Sia’s Directorial Debut ‘Music’ Coming In January – With Controversy!
Australian singer and songwriter, Sia makes her feature film directorial debut with Music on 14 January 2021.
Starring Maddie Ziegler (Dance Moms) as Music, an autistic teen, with Kate Hudson as Music’s half-sister who finds herself Music’s carer.
The film has caused controversy because of Sia’s decision to cast Ziegler in the starring role.
The autistic community argue the role should have gone to an autistic actor rather than Ziegler who is neurotypical. In response, Sia said an autistic actor was initially cast in the role, however, when filming commenced, they found the experience “unpleasant and stressful” because of the complexity of the character and dance routines.
Sia added the film is based on an autistic friend.
“The character is based completely on my neuro-atypical friend,” Sia said in an interview with 10 News First. “He found it too stressful being nonverbal, and I made this movie with nothing but love for him and his mother.”
Sia has written 10 original songs for Music, which features many highly choreographed dance routines. The songs will be released as an album at the same time as the feature release in January.
No US release date has been announced, however, there will be a rolling international release from 14 January. Watch the trailer below.
