You’ve seen them. I’ve seen them. Those made for tv biographies that set out to make movie stars, musicians and politicians seem like regular folk and which tend to outline how hard it was for them to overcome one problem or another to “make it”. I realize that everyone has faced some sort of adversity and I’m not knocking people that really had to work hard to get to where they are today but reading about ANVIL makes all of these folks on “Behind the Music” look like a bunch of pussies.
ANVIL is a Canadian heavy metal band which was formed in 1978 by a bunch of guys trying to make it to the big time. The band has had a steady stream of record labels and releases since the beginning but try as they might, they’ve never been “discovered”. One would figure that after nearly 30 years of working day jobs and playing gigs, they’d give up but ANVIL. These guys are don’t believe in throwing in the towel and they’re still rocking hard.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a documentary directed by former band roadie Sacha Gervasi, just premiered at Sundance to lots of love and positive buzz but sadly, apparently no distribution deals. It’s being toted as the real life This is Spinal Tap and I can sort of see why.
As of yet, there isn’t a real trailer for the film but there’s a great Sundace video which includes Robert Redford talking to a very shocked Gervasi about the film, the ANVIL guys being superstars and some footage from the documentary which will hopefully get some sort of release.
