Focus Features acquires Edgar Wright’s Sundance doc ‘The Sparks Brothers’

Wright’s documentary debut follows the five-decade career of influential rock and pop duo Sparks

Focus Features has acquired the worldwide rights to Edgar Wright’s first documentary feature, The Sparks Brothers, from MRC Non-Fiction following a widely acclaimed debut at the Sundance film festival this year. Currently with a 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the film chronicles the decades-long career and influence of the enigmatic rock pop duo Sparks. In his second film with Focus Features this year, director Edgar Wright (upcoming Last Night in Soho, Baby Driver), also produced the documentary with his producing partner Nira Park, though their company Complete Fiction Pictures, along with producers George Hencken, and Complete Fiction’s Laura Richardson. The film was financed by MRC Non-Fiction and will be distributed domestically by Focus Features with Universal Pictures distributing internationally.

How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? The Sparks Brothers, which features commentary from celebrity fans Flea, Beck, Jack Antonoff, Jason Schwartzman, Neil Gaiman, and more, takes audiences on a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers/bandmates Ron and Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of your favorite band’s favorite band.

Sundance Review: Edgar Wright shines a bright light on iconic duo in ‘The Sparks Brothers’

Says Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski, “It’s hard to imagine a better pairing of subjects and filmmaker than Ron and Russell and Edgar.  For the past five decades, Sparks have been pushing the bounds of pop music with iconoclastic style and a perpetual mission to try something new rather than relying on the tried-and-true.  It’s that perseverance that has made them among the most influential bands in history.  In telling their story, Edgar has crafted an absolute joy bomb that will literally have you dancing in the aisles whether you grew up following them or are just now realizing how much their sound already shaped your life.”

“I’ve had the privilege of seeing Focus Features do what they do best, and they are the perfect team to bring Edgar’s love letter to Ron & Russell to audiences around the world – we are truly envious of everyone who will get to experience Sparks for the first time,” said Amit Dey, Head of MRC Non-Fiction

Wright is represented by CAA and Nelson Davis.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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