Music (film)

''This article is about the film. For other meanings, see Music.''


 * "It was just like a movie" — Adele

Music is a 2021 film directed by Australian singer-songwriter Sia and starring Maddie Ziegler, Kate Hudson, and Leslie Odom Jr.

Cast

 * Maddie Ziegler as Music Gamble
 * Kate Hudson as Kazu "Zu" Gamble
 * Leslie Odom Jr. as Ebo Odom
 * Beto Calvillo as Felix Chang
 * Héctor Elizondo as George
 * Mary Kay Place as Millie
 * Tig Notaro as Radgicals Host
 * Brendan Soo Hoo as Tanner Rojas
 * Ben Schwartz as Rudy
 * Juliette Lewis as Evelyn
 * Kathy Najimy as Evelyn's Mom
 * Celeste Den as Felix's Mom
 * Henry Rollins as Ebo's Neighbor
 * Sia as Popstar Without Borders

Crew

 * Director, Story: Sia
 * Screenplay writers: Sia, Dallas Clayton
 * Choreographer: Ryan Heffington
 * Producers: Vincent Landay, Sia
 * Executive producers: Jonathan Daniel, Len Blavatnik, Danny Cohen, Julie Greenwald, Craig Kallman, Will Weiske
 * Score: Craig DeLeon
 * Additional music: Sia, Labrinth
 * Costume designer: Christine Wada
 * Production designer: Tracy Dishman
 * Visual effects supervisor: Janelle Croshaw Ralla
 * Director of photography: Sebastian Winterø
 * Editors: Matt Chessé, Curtiss Clayton, Dana Congdon

Summary
Kazu (Kate Hudson), a free spirit estranged from her family, who deals drugs, becomes the guardian of her half-sister, Music, an autistic teenager (Maddie Ziegler), after the sudden death of her grandmother. Kazu struggles with this new responsibility but gets some assistance from her neighbour, Ebo (Leslie Odom Jr.)

The film soon challenges whether it is Kazu or Music who has a better view of the world, and that love, trust, and being able to be there for each other is everything.

Fantasy musical sequences show how the world is viewed in Music's head.

Plot synopsis
Music is a powerful, original, and celebratory artistic statement. In her debut feature as a writer-director, global music legend Sia has created a bold and compelling reinvention of the screen musical that examines how people facing unexpected challenges discover ways to create community and a new sense of family.

Through her singular lens, Sia shines a fresh spotlight on the many talents of a cast that stars Oscar® nominee and Golden Globe-winning Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), and Tony and Grammy winner Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton). Maddie Ziegler plays the title character, Music. Ziegler has been Sia's friend and creative muse since 2014, when Sia directed her in the video for the global smash hit "Chandelier."

Music combines a heartfelt tale about the power of love with musical sequences that propel and amplify the story, giving the audience a vivid window into the characters' inner lives. The story begins when Kazu (Hudson), estranged from her family and a lifelong self-saboteur, finds herself the sole guardian of Music (Ziegler), her teenage half-sister, after the death of their grandmother. Music is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum, and her grandmother has lovingly created a schedule and daily routine to support her with the help of some neighbourhood friends.

Not having had her grandmother's experience of loving and caring for Music, Kazu instantly struggles with her new responsibility as caretaker. Their less than peaceful first breakfast together is overheard by their neighbour Ebo (Odom), a kind and gentle soul who surprises Kazu by demonstrating not only his compassion, but his keen understanding of Music. His own, slowly revealed life story, makes him someone Kazu can depend on and learn from as well.

Sia's songs are integral to the story of the film. Ten original compositions have been written expressly for the movie and are performed by its remarkable cast.

Music is about the magic that can happen when someone who cannot speak with words finds people who can listen with their hearts.

Background
The film is based on a one-page story Sia wrote in 2007. Sia told the Philippine Daily Inquirer: "It's about a sober drug dealer and his autistic sister."

Sia announced the film project at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. She had previously worked with Maddie Ziegler in a series of three music videos, "Chandelier", "Elastic Heart" and "Big Girls Cry", all of which Sia co-directed with Daniel Askill. Ziegler later danced during several of Sia's live performances and accompanied her on her Nostalgic for the Present Tour in 2016 and 2017. Sia featured Ziegler in several further music videos, including "Cheap Thrills" and "The Greatest", which were also directed by Sia and Askill.

Sia has said that she was "too embarrassed to tell anyone [she] wanted to make a movie, because [she] thought it would be seen as a vanity project, because [she] was a singer". However, after creating the music video for "Chandelier", she decided she was "pretty good" at directing and "felt a little bit braver". The film's screenplay was co-written by Sia and children's book author Dallas Clayton. Sia enjoyed the creative process and noted similarities between directing and writing songs. She said:"'For me, the process was basically, I work out the movie. I'll act it out, I'll have the dialogue already in my head ... I can't be bothered to learn Final Draft ... Like, when I sing, I just want to sing the melody and write the lyrics. I don't want to have to do production, which is very technical. I don't enjoy that.'"The project was originally conceived as a non-musical film, but was written as a musical when producers offered Sia $10,000,000 for the production to be reworked as such.

Sia has disclosed that she had asked Leslie Odom Jr. to be in the film after seeing him in Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, and had found Kate Hudson after seeing her sing a Christmas song on Instagram and admired how she did not "sound like every other white actress who was trained in Broadway singing", and over lunch, Hudson told Sia she was born to play the role of Zu, which prompted Sia to ask if she would shave her head for it, and Hudson agreed.

Sia designed and drew every costume in the film with the help of costume designer Christine Wada, who Sia said "improved on [her] idea [for "Mountains"]".

Release
The movie was originally planned to be released in October of 2019, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it was pushed back to September 2020, then pushed to February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2020, HanWay Films announced they would be handling global sales and that they planned to release the film in early 2021. On the release of the film's trailer, IMAX announced that Music would be a limited release in select theaters for one night on February 10th, 2021 in the United States. StudioCanal would release the film theatrically in Australian theaters on January 14th. The film premiered in Australian cinemas on January 9th and 10th, with advance screenings.

The film was released in home video formats, specifically Blu-ray Disc and DVD, on 19 March 2021.

Musical numbers

 * 1) "Oh Body" - Music
 * 2) "Best Friend (You and Me for Life)" - Music
 * 3) "1+1" - Zu
 * 4) "Insecure" - *Zu, Ebo
 * 5) "Beautiful Things Can Happen" - Ebo
 * 6) "Could I Love with No Fear" - Zu, Music
 * 7) "Easy" - Zu
 * 8) "Music" - **Zu
 * 9) "Mountains" - Zu, Ebo
 * 10) "Together" - Sia

In addition, "Courage to Change" by Sia is played over the end credits.

* Only Zu on the soundtrack.

** Performed by different characters several times in the film.

Soundtrack
Sia wrote 10 songs for the film; she released "Together" with a clip from the film as the lead single from the soundtrack on May 20, 2020. She then released "Courage to Change" on 24 September 2020. In an interview with Variety, Sia revealed the name of a song being "Mountains". On November 19th, 2020, Sia released a single, "Hey Boy", along with the first trailer for the film.

Ziegler revealed that she had performed in two songs on the soundtrack [which were later found out to be "Oh Body" and "Best Friend (You and Me for Life)", in a video with makeup and beauty YouTuber, NikkieTutorials. Co-star Kate Hudson was shown performing the song "1+1" in an exclusive clip at an MTV event.

Trivia

 * Filmed in the summer of 2017.
 * Released in Japan under the title Life with Music.
 * This is Maddie Ziegler's return to film after her role in The Book of Henry.
 * Sia has stated in an interview that there is a version of the film that is 2+ hours long. All she said about it, however, was that it included transitions for each song, unlike the final film, where this is only present for 4 songs, with the rest using cuts.
 * The script of the film reveals cut scenes such as Zu having to urinate so she can get tested for drinking, while an officer watches.
 * Music's first meltdown is also caused by a slightly different reason. While in the final film, it was triggered because Zu could not braid her hair, in the script, it was because the air conditioner began malfunctioning, making loud sounds and hurting Music's ears.
 * Although the credits state "Soundtrack available on Atlantic Records", the album by the film's cast has not yet been released. However, some fans have found CD copies of it sent to the Golden Globes, revealing that it has longer versions of the songs in the film itself.
 * This is Beto Calvillo (Felix)'s first film role.
 * Calvillo revealed on Twitter that he auditioned with the song "Oh Body".
 * During the credits, an episode of a fictional TV show Music enjoys, Radgicals, plays.
 * Sia's special thanks in the credits include "Godchild", "Bunkie", and "Le David".
 * Sia makes a cameo in the film as a "Popstar Without Borders".
 * In addition to her credited cameo, she makes a briefer one during the "Could I Love with No Fear" musical number, wearing a half-black, half-white box over her head. She can be recognised by the tattoos on her arms.
 * An exclusive clip of the first minute of the musical sequence for the song "1+1" (performed by Kate Hudson) premiered on the MTV Movie and TV Awards: Greatest of All Time ceremony.
 * There is an official Twitter and Instagram account for the film. It can be found at @musicthefilm on both platforms.
 * On November 20, 2020, HanWay Films held a competition on Twitter, in which the winner would decide if they got a Music poster or a poster of another film by HanWay, Billion Dollar Spy.
 * In the credits, 17 songs are shown while only 10 are featured on Music (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
 * Various people took offence at the fact that Maddie Ziegler portrayed Music Gamble, a young girl on the autism spectrum, without Ziegler being autistic herself. Said controversy may have factored in the cast's album's cancellation.