Universal Pictures has released a brand new trailer and poster for their upcoming feature documentary The Sparks Brothers, which is directed by none other than Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz). After a run on the festival circuit, the film comes to cinemas in July. It will also open this year’s Sundance London film festival. The movie premiered at the main festival in Utah back in January.
How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron and Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favourite band’s favourite band.
Here’s a little more about the movie, as provided by Universal.
Ron and Russell Mael are rock’s original Odd Couple, as inscrutable as they are fascinating. Never content to rest on their laurels or follow musical trends, they have achieved commercial success only intermittently, and almost despite themselves. Edgar Wright’s music documentary THE SPARKS BROTHERS captures the art-pop pioneers at an improbable late career high, as well as recounting the story of how they got there, asking why they are not as celebrated as they deserve to be, and finding out how they became your favourite band’s favourite band.
Featured in the documentary are noted Sparks admirers and collaborators such as Beck, Vince Clarke and Andy Bell of Erasure, Chris Difford of Squeeze, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Nick Rhodes and John Taylor of Duran Duran, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert of New Order, Nick Heyward, Bjork, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bernard Butler, Martyn Ware of The Human League/Heaven 17, Roddy Bottum of Faith No More, Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos, Steve Jones of Sex Pistols, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Mike Myers, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, as well as producers such as Todd Rundgren, Muff Winwood, Tony Visconti, Giorgio Moroder and James Lowe, and several Sparks band members past and present.
The film will be released on 30th July, 2021. Here’s that new trailer.
