In Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue, Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) meets Claire (Kate Hudson) and the two become Lightning and Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute band. As they perform onstage and build a life together, their path to happiness is marred by multiple devastating tragedies.
Awards Buzz spoke to Brewer about the similarities between his breakout film Hustle & Flow and this, and how they have more in common than it might initially seem:
“They do share a lot. They do have a lot of the same type of themes of people that probably have dreams that are larger than you think are possible. You’re almost frustrated with them because their dreams are outside of the range of what they could probably achieve. I’m turning fifty-four this Saturday. I’m going to be five years older than my father ever lived and I’m definitely thinking grownup thoughts of being maybe a little closer to the end than I am at the beginning or maybe at a halfway point.”
He described the inspiration for this film as representative of something greater within the music industry as a whole:
“I saw the documentary. I fell in love with this family. I saw their resilience. I saw the makings of this as a music Rocky. But I always just knew that this was a story that if I did it right, I could have music be a central part of it, but really it’s me trying to tap into something that I had a greater urgency to state, which is that there are a lot of musicians, a lot of bands, and a lot of artists that are in these places all around the country and they’re struggling for their own worth. Also, we’re in this stage where there’s just so much emphasis that’s put on fame and fortune or likes or and it’s killing this community arts mentality that, well, wait a minute, but we have our own bandmates, we’ve got our own groups. We should be going to their shows, we should be buying their merch, we should be putting money in their tip jar.”
Song Sung Blue is currently playing in theaters.
