Legendary rock star and director team up for disaster flick 'Deep Water'

Published April 30, 2026 9:40 AM EDT

"You can’t make good food with crap. You can’t create something in the hands of an idiot who has no talent!"

In other words, rock icon Gene Simmons knows a good director when he meets one — and that’s how he landed with Renny Harlin.

Simmons is a producer on Harlin’s "Deep Water," which opens in theatres nationwide on Friday, May 1st. The film puts a modern twist on the classic disaster movie, centering on a group of passengers stranded in the Pacific Ocean following a fiery crash. And guess what’s waiting for them in the water?

Spoiler alert: Blood-thirsty sharks.

"You’ve hit it on the head," says Harlin, when asked about the new film’s connection to disaster films from the 1970s. "[Those are] the movies that I grew up with, and I always wanted to have this opportunity to make a movie like that. My ultimate favorite movie from my youth is ‘The Poseidon Adventure.’ And that’s kind of what I was channeling when I made this movie."

"Deep Water" stars Golden Globe nominee Aaron Eckhart and Academy Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley — for more information on the film, click here. And click the video player in this article to check out our interview with Gene Simmons and Renny Harlin.

The Source: This is a FOX 5 Atlanta original report, based on Paul Milliken interviews with Gene Simmons and Renny Harlin.

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