Writer-director Craig Brewer breaks down the true story of Mike and Claire Sardina — including what he had to condense for time and any dramatic embellishments he made.

Fact vs. fiction in Song Sung Blue: Heart attacks, a horrific accident, and Eddie Vedder’s unexpected call

Writer-director Craig Brewer breaks down the true story of Mike and Claire Sardina — including what he had to condense for time and any dramatic embellishments he made.

By Gerrad Hall

Gerrad Hall is an editorial director at **, overseeing movie, awards, and music coverage. He is also host of *The Awardist* podcast, and has cohosted EW's live Oscars, Emmys, SAG, and Grammys red carpet shows. He has appeared on *Good Morning America*, *The Talk*, *Access Hollywood*, *Extra!*, and other talk shows, delivering the latest news on pop culture and entertainment.

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December 26, 2025 1:33 p.m. ET

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Kate Hudson as Claire Sardina and Hugh Jackman as Mike Sardina in 'Song Sung Blue'. Credit:

Sarah Shatz/Focus Features

**Warning: This article contains spoilers about *Song Sung Blue***.

It's a tale as old as time: Boy meets girl, boy and girl are both great singers, boy and girl form a Neil Diamond tribute band, boy has a heart problem, girl is involved in a horrific accident.

In the case of Wisconsin couple Mike and Claire Sardina, that tale is a true story. And now, their story is the movie *Song Sung Blue* (currently in theaters), starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, and written and directed by Craig Brewer (*Hustle & Flow*, *Dolemite Is My Name*).

Brewer has wanted to make the movie since he first saw the 2008 documentary of the same name about the couple, who performed as Lightning & Thunder. Restricted to a feature-length film runtime, though, some creative liberties had to be taken — condense timelines, move settings of events, etc. — for the efficiency and flow of storytelling.

"The hard thing about doing these kinds of movies is that you're taking all of these different key moments from their life," Brewer tells **, "and trying to put them together in something that can still have an emotional truth to it."

And yes, sometimes filmmakers embellish or add events for emotional or dramatic purposes.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Below, Brewer takes EW through some of those key moments of the Sardinas' lives as seen in *Song Sung Blue* and shares what is indeed fact, what was changed for story purposes, and what he added.**

Kate Hudson and Claire Sardina at the 'Song Sung Blue' New York premiere on Dec. 11, 2025.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Claire was a Patsy Cline impersonator

"This is a fact. She would sing a bunch of different songs, but she did love singing 'Crazy,' and 'Crazy' in particular was a showstopper."

Outside of performing as Lightning, Mike was also an impersonator

"That is something that I added into the movie. At least to my knowledge, he never impersonated anybody, but he was that guy that every band wanted to play in their band. And then sometimes he would be the lead singer, but he really loved doing covers. He loved doing Bon Jovi covers. He would do whatever got people moving in the crowd."

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Mike and Claire met while performing at the Wisconsin State Fair

"They knew of each other from various gigs, but I can tell you that they had a business meeting that Mike had arranged for Claire, and she dressed up great, and he took her to a ballgame. And she was like, 'Is this still a business meeting?' And later on, they went down to the river and they got ice cream cones, and he got a little closer to her and put his arm around her, and she's like, 'And this is still that business meeting?' Claire told me that their evening didn't end. She was joking, 'This is probably one of the most interesting business meetings I've been on.' I think that, yes, he wanted to be in a band with her, but I think he was sweet on her and didn't want to say they were on a date."

Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, and director Craig Brewer on the set of 'Song Sung Blue'.

Sarah Shatz/Focus Features

Eddie Vedder asked Mike and Claire to open for Pearl Jam

"This is true. Eddie Vedder is the MVP of Lightning & Thunder. Not only did he hear about them from a Milwaukee group, the Frogs, when Pearl Jam was coming into town and they were like, 'Hey, what are some other bands that are good that we can maybe have be in our showcase?' And the Frogs were like, 'Believe it or not, there's this Neil Diamond tribute band called Lightning & Thunder...' So Eddie Vedder had them be in his show, but then, later when the documentary that Greg Kohs made about Mike and Claire was about to have its premiere at a festival, and he got a cease-and-desist letter from Neil Diamond's publishing company saying, 'You can't use the music, so you can't show this movie.' Eddie Vedder called up Neil Diamond, sent him the documentary, and said, 'You gotta watch this and you gotta let them use the music.' Neil Diamond saw the movie, he was so touched by it, and he intervened and told his publishing company to leave Greg alone and show the movie. So Eddie, even, even to this day, has been such a support in telling the story of Lightning & Thunder, even to the extent of — we wanted to use the song 'Alive' off of his first album. They have never licensed that song, ever. It's always been an automatic no. And he gave it to us."

Claire got hit by a car in front of her house

"It is indeed true. It was a tragic moment that we're fortunate she survived, but it definitely left a mark not only on her but on her soul. It really tested her and tested the family. Even stranger than that experience was, another car hit the house. This is a family that so many things were coming at them that were just almost unbelievable to describe to people. And yet it's all true.

Kate got the script and did not know it was based on a true story, and she was shocked to find out that it was based on a true story. She didn't know about the documentary, she hadn't seen it. She just read the script cold, and she thought it was an incredible story. And then when she found out it was true, she just felt it was unbelievable. But I think that's actually what really attracted Kate to the role. She loved it, she knew she could play it, she knew she could do it justice. She didn't feel particularly confident that she was gonna get the role because she's not necessarily in consideration and on a lot of lists of who means something right now in movies. But what I love about what's happening right now is everybody's seeing her amazing performance, and they're remembering, 'Oh, yeah, Kate Hudson, that same person who we fell in love with and was Penny Lane in *Almost Famous*, this woman has the goods.' She's incredible."

Kate Hudson in 'Song Sung Blue'.

Courtesy of Focus Features

Claire went to rehab after her family found her on the front lawn in the middle of the night

"The family was taking a trip down to Six Flags, and she had a real psychotic break. The family went to a nearby hospital, and they admitted her. She insisted they continue to go to Six Flags while she was in there, and she even said that she needed that distance. She needed to feel like her family was okay, because she really needed to deal with what was happening right now to her. And she needed that space to get control of it."

Mike had a heart condition that he hid from most of his family

"He definitely didn't hide it at a certain point because sometimes he had to be hospitalized. The thing that I basically embellished on that was that he did hide the fact that he had a heart attack on the day that Claire was hit by the car and had the accident because he did not want anybody to know. Rachel [Claire's daughter from her first marriage] knew about it, but he didn't want Claire to know about it because she was suffering and having to deal with the fact that she just lost a leg. And I found that that was noble. I felt that there was something maybe a little bit misguided with it, you know? I mean, he did just suffer a heart attack, but he wanted the focus to be on Claire and for everybody's attention to be on giving her what she needed in that time.

He had a few heart attacks. My great-uncle Melvin had this as well, where there are some heart attacks that can take you out completely and end your life, and there are some heart attacks that people are going, [*calmly*] 'I'm having a heart attack right now. Let's maybe take me to the hospital, not necessarily call an ambulance or anything.' Mike had a few of those. But I found it so moving in the documentary that she loses a leg and the family is rallying behind her, trying to get through that very difficult time, but then at the end, when Mike started experiencing these heart attacks, it was Claire holding his hand in the hospital. So it was really just showing that true love of an American working-class couple who are doing the best they can under the hardest of circumstances to remain strong and be there for the people they love."**

Director Craig Brewer on the set of 'Song Sung Blue'.

Sarah Shatz/Focus Features

Rachel used a defibrillator on Mike

"That is something that I put in, and I'll tell you what gave me the idea for it: Rachel told me that Mike really wanted to connect with Dayna, his new stepson, and he wanted to work on cars with Dayna. And Rachel was like, 'Dayna's not gonna wanna work on a car, but I would like to.' And he was surprised that Rachel wanted to learn how to work on cars, but he taught her how to do oil changes and jump the car if her battery died. I felt that that was kind of an interesting dynamic to establish between a father and a daughter, this thing where it's like, *Yeah, you want to be loving and supportive to your daughter, but there's also this element of, I need to prepare you for life and I don't want you to ever feel lost or that you're dependent on somebody else*.

I felt like out of anybody in that family, he could say, 'Look, you and I are gonna handle this right now between you and I, while they work on your mom.' And I was like, *Oh, that's what it is. He should just give her the defibrillator. He was a Marine [in the Vietnam War], he had medics around him having to do this kind of stuff in the field. And he probably thought, we're just gonna take care of this right now with this piece of equipment. It's the same thing we did when we jumped your car. It'll be fine.* So that was definitely my embellishment, but it was kind of fed by an emotional truth that I think was real."**

Rachel got pregnant and gave up the baby for adoption

"That is true. Rachel got pregnant. And then what I found really relatable and sweet about the story, especially for many people out there who have had adoption in their life — and I've known many people who have done that — is that Rachel got to know the family that was gonna adopt her baby. She has remained in that child's life as the biological mother. And I don't think Rachel would mind me saying that Rachel got pregnant again and called up that family and said, 'Would you be interested in a sibling?' There's so many ways that people live their lives and families are made, and I did not want that element to be something in the movie that people thought was such a heavy thing when people make their choices, and they figure out a way to move forward with what they're comfortable with and happy with. I was happy to tell that story."

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in 'Song Sung Blue'.

Courtesy of Focus Features

Mike died in the backseat of the car, just before meeting Neil Diamond

"It isn't all that far off from what really happened. I, of course, needed to compact some time, but Neil Diamond was gonna do a concert in town. There's this heartbreaking shot in the documentary...They knew Neil Diamond always comes by this one particular custard shop and everybody was gonna see Neil Diamond there. And in the documentary, the camera goes from that custard stand up to the hospital where Mike had just experienced a heart attack. And when he passed out, he hit his head and the family was around him. And I always felt that that was such a beautiful moment in the documentary, to show the excitement and optimism that everybody was gonna meet Neil Diamond at this one place. But Mike was fighting for his life in the hospital, just behind Neil.

Lightning & Thunder did make their big comeback at this venue at the county fair, where they actually got married. So it wasn't the night of Neil Diamond's concert, but it was pretty close to it."

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