With ‘Song Sung Blue,’ Craig Brewer Pays Tribute to Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman, Joy Amongst Sadness, and the Creation of Art [VIDEO INTERVIEW]

As a filmmaker, Craig Brewer has often been drawn to stories of artists and dreamers. In his breakthrough 2005 Sundance hit and Hustle and Flow, Terrence Howard starred as a Memphis pimp trying to break into the rap scene. The film would nab Howard an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and original song “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” would turn Three 6 Mafia into Academy Award winners. 

Brewer’s 2019 film Dolemite Is My Name starred Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, a struggling comic who invented the character Dolemite, a pimp and nightclub owner that became the star of a number of 1970s blaxploitation films.

Given his interest in artists on the fringes and with varying levels of success, Craig Brewer is a natural choice to tell the story of Lightning & Thunder, a Neil Diamond tribute band fronted by married couple Mike and Claire Sardina in Song Sung Blue. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Mike and Claire and follows them from their first meeting through the highs and lows of working to achieve their dreams.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Brewer about what inspired him to tell Mike and Claire’s story, structuring the narrative the way he did, and the pure joy of watching artists create together.

Song Sung Blue opens on Christmas Day from Focus Features.

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Karen Peterson

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