ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with iconic singer Michael Bublé about the documentary Memories for Life: Reversing Alzheimer’s. Bublé discussed his experience of having family members with Alzheimer’s and his love of parodies of himself. We are also revealing an exclusive trailer the documentary, which is set to release through its official website and Vimeo on November 15 and through video-on-demand platforms on November 28.
“Memories for Life-Reversing Alzheimer’s is a remarkable feature film narrated by Grammy-winner Michael Bublé about the first Alzheimer’s patients who are reversing their cognitive decline by following a novel therapeutic protocol,” reads the film’s synopsis. “Developed by a renowned American neurologist, Dr. Dale Bredesen, this precision medicine approach uses expanded lab data to generate personalized protocols that are allowing patients to regain their memories.”
You can check out the exclusive Memories for Life trailer below (as well as on YouTube) (watch more trailers):
Tyler Treese: You have this documentary coming out, Memories for Life, that you narrated. Could you tell me a little bit about how you came onto this documentary? It deals with Alzheimer’s and the road to a new potential treatment.
Michael Bublé: Yeah, man. Just like millions of other people all over the globe, I have been personally affected by this disease. I watched my grandmother get diagnosed with a death sentence. No hope that it could be slowed down or reversed, just that it was something we would have to manage and live with. I watched my mother take care of my grandmother for over 10 years and give so much of her life and her youth away. She did the right thing — my mom is an incredible woman, and she and my grandmother had the most incredible relationship, and it fills me with nothing but pride.
So you can imagine when I was told that I might be able to be a small part of advocating for people like us and all over the planet who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s as a death sentence, that there was research out there that could notate that there was a chance of not only slowing down or stopping this disease but actually reversing it through alternative ways, I jumped at the chance. Listen, I never want to be controversial. My job is never to tell you who to vote for to get or not get a vaccine. I hope I make great music for people and that I can be apolitical, but at the same time, if I can be on the right side of history and advocate for people that I love and for innocent people all over the world who have no hope … for me, there just wasn’t even a question. I just wanted to be a part of it. Then I’d read the script. When I saw the film for the first time with the director, Hideyuki Tokigawa, I was just blown away, man. I was more than blown away. It was eye-opening because not only did I feel that there was some sense of hope for people all over the globe.
But it was a little disturbing, to be honest with you, that there was a faction of people that wouldn’t even allow Dr. [Dale] Bredesen to do the research. That, to me, is the most interesting part of the film — watching him struggle just to get support to do research, because that’s just how it is. You just die. You get this disease, and you’re dead, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Maybe we’ll give you a pill that can hopefully slow it down, but maybe not. Here you have a fellow who’s worked his whole life at making sure that he could find anecdotal proof that if you change your lifestyle to a strict diet and exercise, you have the ability to slow this thing down and even reverse it.
I know it’s going to all these big film festivals, and I appreciate you guys for premiering the clips of it, because, you know what? That’s all we can do now, is hope that we can get people’s eyes on this and that they can start asking the right questions and they can start helping to advocate for the people who need that help. The crazy part is, it’s like cancer, man. You’re not getting away with it. There’s not one person you will ever meet that isn’t going to be affected in some way, whether it’s them or someone they love. So it’s about time to get the act together and to start to move towards a cure.
What did you learn that stood out the most while doing this project?
I think what what stood out most was really just thinking about my own family. It’s a very personal thing. I think about myself. I think about the journey I’m going to have with my own children if and when I’m diagnosed with it. It’s something my mom worries about. We talk about it a lot. It’s literally her greatest fear. She would tell you that her greatest fear is to forget and to not recognize her babies. It’s weird because I think there’s an international flavor where it’s easy to be myopic and to think about yourself and all these emotions and all these fears.
And I bet you, Tyler, think about your mom or yourself — how can you not? It’s one of those things that’s really easy to lie about to other people, but really hard to lie to yourself, you know? Or maybe it’s even easier to lie to yourself and think, “That doesn’t happen until you’re older.” And I honestly think, for the first time in my life, I got to the end of this documentary and I realized there just might be light at the end of the tunnel and there just might be hope for a disease that no hope was given.
You’re clearly very family-forward with in your personal life and focus on your family and your kids. You’ve talked openly in the past about how you don’t see yourself really focusing on music for much longer and have discussed retirement and how you want to put family first. What keeps bringing you back to creation? That has to be a struggle, to want to spend all your time with family but then also have that innate desire to create within you as well.
It’s funny, you know, it’s not true, Tyler. Number one: I am not retiring. I am never leaving music. Music has been too good to me and I am too fully and deeply in love with music. I’ll never stop making music, man. I am a creative person and it literally is such a massive part of me that I could never let it go. But I’ve also toured for 20 years. 20 years I’ve just gone on world tours and I made records and promoed them and left and never stopped. I’m not retiring. I just like to take some time to be a dad. I got a gorgeous little one-year-old, and I don’t want to miss those … the first word that comes out of her mouth or the first sentence.
This movie is called Memories for Life. The truth is [that] the older I get, the more I realize that life is just about making memories and being present. That’s what I want to be, man, and I can do that. I can be present, I can be a good husband, a good dad. At the same time, I can make badass music and maybe make films and do things like this where I feel like … there’s a big part of me and my personality that people just don’t know. And that’s okay. They can say, “Hey, he’s the crooner guy who does romantic stuff and we love listening to him at Christmas,” but they don’t know that there’s a lot more to me. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just that they haven’t seen it yet. It’s about time to have some fun and let that part of me out.
You spoke about showing that other side of your personality, and I saw this clip from an old concert where you did a Cartman impression from South Park. This is a while ago, but South Park had Cartman cover “It’s a Beautiful Day.” I was just curious if you had seen that episode of the show and if you got a kick out of that.
I have, man! Yes! I’m a huge fan. I’m a big fan of those guys — I think they’re geniuses. Actually, I’ve been talking a lot about their Broadway show, The Book of Mormon, and how unique and unbelievable I thought it was. I got to meet them, actually. I was at a hockey game and they were there. Culturally, it’s so cool to be part of that stuff. I’m pretty good friends with Seth MacFarlane and Stewie in Family Guy did this hilarious scene with Bubble Rap, and he called it Bublé Rap, and it’s completely inappropriate and amazing.
That’s me. The real me is that guy — I’m just a dude. I’m just a regular guy. I’m a son of a fisherman who wanted to be a hockey player who just happened to be born with this gorgeous voice and this incredibly good looking body and intelligence. [Laughs].
