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By Gavin Boyle
SONG SUNG BLUE director Craig Brewer recalled how nobody in Hollywood believed in his newest movie because it portrayed a class of people that don’t often get screen time: a lower-middle class couple.
“Everyone said no, and they were very, very vocal in saying no. Even places that I had made a lot of money for were like, ‘We don’t think audiences are going to like these people. Just look at the way they’re living,’” Brewer told Variety. “And I’d say, ‘What do you mean, “the way they’re living”?’ They’d say, ‘Well, their house is cluttered and dirty.’ I was like, ‘Well, wait a minute. Hold on. These are some magical people. These are the type of people that I’m related to. This is like my grandmother’s house.’”
“But Focus [Features] did get it. And Peter Cramer, a top executive at Universal, their parent company, came back from a wedding and said he saw all these young people who went berserk when ‘Sweet Caroline’ played, so that helped,” Brewer continued.
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The movie follows Mike and Claire Sardina, “a Milwaukee husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute act, [who] experience soaring success and devastating heartbreak in their musical journey together.” It stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.
SONG SUNG BLUE also has a strong faith element attached to it with characters who engage in prayer on screen. This likely further turned off Hollywood executives who still do not believe that audiences crave this type of content. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are decidedly more glamorous than the real Mike and Claire. However, SONG SUNG BLUE has some of the most joyous and most powerful dramatic scenes celebrating and honoring God, faith, family, and love. The musical performances take full advantage of the spiritual and emotional content in Neil Diamond’s songs, which often include references to God. However, SONG SUNG BLUE has some foul language (including three strong profanities), scenes of personal tragedy and brief marijuana use in one scene. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
Despite the difficulties he faced, Brewer persevered because he believed in this story. He has worked on movies like this his entire career, shining a light on those who are overlooked and fighting to bring them to the big screen.
“My whole career has been focused on two avenues, Southerners and African American stories,” Brewer said. “Every studio that you meet with immediately tells you how limited those audiences are. They go, ‘Well, African American stories don’t travel overseas,’ or ‘We’re not going to make anything that remotely talks about the South because of the accents.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, FORREST GUMP had some Southern accents.’ And they’re like, ‘That’s different.'”
“Here I thought, there’s no Southern accents in it,” he added, speaking to SONG SUNG BLUE. “It’s not particularly diverse. It’s about this White couple. Yet, that mentality still existed. They worried audiences weren’t really going to be into the story of these people in Milwaukee.”
Brewer’s belief in his movie has paid off, as SONG SUNG BLUE has had a strong theatrical release for an indie movie, while Kate Hudson earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Audiences can still see SONG SUNG BLUE in theaters today.
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