Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its entirely possible that a cameo performance in the little-loved 1977 disaster flickRollercoastercouldve been their primary cinematic legacy.
But now, slightly accidentally, the stars have aligned for Sparks this summer.
But the documentary is just the beginning.
The brothers are Zooming in from their homes in their native Los Angeles.
I say native because its a long-standing joke among the bands fans that everyone thinks theyre British.
With his mop-top hair and round cherry-red glasses, Russell resembles the worlds cheeriest urban planner.
When that ran its course, they had a brief flirtation withpower popbefore pivoting todiscoon 1979sNo.
1 in Heaven, a collaboration with Giorgio Moroder that foreshadowed the synth-driven sound of the decade to come.
Were really restless, says Ron.
Its important for us not to be stale about things.
Our assessment is that other people can sense when youre going through the motions.
Russell does the singing, while Ron does most of the songwriting.
Russell, of course, finds it highly amusing.
(One of the films most charming revelations is that Russell was a jock in high school.)
But then something interesting happens.
More than anything else, this is the element ofThe Sparks Brothersthe Maels seem most proud of.
Afterward, they sent him the script forAnnette, also in a vague sort of way.
He surprised them by saying he thought it should be his next movie.
The brothers were no strangers to development hell, but this time would prove different.
Carax is not one of those directors who has a dozen different projects in the air at once.
Wed lived with these scenes for eight years, where I was the character singing, says Russell.
We were sitting there with our mouths bring up the whole time, says Ron.
If everybody else in the outside world doesnt want to join in, then thats their problem.
We have this little club to ourselves.They actually dont want the documentary out there.
Its going to ruin everything.
