Everybody knows one, and every garden grows one.
We have the first trailer for Song Sung Blue, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in the true-life tale of two down-on-their-luck musicians who form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band that changes their lives. Have a look above.
“I’m not a songwriter, I’m not a sex symbol — I just want to entertain people,” Jackman’s Mike Sardina tells Hudson’s Claire Stengl. “I don’t wanna be a hairdresser,” she replies. “I wanna sing, I wanna dance, I wanna garden, I want a cat.”
Fast-forward a bit, and Mike holds a Moods LP cover next to his face and asks, “What do you think?” Claire says, “You don’t want to be a Neil Diamond impersonator — you want to be a Neil Diamond interpreter.” Says he: “I was looking for the right way to say it, and you just came right out and said it.”
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Thus is born Lightning & Thunder, the tribute band. (Don’t call them a “cover band”; that’s like saying you were slam dancing, not moshing.) Romance blooms, backstories are told, and leafblowers are deployed as hair-ripplers. And … “Sweet Caroline” and the “BAH-bah-bahhhhhs,” etc.
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in ‘Song Sung Blue’
Focus Features
Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir, Hudson Hensley co-star, with Fisher Stevens and Jim Belushi also appearing in the film from writer-director Craig Brewer (Coming 2 America, Dolemite Is My Name). He also produces alongside John Davis and John Fox.
Focus Features brings the musical journey in theaters on Christmas Day. Back in April, Hudson teased the movie’s release date on Instagram, writing in part: “Loved every second making this beautiful film, working with the most lovely work husband you could ask for, @thehughjackman, singing the iconic songs of Neil Diamond.”
