Russell Mael Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

‘X Crucior’ Musical From Sparks Duo Ron & Russell Mael In Works At Focus Features - deadline.com
deadline.com
04.11.2022

‘X Crucior’ Musical From Sparks Duo Ron & Russell Mael In Works At Focus Features

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features is getting back in business with musicians Ron and Russell Mael, after serving as the distributor for the 2021 Edgar Wright doc The Sparks Brothers, of which the duo were the subjects. The studio has today announced the launch of development on X Crucior, an original musical epic to be written and exec produced by the Maels.

Zach Clark’s Alien Romance ‘The Becomers’ narrated by Sparks’ Russell Mael Debuts Clip, Poster (EXCLUSIVE) - variety.com - USA - county Wright - county Edgar
variety.com
17.07.2023

Zach Clark’s Alien Romance ‘The Becomers’ narrated by Sparks’ Russell Mael Debuts Clip, Poster (EXCLUSIVE)

Marta Balaga It’s time for some body-snatching mayhem. Zach Clark’s “The Becomers,” about confused alien lovers trying to find their place on Earth, and each other, has debuted the first clip and poster ahead of its Fantasia Film Festival premiere. “I was really inspired and influenced by 1950s B-movies. I have always liked the disreputable pockets of film history. My general approach to the entire movie was to embrace that and embrace kitsch as an access point,” said Clark.  “Older genre films really invite the audience in. Now, it’s all about visual effects and things looking as real as possible. But this more lo-fi effect asks you to play along in a way that modern stuff doesn’t.”

Watch Cate Blanchett dance on stage with Sparks at Glastonbury Festival - www.nme.com - Australia - Los Angeles
nme.com
24.06.2023

Watch Cate Blanchett dance on stage with Sparks at Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury Festival yesterday (June 23), as she joined Sparks to dance on stage during the band’s set.The Australian actor appeared in Sparks’ recent music video for their track ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte‘ from their album of the same name.Russell Mael told the crowd that they had “a super special treat tonight” as he introduced the star of their music video to the stage.Joining the Los Angeles duo for the performance, Blanchett wore the same yellow suit, chunky-framed glasses and headphones from the music video, and performing the same eccentric dance moves.Watch a clip of the performance below.Give Cate Blanchett another Oscar for performing at Glastonbury pic.twitter.com/whMCmB7za6— Liv Marks (@OliviaLilyMarks) June 23, 2023cate blanchett performing sparks' "the girl is crying in her latte" live at gastonbury festival 2023 ✨ pic.twitter.com/D8fYxktZAE— obi wán flynobi (@katehepburns) June 23, 2023Cate Blanchett and the Sparks at GlastonburyThat’s it. That’s the tweet.

Lewis Capaldi secures second week at the Official Albums Chart summit with Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent - www.officialcharts.com - Britain
officialcharts.com
02.06.2023

Lewis Capaldi secures second week at the Official Albums Chart summit with Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent

Lewis Capaldi reigns atop the Official Albums Chart for a second week with Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent. 

Yellow Veil Pictures Buys Global Rights to ‘The Becomers,’ Prepares to Launch Global Sales in Cannes (EXCLUSIVE) - variety.com - France
variety.com
18.05.2023

Yellow Veil Pictures Buys Global Rights to ‘The Becomers,’ Prepares to Launch Global Sales in Cannes (EXCLUSIVE)

Brent Lang Executive Editor Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to “The Becomers,” a genre-bending comedy from Zach Clark. The company will launch the film at the Marche Du Film in Cannes this week. “The Becomer” tells the story of a body-snatching alien who comes to Earth, reconnects with their partner, and tries to find their way in modern America. “During the pandemic, I binged the original ‘Star Trek’ series for the first time and then I made this movie” Clark said on his latest film. “It felt like life as we knew it was ending, but then again, it also felt like that might not be the worst thing either. ‘The Becomers’ is a story of love, longing, and alienation. A kitsch-soaked, pathos-laden melodrama about our sad, sad planet. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever made and I can’t think of anyone better than Yellow Veil to get it out into the universe.”

Sparks on Recruiting Cate Blanchett as the Dance-Happy Star of ‘The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte’: ‘We Were Extras in Our Own Video’ (EXCLUSIVE) - variety.com - Los Angeles
variety.com
03.03.2023

Sparks on Recruiting Cate Blanchett as the Dance-Happy Star of ‘The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte’: ‘We Were Extras in Our Own Video’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Cate Blanchett recently had her way with Mahler’s fifth on screen, but she really digs her dancing heels into Sparks’ 26th — a song from the duo’s 26th album, that is — with the brand new music video for the record’s title track, “The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte.” Blanchett seems to be caught up in her own dance symphony as, rocking a yellow suit and bright red headphones, she alternately hoofs and sulks her way through the spirited track, in which tears and overcaffeination make for a natural brew. Ron and Russell Mael told Variety how a chance meeting with Blanchett at a film festival led to shooting the video in Los Angeles just two weeks ago. (The currently Oscar-nominated “Tar” star corroborated details of their surprise collaboration in a separate interview.) The brothers also talked about the pleasures of bringing the “Latte” album to the public after drawing in new fans with the recent “Sparks Brothers” and “Annette” films, and what it means to finally be playing both the Hollywood Bowl and Royal Albert Hall this summer, 52 years after the start of their recording career.

Sparks unveil new album title-track ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ and tease video starring Cate Blanchett - www.nme.com - Britain - Paris - New York - Los Angeles - Los Angeles - USA - county Hall - Madrid - county Rock - Berlin - city Brussels - Boston - Austin - city Copenhagen - city Manchester, county Hall
nme.com
02.03.2023

Sparks unveil new album title-track ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ and tease video starring Cate Blanchett

Sparks have shared the title track for their new album ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’.The Los Angeles duo – comprising brothers Ron and Russell Mael – also announced that the song, which you can listen to below, will come with a video featuring actress Cate Blanchett at 5pm GMT tomorrow (March 3) here.They said via press release: “We met Cate Blanchett in Paris at the César Awards last year, little knowing that a year later, one of the great actors of our time (and a splendid person!) would graciously consent to lending her bootie-shaking skills to the first video from our new album, ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’. Dreams really do come true.

One Liners: Pet Shop Boys, Sparks, BRIT Awards, more - completemusicupdate.com
completemusicupdate.com
25.01.2023

One Liners: Pet Shop Boys, Sparks, BRIT Awards, more

DEALSSparks have announced that they will release their 26th album ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ on 26 May. The release sees them return to Universal Music’s Island Records, the label that put out their 1974 breakthrough ‘Kimono My House’. “Here we find ourselves in 2023, almost 50 years later, re-signing with Island Records, again with an album that we all feel is as bold and uncompromising as anything we did back then, or for that matter, anytime throughout our career”, say Ron and Russell Mael.

Watch Simple Minds’ perform in ancient Sicily venue in new video for single ‘Vision Thing’ - www.nme.com
nme.com
12.08.2022

Watch Simple Minds’ perform in ancient Sicily venue in new video for single ‘Vision Thing’

Simple Minds have shared a new video for their recent single ‘Vision Thing’.The clip, which you can view below, is interspersed with live pictures of the band recently performing at the Ancient Theatre Taormina in Sicily.It is the first track to be lifted from their forthcoming eighteenth studio album ‘Direction Of The Heart’.The song is described as a tribute to frontman Jim Kerr’s “best pal” – his late father who passed away in 2019.It is ‘Direction Of The Heart”s opener and is followed by eight new tracks, which were all recorded at Hamburg’s Chameleon Studios. ‘Human Traffic’ features a guest appearance from Sparks’ frontman Russell Mael, and elsewhere the album includes a cover of The Call’s 1983 single ‘The Walls Came Down’.‘Direction Of The Heart’ is the follow-up to 2018’s ‘Walk Between Worlds’ and is out on October 21.

Sparks are at work on their 27th studio album - www.nme.com
nme.com
05.07.2022

Sparks are at work on their 27th studio album

Sparks have entered the studio to work on what will be their 27th studio album, as revealed on the band’s Instagram.The post, shared yesterday (July 4), shows the Mael brothers in front of a home computer set up with recording software. Vocalist Ron Mael is sat at the computer, while keyboardist Russell Mael is standing and holding a note pad with chord progressions written on it.

Simple Minds announce new album ‘Direction Of The Heart’ and share single ‘Vision Thing’ - www.nme.com - Britain - county Garden
nme.com
14.06.2022

Simple Minds announce new album ‘Direction Of The Heart’ and share single ‘Vision Thing’

Simple Minds have shared new single ‘Vision Thing’, which is the first to be taken from the band’s upcoming eighteenth studio album ‘Direction Of The Heart’.The euphoric ‘Vision Thing’ features music written by guitarist Charlie Burchill and lyrics by frontman Jim Kerr, with the song described as a tribute to Kerr’s “best pal” – his late father who passed away in 2019.The new single is ‘Direction Of The Heart”s opener and is followed by eight new tracks, which were all recorded at Hamburg’s Chameleon Studios. ‘Human Traffic’ features a guest appearance from Sparks’ frontman Russell Mael, and elsewhere the album includes a cover of The Call’s 1983 single ‘The Walls Came Down’.‘Direction Of The Heart’ is the follow-up to 2018’s ‘Walk Between Worlds’ and is out on October 21.

Sparks Asks ‘So May We Start?’ in a Disney Hall Gig That Shows How Far They Are From Finished: Concert Review - variety.com - county Hall - Los Angeles, county Hall
variety.com
09.02.2022

Sparks Asks ‘So May We Start?’ in a Disney Hall Gig That Shows How Far They Are From Finished: Concert Review

Chris Willman Music WriterNot many bands can claim they’re having the best year of their career exactly 50 years into their run. All right — not any bands can make such a claim, historically, except for Sparks, which saw its star rise dramatically in 2021 due not to any recording or touring activity but as film creators and stars, with “Annette” and “The Sparks Brothers,” respectively.

Here's Why Encanto Song 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' Has No Chance of Winning an Oscar - www.justjared.com
justjared.com
25.01.2022

Here's Why Encanto Song 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' Has No Chance of Winning an Oscar

The song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from the Disney film Encanto is one of the most popular songs to ever be released from an animated movie musical, but it has no chance at winning an Oscar.

How Sparks Followed a Hit Documentary by Messing With Movie Musicals in ‘Annette’ - thewrap.com - Los Angeles
thewrap.com
13.12.2021

How Sparks Followed a Hit Documentary by Messing With Movie Musicals in ‘Annette’

A version of this story about Ron and Russell Mael and “Annette” first appeared in the Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.As Edgar Wright’s documentary “The Sparks Brothers” makes clear, the Los Angeles-based brothers Ron and Russell Mael have had a long and strange run as the hugely influential, intermittently successful and purposely elusive band Sparks.

‘Sparks Brothers’ Ron and Russell Mael on ‘Annette,’ Edgar Wright’s Doc and Their Delayed Hollywood Career - variety.com
variety.com
04.12.2021

‘Sparks Brothers’ Ron and Russell Mael on ‘Annette,’ Edgar Wright’s Doc and Their Delayed Hollywood Career

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features EditorRon and Russell Mael didn’t intend for 2021 to be the year they conquered Hollywood, but there’s serendipity in what wound up happening.

‘The Sparks Brothers’ Director Edgar Wright On His Descent Into The Mael-strom - deadline.com
deadline.com
29.11.2021

‘The Sparks Brothers’ Director Edgar Wright On His Descent Into The Mael-strom

Pop music brothers Ron and Russell Mael, who perform as Sparks, were ‘meta’ before it became a thing, and certainly before Mark Zuckerberg decided to call his company by that name.

Beloved Yet Overlooked Musicians Ron And Russell Mael Get Deserved Recognition In Edgar Wright’s ‘The Sparks Brothers’ – Contenders Documentary - deadline.com - county Edgar
deadline.com
21.11.2021

Beloved Yet Overlooked Musicians Ron And Russell Mael Get Deserved Recognition In Edgar Wright’s ‘The Sparks Brothers’ – Contenders Documentary

Edgar Wright has been directing scripted films, music videos and episodic television for over 25 years, but he had yet to make a documentary feature—until now.

Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael on the Creation of ‘Annette’ and ‘Overcoming All the Expectations of a Movie Musical’ - variety.com
variety.com
21.08.2021

Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael on the Creation of ‘Annette’ and ‘Overcoming All the Expectations of a Movie Musical’

Chris Willman Music WriterIrony is a word that pops up a lot in discussing the group Sparks — in their content, and in their career. And here’s an irony for you: When brothers Ron and Russell Mael created a project called “The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman” many years back, it was with the intent of it being a movie musical, with roles for 13 actors.

‘Annette’ Star Marion Cotillard Found It ‘Very Easy’ to Act Opposite a Puppet in Leos Carax’s Film - variety.com - Los Angeles
variety.com
20.08.2021

‘Annette’ Star Marion Cotillard Found It ‘Very Easy’ to Act Opposite a Puppet in Leos Carax’s Film

Selome Hailu editor“Annette,” the film written and scored by brothers Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks that won Leos Carax the best director at the Cannes Film festival, is unorthodox, so it may be fitting that it got its Los Angeles premiere at the Hollywood Forever Ceremony Aug.

Annette Review: Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard’s musical lacks joie de vivre - www.metroweekly.com
metroweekly.com
06.08.2021

Annette Review: Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard’s musical lacks joie de vivre

Annette (★★☆☆☆). “We love each other so much,” sing Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, over and over, portraying celebrity couple Henry and Ann, a brash standup comedian and renowned soprano who don’t appear to love each other so equally.

Review: In ‘Annette,’ an eccentric, tortured pop opera - abcnews.go.com - France
abcnews.go.com
04.08.2021

Review: In ‘Annette,’ an eccentric, tortured pop opera

“ Annette ” is a film that’s likely best experienced rather than described.Anyone familiar with the work of French director Leos Carax, best known for the surreal Denis Lavant fantasy “Holy Motors,” probably already knew that. But tack on the fact that the script and music was written by Sparks duo Ron and Russell Mael, known for their sophisticated, theatrical and irreverent songs, and “Annette,” starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, adds up to something that defies explanation.

Why Simon Helberg Swore Allegiance to the Movie Musical ‘Annette’ - variety.com - France
variety.com
04.08.2021

Why Simon Helberg Swore Allegiance to the Movie Musical ‘Annette’

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features EditorSimon Helberg was so invested in landing the role of The Conductor in Leos Carax’s musical movie “Annette,” he became a French citizen.The actor, perhaps best known for his 12-season run on CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory,” steals scenes opposite Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard in the film, arriving in theaters on Aug. 6 before hitting Amazon Prime Aug.

Sparks say their longevity is down to their “shared vision” that pop can “still be done in a fresh way” - www.nme.com
nme.com
17.07.2021

Sparks say their longevity is down to their “shared vision” that pop can “still be done in a fresh way”

Sparks have said one of the reasons behind their longevity is their “shared vision” that pop music can “still be done in a fresh way”.The duo, which is comprised of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, was formed in 1969 and have released 25 albums to date.Speaking to the Guardian, Russell explained their decades-long career was harmonious. “Our roles don’t overlap,” he said.

Sparks Mania Continues as Mael Brothers Set Spring 2022 Tour - variety.com - Los Angeles
variety.com
12.07.2021

Sparks Mania Continues as Mael Brothers Set Spring 2022 Tour

Chris Willman Music WriterFor years, Los Angelenos and others who subscribe to alerts from ticketing agents have had to deal with the false promise that the rock duo Sparks is coming to town, only to suffer the letdown, again and again, that it actually refers to an appearance by the WNBA team the Los Angeles Sparks.

Watch Sparks, Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard’s new ‘So May We Start’ video - www.nme.com
nme.com
10.07.2021

Watch Sparks, Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard’s new ‘So May We Start’ video

Sparks have shared a new video for their track ‘So May We Start’, featuring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard – watch it below.The track, released last month, appears in Annette, the new musical film directed by Holy Motors helmer Leos Carax, who co-wrote the script with Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael. As with the video, Driver and Cotillard star in the new film.The film opened the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival this week (July 6), and is being followed by a theatrical release on August 6.

Sparks’ Russell Mael Discusses ‘Annette’s’ Big Opener, ‘So May We Start,’ and Adam Driver Performance - variety.com
variety.com
08.07.2021

Sparks’ Russell Mael Discusses ‘Annette’s’ Big Opener, ‘So May We Start,’ and Adam Driver Performance

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWith the Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard film “Annette” premiering in Cannes, brothers Russell and Ron Mael, better known as Sparks, may have an early original song contender on hand with “So May We Start.”Directed by Leos Carax, the film centers around Henry (Driver), a stand-up comedian with a fierce sense of humor, who falls in love with Ann (Cotillard), a world-renowned opera singer. At the center of the film is its music, a rock opera of sorts.

Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver, Jodie Foster & More Kick Off Opening Ceremony at Cannes Film Festival 2021 - www.justjared.com - France
justjared.com
07.07.2021

Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver, Jodie Foster & More Kick Off Opening Ceremony at Cannes Film Festival 2021

Marion Cotillard stunned on the red carpet in a shiny silver dress for the opening ceremony of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on Tuesday (July 6).

‘Annette’: Leos Carax Warps The Star Is Born Vision Into An Ironic, Dark Pop Musical Fantasia [Cannes Review] - theplaylist.net - France
theplaylist.net
07.07.2021

‘Annette’: Leos Carax Warps The Star Is Born Vision Into An Ironic, Dark Pop Musical Fantasia [Cannes Review]

An angry comedian fails to “kill it” with his audience, a breathy opera singer dies on stage every night, their torrid affair is a whirlwind of sex and romance, their prodigious child is presented as a creepy puppet, and their collective love may be torn apart by the abyss of fame. Qui, “Annette,” is another weird, dreamy, surreal vision from French maverick filmmaker Leos Carax (“Holy Motors,” “Pola X”).

Marion Cotillard Says Adam Driver Made Movie Musical History in the Craziest Way with His 'Annette' Performance - www.justjared.com - France - county Marion
justjared.com
06.07.2021

Marion Cotillard Says Adam Driver Made Movie Musical History in the Craziest Way with His 'Annette' Performance

Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver are stepping out in style for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival!

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