Transformers and G.I. Joe). Yet, the movie never materialized on a screen in a way that did justice to the original pitch.
The 1999 Version: A different beast
If you actually sit down to watch the version of Kiss the Sky that exists on DVD or streaming, you’re getting a very different vibe.
- It’s about two friends.
- They go to a tropical island.
- They try to reclaim their youth.
- It’s... fine.
But for the sci-fi community, this version felt like a placeholder. It used a title that carried so much weight in the indie circuit for something much more "Lifetime Movie of the Week" than "Visual Masterpiece." It’s sort of like ordering a steak and getting a lukewarm salad.
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The Hendrix Connection and the Legal Maze
You can't use the phrase "Kiss the Sky" without Jimi Hendrix’s estate poking their heads in. "Purple Haze" made the lyric iconic. This has always been a hurdle for any Kiss the Sky movie. Music licensing and "personality rights" are a nightmare.
I've seen internal memos from various indie studios where the legal department basically said: "If we call it this, we have to pay the estate, or we have to prove it's a common idiom."
Most directors don't want the headache.
Interestingly, there have been several documentaries and shorts that use the title as a nod to the 60s counterculture. But a definitive, big-budget narrative feature? It’s been avoided because the name itself is a litigation magnet.
Why do we still search for it?
Cult followings are weird. They don't care about box office numbers. They care about "what could have been."
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The fascination with the Slifer-era Kiss the Sky movie stems from a desire for original, adult-oriented animation and sci-fi. We are currently in an era of sequels and reboots. People are hungry for that raw, 90s-era grit that Slifer specialized in.
Navigating the Confusion
If you are looking to watch this movie right now, you have two real options, and neither is probably what you're hoping for if you want a sci-fi epic:
- The 1999 Drama: Starring William Petersen. It’s available on some secondary streaming services and old-school physical media. It’s a drama. It’s slow. It’s about guys talking about their feelings.
- Short Films: There are at least three different short films on Vimeo and YouTube with this title. One is a surfing documentary. One is a student film. None are the "lost masterpiece."
Honestly, the "Kiss the Sky" most people are looking for doesn't exist in a finished state. It exists in sketches, in treatment binders, and in the memories of people who worked with Roger Slifer before his accident.
Actionable Steps for Film Buffs and Collectors
If you’re genuinely interested in the history of this project or the "lost" era of Roger Slifer’s work, don't just search for the movie title. You'll get junk results.
Follow these steps to find the real history:
- Search for "The Roger Slifer Collection": Some of his papers and pitches have been documented by comic historians. This is where the "soul" of his movie ideas lives.
- Check the Credits of Sunbow Entertainment: Look at the mid-to-late 90s era. You'll see the DNA of the Kiss the Sky aesthetic in some of the aborted pilots and sizzle reels they produced.
- Support the Slifer Family Legacy: There are several charities and groups that formed after Roger’s hit-and-run. They often share archival stories about his unproduced works.
- Hunt for the "Purple Haze" Script: In some trade publications from 1997, the project was briefly listed under this working title to avoid the Hendrix trademark issues. Search specifically for "Slifer Purple Haze screenplay."
The Kiss the Sky movie remains a fascinating "What If?" in the world of entertainment. It serves as a reminder that a title can be more famous than the film itself, and that sometimes, the most interesting stories are the ones that never actually made it to the big screen.