How Much Of Song Sung Blue Is A True Story? Here's The Truth

This article contains spoilers for "Song Sung Blue."

The claim that "Song Sung Blue" is based on a true story doesn't only show up in the film's ad campaign. Craig Brewer's film begins with a title card that reads "Based on a true love story." The cutesy wording of that might imply to the more cynical of us that the film will be playing fast and loose with any facts, all in the name of emotional manipulation. After all, audiences have generally become inured to the end-of-year Oscar bait weepie. As if to confirm these suspicions, "Song Sung Blue" contains not one but several emotional left turns that are sharp enough to make the writing staff of "This Is Us" blush.

It just so happens, however, that the majority of these near-unbelievable plot twists and tragedies are indeed drawn from real life. "Song Sung Blue" is based on the lives of Claire Sardina (played by Kate Hudson) and Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman), two live music performers from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who met and fell in love during the late 1980s. As the film depicts, they made a living performing as celebrity impersonators at various venues, only for the couple to hatch the idea of creating a Neil Diamond tribute band (not an impersonation act) entitled Lightning and Thunder, with Mike as Lightning and Claire as Thunder. After that, a series of triumphs and tragedies struck, and all of them appear in the film with very little embellishment. Here's how much of "Song Sung Blue" really happened.

"Song Sung Blue" is based on the real-life Claire and Mike by way of Greg Kohs' 2008 documentary of the same name. Kohs followed the Sardinas for years, so there was a great deal of material for Brewer, Jackman, and Hudson to draw from. As in the film, the real Mike was a Vietnam War veteran, a mechanic, attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and also suffered from coronary issues. Meanwhile, the real Claire, who was a hairdresser before embarking on Lightning and Thunder gigs, was actually struck by an out-of-control car just outside her home on May 10, 1999. This accident ended up causing her to lose her left foot, leading to a long and arduous recovery period during which Claire struggled with depression. One of the film's most outrageous moments is when another car slams into the Sardina home for a second time. Shockingly, this actually did happen on September 8, 1999 (the same year!), albeit while Mike and Claire were inside.

Brewer takes another small creative liberty with the tragedy that befell Mike, too. As in the film, the real Mike Sardina suffered a fall and hit his head, an injury which led to internal bleeding that doctors could not quell. After sliding into a coma, Mike passed away several days after his fall on July 27, 2006. In the film, this fatal fall occurs immediately before Lightning and Thunder's biggest gig yet, which is, of course, an exaggerated dramatic choice. A bit of heightened drama that actually happened, however, is the scene earlier in the film when Lightning and Thunder open for Pearl Jam and are joined onstage by Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith). This performance of Diamond's "Forever in Blue Jeans" really occurred in July of 1995.

While there are a few embellishments to Mike and Claire's story throughout the film, "Song Sung Blue" largely tells their story straightforwardly. The largest dramatic license is condensing and compressing the truth into a nebulous timeline. While the film indeed keeps things in the correct 1990s-ish era in general, it doesn't utilize on-screen markers of when events are occurring. Audiences could believe that the film takes place over the course of a couple of years rather than over a decade and a half.

During an interview with On Milwaukee from 2003, Mike told the publication that his resemblance to Neil Diamond was supposedly spot-on, saying that "Many people have thought I was really him." In the movie, Jackman's Mike confesses to Claire that he doesn't resemble Diamond too closely, especially in his singing voice. In fact, it's used as one of the main reasons why he and Claire form Lightning and Thunder instead of a Diamond impersonation act. This deviation is likely due to Jackman's more theatrical vocal technique differing from Diamond's troubadour style more than anything else.

As with any adaptation of any source material, the key element to get right is not the letter, but the spirit of the story, and Brewer and his cast do that without question. The major beats of the Sardinas' tale sound like it could be milked for maximum Oscar bait, yet Brewer keeps the focus and tone more on the duo's love of music and performance than their personal hardships. This approach seems to line up with the vibe of the real Sardinas, making "Song Sung Blue" less a tawdry exploitation of their tragedy and more a tribute to their spirit.

"Song Sung Blue" is in theaters everywhere.