The ever quirky pop and rock duo released the single for the upcoming Annette film, with vocals from stars Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver.
“So May We Start’ is from Annette, which the brother duo also penned. Leos Carax is the director and the film will get a premiere at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival, followed by an August 6 theatrical release.
The trailer is as weirdly and delightfully wonderful as you can expect.
Annette Trailer
Amazon Prime will release on August 20, if there’s no rush.
In terms of film festival releases, Edgar Wright already beat the Mael brothers to the punch when he released the aptly-named The Sparks Brothers at Sundance earlier this year. However, it gets a June release in the US and Australia next month.
“50 Years. 25 albums. 345 songs. Unlimited genius,” promises the tagline, and if it’s Wright at the helm, then we’re in for a pop rock treat.
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So why make Annette?
In a press release, the band give their reasons.
“Initially, we conceived Annette as another Sparks album. Yet this time it would be a narrative story that would consist of three main characters, a small enough ensemble that would allow us to also present the “opera” live on tour…”.
“The music, story and album were finished and ready to go, which is where the story takes a huge detour. After meeting Leos at Cannes, we felt a real kinship, so we thought we would send him Annette, not expecting anything other than to show him what Sparks was currently up to. And lo and behold, he said he really liked the album and would like to consider it as his next project. We were happily surprised and elated at his reaction. As fans of Leos’ films, to now realize that he would be directing a film of ours was beyond our dreams.”
Director Cax elaborated further on the project.
“I discovered Sparks when I was about 14 — I stole a copy of Propaganda from an underground shop at La Défense because I liked the cover….For me, Sparks’ music is like a childhood home, but one free of ghosts. Without them, I don’t think I’d ever have done something I’d dreamt of doing ever since I first started out in cinema: making a “film in music.”
Annette will star Cotillard, Driver and even features Simon Helberg to round out the trio. Everything in the music video from the red curtain opening to the zooming vignette of the stars tells you that Ron and Russell Mael are pulling the strings. Driver’s vocals are somewhat impressive as well.
You can read more about this topic over at the Indie Observer and the Film & TV Observer.
Check out ‘So May We Start’ by Sparks:
