We Are Kings

We Are Kings (2014)

We Are Kings is a rock and roll/blues fable, a group of down and out musicians breaks through against all odds, with a little help from a friendly ghost. Starring Sammy Blue, Rita Graham, Bianca Ryan, Pryce Watkins, and Jonathon Boogie Long.

Date of release
2014-09-19
TMDB
6.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 30m
Genres
Comedy, Music
Director
Toby Hubner

Casting

Interesting facts

We Are Kings is an independent feature film directed by Toby Hubner and starring Sammy Blue, Bianca Ryan, Rita Graham, Jonathon "Boogie" Long and Pryce.

Production

Co-producer-writer-director Toby Hubner financed his film under the working title We Be Kings with the help of a Kickstarter campaign that ran for three weeks starting in February 2012. Nearly US$9,000 was pledged, surpassing the goal of $7,500.

Kings was originally to star Chicago blues legend Magic Slim, but Slim fell ill and died just as production was getting started. Blue, once dubbed "the Crown Prince of the Blues" by Muddy Waters, took over the role and "did a remarkable job with little preparation and under tough circumstances." Ryan, the first winner of America's Got Talent, signed on in 2012.

Still, without Slim, the film was "floundering" and investors backed out. Hubner then caught a break in the form of bonus airline miles and an accompanying credit card. A crew of six people ("a photographer, a sound girl, and four students") captured music and film footage at a strip mall, a motel, a bowling alley and several other locations in places like Normal and El Paso, Illinois.

The cast members, all working musicians, wrote and performed their own music under the supervision of Blue. The official soundtrack album was released in November 2014.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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