DON DOKKEN Says He Has Picked The Actor Who Will Play Him In Upcoming DOKKEN Movie

In a new interview with Steve Mascord of White Line Fever, DOKKEN frontman Don Dokken spoke in more detail about the movie that Netflix is making about the band, apparently to be helmed by “the same director” that worked on MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s “The Dirt”. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It happens in 1989. It takes place [with] four guys that are fans of DOKKEN and they’re following us around and trying to meet us. I think that’s the premise of the movie. So we all had to pick an actor [to play each one of us]. They sent me, like, six people [to choose from]. [They asked me], ‘Who looks like you?’ I go, ‘None of ’em.’ [Laughs]”

Asked how he heard about the DOKKEN movie being made, Don said: “They just called us and said, ‘We wanna make a movie about DOKKEN.’ And Jeff [Pilson, ex-DOKKEN bassist] had to pick a character and George [Lynch, ex-DOKKEN guitarist] and Mick [Brown, ex-DOKKEN drummer], because we don’t look like that, [like we did in] 1989, anymore. We all had to just pick the actor that would play our part. That was kind of weird.”

Don went on to say that he hasn’t seen the script for the movie. “[I] just picked my character and said, ‘Run with it,'” he explained. ‘They started that when COVID hit. [And then] the movie industry kind of shut down.”

When Mascord suggested to Don that the release of the movie may result in a renewed interest in DOKKEN, similar to the way “The Dirt” led to CRÜE announcing a stadium tour less than a year after the film’s arrival, Dokken said: “Yeah, maybe [we will make some] new fans. It depends if the movie’s good.”

Asked if the DOKKEN film will be released in theaters or it will be on streaming services, Don said: “I wish I could give you all these answers, but I don’t have any. They just told me they wanted to make a movie, and they’re also doing a documentary about us. So I had to go to L.A., and I went to the Whisky [A Go Go] and they filmed me, interviewed me, asking me questions about the scene back then. I personally didn’t understand that, because I think there’s been so many documentaries about the Whisky and the Rainbow and back in the day and the ’80s when girls had the big hair and mini-skirts and push-up bras. I just reiterated what I’d seen. They just thought, ‘Do you have any stories we don’t know about?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I do, but I don’t think I should tell you them.’ [Laughs]”

Asked if the DOKKEN documentary will cover any of the drama and infighting that happened within the group that ultimately caused the breakup of the band’s classic lineup, Don said: “I don’t know. I really, really am in the dark. I told them. Yeah, I mean, it was probably the main reason DOKKEN broke up, because you’ve got three guys doing massive coke. I don’t do coke. So I was kind of the odd man out. A lot of drinking, a lot of partying. And actually I was getting down ’cause we were getting so close to like being at the top, being a headliner band, and then I just couldn’t save the band. I couldn’t save it. It was depressing. You start a band, you work your ass off your whole life playing bars and backyards, and then you’re trying to keep yourself going. I mean, you look at METALLICA‘s movie, when they made the [‘St. Anger’] album, look, they almost didn’t make it. They had a therapist, that movie, a therapist in the studio every day. ‘Some Kind Of Monster’. And they actually showed a therapist talking to them and they’re arguing, and then Jason Newsted left the band, and they laid it all out there.”

CRÜE members Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee have repeatedly said that the aforementioned 2019 biopic “The Dirt”, about MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s formative years, sparked a renewed interest from younger fans who wanted to see them live, contributing to the band’s decision to renege on its infamous “cessation of touring” contract.

After vowing in 2015 never to play together again, CRÜE announced in December 2019 that they would be touring in 2020 with fellow hard rock veterans DEF LEPPARD and POISON. The trek was eventually postponed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic before finally taking place in 2022.

“The Dirt” currently has a 37% critic score from 75 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the online review aggregation service that allows both critics and the public to rate movies. The same site has an 94% audience score for “The Dirt” from more than 5,000 reviews.

The movie, which was helmed by “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” director Jeff Tremaine, was picked up by Netflix after being previously developed at Focus Features and before that at Paramount.

DOKKEN released its 13th studio album, “Heaven Comes Down”, on October 27 via Silver Lining Music. The follow-up to 2012’s “Broken Bones” was produced by Bill Palmer and Don Dokken and was mixed by Kevin Shirley (AEROSMITH, IRON MAIDEN).

DOKKEN‘s classic lineup of Dokken, guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer “Wild” Mick Brown completed a short Japanese tour in October 2016, marking the first time in 21 years the four performed together.

A DOKKEN concert DVD focusing on the band’s reunion tour, “Return To The East Live (2016)”, was made available in 2018.

At some of the recent DOKKEN shows, Lynch has been rejoining the band on stage to perform three of the classic DOKKEN songs: “Kiss Of Death”, “When Heaven Comes Down” and “Tooth And Nail”.