Edgar Wright on ‘The Sparks Brothers’ and embracing originality

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Brothers Ron and Russell Mael and director Edgar Wright from their film “The Sparks Brothers.” Photo by Jake Polonsky / Focus Features

Filmmaker Edgar Wright's new music documentary “The Sparks Brothers” celebrates two musicians whose work he loves. Ron and Russell Mael are brothers who make up the band Sparks, and they’re a pair of complete originals. Wright is an original, too. His hit movie “Baby Driver” and upcoming thriller “Last Night in Soho” are based on ideas he made up. And he can’t help but wonder why movie studios aren’t willing to take a few more chances on fresh ideas. 

Wright tells The Business that as a film fan, he’s “grown out of franchises because — and no disrespect to the films — I just think I don’t really need to see another ‘X-Men’ film in my lifetime. I’m good!”

Wright explains how fellow filmmaker Phil Lord inspired him to turn his obsession with the band Sparks into his new documentary.

And he talks about losing a gig as the writer and director of Marvel’s “Ant-Man” in 2014. Turns out his much-analyzed tweet of a Buster Keaton photo at that time actually wasn’t full of meaning.

Credits

Host:

Kim Masters

Producer:

Kaitlin Parker