The new music drama from Terrence Malick, 'Song To Song' starring Michael Fassbender, is set to premiere on the opening night of the 2017 SXSW Festival this weekend, celebrating the Austin music aesthetic that the movie is all about and setting the course for a phenomenal event.

Song to SongRooney Mara, Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling star in 'Song to Song'

Austin, Texas is one of the greatest cities for music in the world, playing host to two major music festivals each year; SXSW and Austin City Limits. It so happens that filmmaker Terrence Malick shot his latest movie 'Song To Song' at the latter in 2012, and they are bringing it back to Austin with a screening at the 24th edition of SXSW today (March 10th 2017).

Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling and Natalie Portman star in this film about some budding musicians that get caught up in kind of love 'quadrangle' as they chase the success on the horizon. Terrence wanted a very raw musical outlook for the movie, and the only way they could achieve that was by bringing the story to the Austin City Limits stage.

Watch the trailer for 'Song To Song' here


 

'Because it was always intended and conceived of as a live music film, in some ways, you just can't replicated that production value', says producer Ken Kao. 

Michael Fassbender confessed that it was a bizarre turn of events bringing the entire cast and crew to the event. 'It's a kind of very mad band of film crew', he recalls. 'They're kinda like pirates running around, they're getting moments of chaos where something's gonna happen.'

The film features cameos from a number of real-life musicians including Iggy Pop, Florence and the Machine, Big Freedia, Patti Smith, Die Antwoord, Neon Indian, John Lydon, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lykke Li. Black Lips also have a major part in the movie as Rooney Mara's character's band. There was little acting involved on their part though, as they were all asked to just be themselves. 'Terry said that in this film you're supposed to just be the truth', said Lykke Li. 'So don't act.'

More: Watch the 'Song To Song' featurette and movie clip

Despite this, the music stars still made quite the impact with their on-set antics. 'The musicians are so at ease being on camera as extreme characters', says Natalie Portman. 'It's great to have that colour in the film.'

'Song To Song' hits theatres on March 17th 2017.