Craig Brewer on Missing John Singleton and ‘Song Sung Blue’

Craig Brewer really misses John Singleton.

Twenty-five years into a career that has consistently challenged Hollywood’s narrow definitions of diversity, Brewer tells a story of sitting in a Los Angeles hotel room the day after the Governor’s Awards, reflecting on how he’s finally started to feel like he belongs. The director of “Hustle and Flow,” “Black Snake Moan” and “Dolemite Is My Name” admits he still battles imposter syndrome every time he puts on a suit for an industry event.

“I’ll get dressed up, and all I do is feel like an imposter every day,” Brewer tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. But at 53, he’s learning to let go. “There’s something that just happened when I pulled up. I was like, I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to get an old fashioned and you’re going to enjoy yourself.”

That newfound grace and maturity permeates “Song Sung Blue,” Brewer’s latest film starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Mike and Claire, a struggling couple who form a Neil Diamond tribute act. Opening on Christmas Day from Focus Features, the film represents something of a homecoming for Brewer, who cut his teeth making independent films in his native Memphis before the late John Singleton discovered him and brought him to Hollywood.

“I’ve really enjoyed being in my 50s,” Brewer says. “I think that what it’s done for me, and maybe it’s also just having being a parent and having kids that are now, you know, my youngest is 17, and I’ve learned that there is a lot of grace to letting go.” That philosophy extends to his directing approach on this film, where he allowed himself to be more open and collaborative than ever before.

The movie itself defies easy categorization, and intentionally so. While early trailers might suggest a feel-good crowd-pleaser in the vein of “The Greatest Showman,” the film takes unexpected turns into darker, more…