They are called Russell and Ron Mael. At the end of the 1960s, the two Californian brothers founded the group Sparks, of which Queen, in particular, made the first part, and which documentaryThe Sparks Brothers by Edgar Wright pays homage to cinema.
They are back in the spotlight at 75 and 72 years old. It is to them that we owe the story and the score ofAnnette by Leos Carax, sung by Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. And the documentary coming out in theaters offers the opportunity to Russell, verbose with his jet black hair, and to Ron, less talkative with his small mustache, to confide in 20 minutes a few days before going to Cannes where Annette was awarded the prize for directing.
Is cinema important in your career?
We have been film buffs since our childhood and it is certain that some of our songs, like This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Two Of Us, stems from our passion for the 7th Art. We designed it as a film without a picture, but it obviously refers to the westerns we love. We also released a
album inspired by Ingmar Bergman in 2009. It was a musical that we performed in Sweden and Los Angeles and that we would have liked to get on the screen. Cinema is like second nature to us.
Before seeing you in “Annette”, were you able to be discovered in person in “Le Toboggan de la mort” in 1977?
It’s crazy that people still remember this disaster movie by James Goldstone. We take on our own role and play on the stage of an amusement park where a mad killer is rampant who lays bombs on roller coasters. At the time, we really thought it would be a B series among many. It has become a classic of the genre that we often hear about! So, we have fun showing off by saying that we played in a film with Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda, headliners we have never met!
What were your best cinema encounters?
Leos Carax and Edgar Wright without a doubt! Both have made us live our dreams of cinema again. Leos gave life to our Annette when at our age, we no longer thought that she would see the light of day. He had used our song How Are You Getting Home? in Holly motors and we contacted him to offer him Annette. He immediately understood that we wanted to do a kind of anti La La Land, namely a musical and cinematographic tragedy. For his part, Edgar Wright gave us this magnificent documentary, a tribute so vibrant that we would never have dared to hope for it. The passion of these two for our music is an unexpected and priceless gift.
Your most frustrating collaboration with a filmmaker?
Tim Burton! We had a project with him in the late 1980s. It was an adaptation of the manga. May, The Psychic Girl. Everything seemed to be going like clockwork, but the film fell apart when Tim started producing The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s grieving because the songs are written. There has been talk of Tim Burton taking an interest in the case again, but we hardly believe it anymore. UnlessAnnette does not remind us of its good memory …
The filmmaker you would have liked to work with?
Jacques Tati. We are fans of his films and their burlesque poetry which corresponds so well to our universe. In 1974, we were in contact for a joint project called Confusion , but he never found the budget for it to be done. He wanted to entrust us with the main roles of the film. We understood each other perfectly well despite our very different origins. Cinema and music are universal languages. We intend to continue to mix the two. We also have plenty of projects, including our return to the stage of the Casino de Paris on April 19, 2022.