The Sacha Gervasi-directed documentary, “Anvil! The Story Of Anvil” — about the underachieving ’80s metal band Anvil, and one of the best movies of the year so far — is doing phenomenally well in the U.K. where it has already been released and and has even outsold “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” documentary. According to our source as of last Friday the movie is the #1 rock doc in U.K. box office history. An official announcement will be made soon we’re told.
Metallica are obviously just slightly bigger than this almost entirely-forgotten ’80s relic of metal.
The film is finding fans everywhere. Michael Moore called it, “The best documentary I’ve seen in years!” and the members of the metal and hard rock community that weren’t already in the doc delivering firsthand glowing testimonials (like Slash from GNR, Slayer, Anthrax, etc.), are not surprisingly fully embracing it as well. James Hetfield from Metallica recently saw the doc and said, “I loved the Anvil movie. It is sad and great and everything in between.” Hell yeah, that rocks!!,” which tells you it’s a very three-dimensional film with a ton of emotion and not just a Spinal-Tap-like mockumentary (though their are shades of that too; it’s also hilarious). WWE star Chris Jericho is apparently a big fan of the band and the film as well.
The film is becoming such a phenomenon the band has apparently been asked to participate in the videogame Rock Band, according to the band’s Twitter feed. “Hey everybody! We are in the studio today and tomorrow recording exclusive tracks for the game ROCK BAND!” Anvil member Steve “Lips” Kudlow wrote yesterday.
Not too shabby for a band that was playing in shitholes to 20 people a year ago. A full-0n comeback for Anvil? The documentary can only help.
VH1 is putting out the film theatrically and will put on seven events in U.S. cities timed to the release of the doc and each will include a screening of the film and performance by the band (we saw them play in Brooklyn last summer and it rocked, ironically and unironically). As we reported first, “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” hits theaters in U.S. limited release on April 10. The film opened up in the U.K. in February to rave reviews.
If you haven’t already seen the trailer, give it a spin. It’s a fantastic movie and we highly endorse it in every way possible. It’s a very human and moving story of brotherhood and perseverance and you don’t need to care about metal or have cared for this band at one point to recognize it as a real achievement worth your time.