Sparks, Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver and more in 'Annette'
Sparks, Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver and more in 'Annette'

Sparks share first song from 'Annette': "So May We Start" ft Adam Driver & Marion Cotillard

Annette, Sparks and filmmaker Leos Carax‘s long-in-the-works rock opera starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, will make its world premiere as the opening night film of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The trailer looks spectacular, and now they’ve shared the first song from the film, “So May We Start.”

It’s anybody’s guess, but this certainly sounds like an opening number, with Ron and Russell Mael, Driver, Cotillard and Simon Helberg priming the audience for what’s to come — “A tale of songs and fury with no taboo / we’ll sing and die for you, yes, in minor keys” — in an unmistakable Sparks style, with the choir later singing, “Ladies and gents please shut up and sit.”

Listen to “So May We Start,” and watch Annette‘s trailer, below.

Annette, which is almost entirely sung, will be in North American theaters on August 6 and will hit Amazon Prime Video not long after on August 20. Says Carax, who hasn’t made a feature film since 2012’s amazing Holy Motors, “I discovered Sparks when I was about 14 – I stole a copy of Propaganda from an underground shop at La Défense because I liked the cover. Not long after that I saw them live at the Olympia in Paris. Propaganda and their next album, Indiscreet, have been part of my life ever since. Their tracks are among the most joyous songs I know (although they’re poignant too, in places). For me, Sparks’ music is like a childhood home, but one free of ghosts. Without them, I don’t think I’d ever have done something I’d dreamt of doing ever since I first started out in cinema: making a ‘film in music.’”

In other news, the Edgar Wright-directed documentary The Sparks Brothers opens in theaters on June 18.