[Interview] Yes! BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER’s cast & co-writer sing the theme song

Courtney Howard // Film Critic

Finding the perfect notes to form a film’s theme song is a tall order. It’s gotta reflect narrative themes, give voice to the picture’s emotional drive, have catchy lyrics and a good rhythmic hook. Blessedly the creative minds behind BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER have given audiences a new light-hearted ditty to hum as they stroll out of the theater. But before folks leave, they might be surprised to see quite a few famous names in the end credits listed under the song “Anywhere With You,” as it was not only sung by the film’s co-writer Erin Simms and stars Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, Candice Bergen and Diane Keaton, but it was also co-written by Steenburgen, who follows up her songwriting credit on “Glasgow” from WILD ROSE.

During our interview with Simms and director/ co-writer Bill Holderman at the film’s recent press day, they said that the genesis of the song began on the first outing with the cast. Holderman stated,

“Mary is an amazing songwriter. On the first movie we had talked about her writing a song and it didn’t come together. For this, we were really excited by the opportunity to do that. The idea of her writing a song was one we got really excited about and they decided it would be really fun to have the cast sing.”

Simms added,

“Originally we were going to get a singer and go down that road. But then we were like, ‘Wait a minute.’ Mary Steenburgen and I randomly bumped into each other at a manicure salon in Santa Monica and we started talking and were all, ‘Screw the idea of getting someone else to sing it – a real singer. Let’s get our women to do it. That’s more special.’”

Holderman explained further,

“I keep going back to the theme of it. It’s so on message to have them do this thing that’s incredibly ambitious. To Mary’s credit, she wrote an amazing song. The women came in and knocked it out of the park. It was fun.”

Simms’ involvement from a performance aspect happened purely out of happenstance. She said,

“The only reason that I’m on there on backing vocals was because it was at the last minute. There was no time. We were like, ‘We’re in a facility that has…’

Holderman jumped in,

“We were in our final mix. And so Erin went and sang in our ADR booth – the backing vocals on it. It was a family affair. The whole movie felt like that.”

The pair later attested that the idea for everyone singing on the track could probably be traced back to their impromptu sing-a-longs on set. Holderman said,

“No joke, throughout this entire production – we’d be on the train, we’d be in the jail cell, we’d be wherever – the women in the middle of the take, or the end of a take, would break into ‘Volare.’ All the time. The four of them would just start singing. So buried in that was this idea that they should sing the [theme] song.”

Simms alluded to having the footage of this.

“We have clips where the camera kept rolling. At the Danieli Hotel in Venice, the entire lobby was singing ‘Volare,’ because we started and it went from table to table, tourists, casts…”

BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER opens in theaters on May 12.