The Cinderella story of under-appreciated ‘8os diehard metaheads Anvil keeps going thanks to the cheekily titled documentary, “Anvil: The Story Of Anvil,” which keeps trucking along without any studio support whatsoever.
The hilarious and moving independently distributed film, directed by Sacha Gervasi (screenwriter behind Spielberg’s “The Terminal”), is currently in 23 cities around the U.S. and approximately 52 more cities are being planned according to the official site for the film.
So far the film has grossed $536,000, which sounds small, but let’s put that in perspective: The New Line financed documentary, “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” made around $750,000 in theaters, and with ‘Anvil’ booked in theaters until the rest of the summer, the film is on track to hit that mark. It’s turning out to be one of the most successful theatrical self-releases ever.
Awareness of the band keeps growing. Chris Martin of Coldplay was spotted headbanging away at a screening and gig in New York last week and now the band are poised to play to their biggest North American audiences ever by opening up for Aussie rockers AC/DC at Giants Stadium (AC/DC are only playing two North American dates all year and have handpicked Anvil to open up for both; presumably they saw the doc and loved it) according to the New York Times. Pretty impressive when you consider the Canadian rockers were playing shitty rat-hole Canuck sports bars 15 months ago. “We’ve always continued to play live, but the difference now is making $500 for a gig versus $5000,” guitarist and lead singer Steve “Lips” Kudlow told the Huffington Post (sample, interview moment: Huffington Post: Are you high right now? Drummer Robb Reiner: Yeah, as a matter of fact I am.)
The Playlist has also learned that the ‘Anvil’ DVD is being eyed for an October release and the disc will include an hour and a half of extra footage culled from 300 extra hours of footage (and the band’s winning exploits which keep going and going, have been documented as well). Where’s that soundtrack disc already, conceivably a greatest hits of Anvil’s work, plus the newly recorded “Thumb Hang“? It’s in the works and barring some legalities, it should be ready for release around the time the DVD hits. Update: Billboard now says October 6 for the DVD release.
The film may be small, but the slow and minor world domination continues as the film is being released in Japan in October via Warner Bros. International and in August via Sony down under. Destined to be a cult hit, the picture is also in negotiations to sell across Europe and around the rest of the world.
Adding to it all, the band’s newest and thirteenth album, knowingly titled, This Is Thirteen hit stores in August. Interest is such that two separate studios have approached the band to create a narrative film (ala what they’re planning with “The King of Kong,” allegedly with Johnny Depp) from the documentary and a TV show has been pitched, but so far the band hasn’t agreed to anything and are slowly weighing their options.
Fans of the band keep growing too. The movie actually received a standing ovation at a buyers market screening in Cannes (a little unheard of) and Tilda Swinton was so moved she coined the phrase “The Anvil Factor,” to describe any cockroach-like perseverance.
More Anvil details and updates when we have them. An autobiography written by the two founding members and childhood friends, Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner has already been released in the U.K. (where the film has been a huge hit and bigger than Metallica’s “Some Kind Of Monster“) and presumably will come out in North America later this year.
We obviously loved the inspiring film and included it in our Best of 2008 list (we saw it last summer, at a very early screening). Here’s the trailer again if you haven’t seen it.