American Idol “garbage man” Douglas Kiker’s movie comes out in January
The American Idol “garbage man” Douglas Kiker stars in an independent movie that now has a January release date.
The season 18 alum stars in the movie, which, according to director Babby Ray Hamilton, will make its online premiere on January 15. Doug and some of his co-stars are are schedule to perform at a Mobile, Alabama area club the same day.
Douglas left the competition during Hollywood, but his compelling backstory, and viral audition in front of the judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, inspired producers to invite him to sing on the finale with Rascal Flatts.
Authorities arrested Douglas in May on domestic violence charges
Of course, the giant elephant in the room is that the American Idol 2020 viral singer was arrested in May on a domestic violence charge. Mobile, Alabama Police lieutenant Matthew James told TMZ that they arrested Doug for misdemeanor domestic violence (harassment). He sat in jail on a $1,000 bond. Oddly, AL.com, the outlet reporting the upcoming release date, never mentions the arrest.
The plot is based on Doug’s life
In the trailer, Douglas plays a garbage man who works as a bouncer at night. The daughter of the club owner bosses him around and is an all around mean person. She fancies herself a star, while nobody knows Douglas can sing. The two wind up in a local singing contest. And well…check out the trailer
The production values are negligible, and to say the acting is poor is an understatement. At one point, Doug begged for extras to show up at huge space to help with the filming. The trailer features barely any sets. Nearly every scene in the trailer is shot in front of a black backdrop.
Hamilton said this week that backers are “self-distributing” the film and hope to have it available on many online services by Jan. 15. “We’ll have it available on Vimeo, but we’ll probably have it on some other multimedia sites, maybe Amazon, we’re working on it as we speak,” Hamilton said.
“We’re trying to connect with his ‘Idol’ fans first and foremost,” said Hamilton. Part of the promotion includes new music. Doug recently released the single “Don’t Put Me in a Box,” which is available through iTunes. Hamilton said another, the inspirational “I’m Gonna Live,” is coming next week.
