TORONTO (AP) 鈥 You may find yourself in a movie theater with playing and the members of Talking Heads in the audience.
That was the once-in-a-lifetime scenario when the new 4K restoration of 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥 premiered recently at the . On screen was a young, elastic David Byrne. In the theater, he was dancing, too, along with a crowd who couldn鈥檛 stay seated for 鈥淏urning Down the House.鈥
鈥淔or a moment I thought, 鈥業s it OK for me to get up and dance at our own movie?鈥 Byrne says, laughing, the morning after. 鈥淏ut how could you not?鈥
For nearly four decades, 鈥淪top Making Sense,鈥 directed by Jonathan Demme, has exerted an inexorable pull on all who encounter the frenetic fever of arguably the finest concert film ever made. Its power to bring together 鈥 it opens with Byrne alone on a spare stage and swells into an art-funk spectacular 鈥 is such that it鈥檚 even managed to reunite the Talking Heads, too.
For the first time in 21 years, the Talking Heads are a band again, even if only in movie theaters. Byrne, the band鈥檚 principal songwriter and singer, keyboardist-guitarist Jerry Harrison, bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz 鈥 who last gathered together in 2002 for their induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 鈥 have assembled once more for the rerelease of 鈥淪top Making Sense.鈥
鈥淚t feels normal,鈥 says Weymouth. 鈥淚 mean, this is our tour. We鈥檙e touring this movie.鈥
Since they officially broke up in 1991, the four members of Talking Heads have often squabbled, bitterly. Byrne has said Frantz, who鈥檚 married to Weymouth, published that described some of the discord and lingering hurts. When Byrne mounted a few years ago, featuring many Talking Heads songs, Frantz was stung not to even be invited.
As the group congregated the morning after the 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥 premiere for an interview, though, they were cordial with each other. They're now all in their early '70s. 鈥淗ow you livin鈥, Jerry?鈥 greeted Frantz. Byrne gazed out the window, contemplating a possible cycling route for the afternoon. He and Harrison sat on one couch, Weymouth and Frantz on another.
Their spirits were high. The film remains in light, a potent reminder of Talking Heads鈥 uniquely transfixing power. Harrison helped oversee the restoration from the long-lost original negatives. It opens on IMAX screens Friday and in other theaters Sept. 29.
鈥淥ne of the things that happened to me in rewatching it and working on it, was realizing: 鈥極h my God is everybody good,鈥欌 says Harrison.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I was cute,鈥 smiled Weymouth, who nimbly bounces from one foot to the other throughout the film. 鈥淭he whole band, they were so attractive, so beautiful.鈥
鈥淪top Making Sense,鈥 filmed over four nights at Los Angeles鈥 Pantages Theater in 1983, hasn鈥檛 dimmed with time. 鈥淪ame as it ever was,鈥 you could say. What begins with a solitary Byrne, with an acoustic guitar and boombox, steadily accumulates as the members of the band join him, then others like Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell and guitarist Alex Weir. This jittery, wide-eyed musician singing of psycho killers to a syncopated beat attracts a legion. His movements are malleable and constant. The music grows euphoric. This IS a party. This IS a disco.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the unbridled joyousness of the performance, which snowballs,鈥 says Frantz. 鈥淚t starts off with 鈥楶sycho Killer,鈥 which is a thing unto itself. But it snowballs into this ecstatic experience. You can see it very clearly with the band members. They鈥檙e gettin鈥 more and more fever.鈥
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to church,鈥 adds Weymouth.
Demme once called shooting live music 鈥渢he purest form of filmmaking.鈥 And much of 鈥淪top Making Sense,鈥 with an eagerly responsive Demme and cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth catching all the interactions between the band, approaches a perfect harmony of sound and image.
Now THAT, Byrne said after watching the film on IMAX, is why you go to the movies.
Byrne had choregraphed the Talking Heads tour that year, for the album 鈥淪peaking in Tongues.鈥 Their concert came ready-made for Demme, a devoted Heads fan and an ardent music listener who approached the band with producer Gary Goetzman after seeing them perform in 1983 at the Hollywood Bowl.
鈥淭he great thing about Jonathan Demme was he had this amazing enthusiasm,鈥 says Weymouth.
For several weeks beforehand, visual consultant Sandy McLeod came along on tour to plot out how the filmmakers might document the concert. Byrne鈥檚 concept stemmed from, he says, 鈥渟howing people what it takes to put on a show.鈥
鈥淲e start with an empty stage and gradually add each part, each musician. As they come in, you hear what their contribution is,鈥 Byrne says. 鈥淵ou see how it all gets done. It鈥檚 like a magician showing how the tricks are done, but the trick still works. We鈥檝e seen behind the curtain, but the trick still works.鈥
And the 鈥渢ricks鈥 are grand. There鈥檚, of course, in 鈥淕irlfriend Is Better鈥濃 now even bigger in IMAX. (The big suit, itself, resides in a big box in Byrne鈥檚 office.) There鈥檚 also his achingly gentle dance with a floor lamp in 鈥 a sumptuous echo to Gene Kelly's in 鈥淪ingin鈥 in the Rain.鈥
The lamps were made specially to be a little taller than the typical size, so they would illuminate faces.
鈥淲e bought a few of them. They鈥檇 break all the time. I鈥檇 drop them and all the light bulbs would break,鈥 says Byrne, laughing. 鈥淲e鈥檙e kind of lucky that the ones in the film held up.鈥
Other elements of 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥 have also proved remarkably resilient, though they can be harder to pin down. The songs, particularly something like synthesized a modern discombobulation that was only just emerging in the tech-nascent 鈥80s. 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥 鈥 shot on film with six cameras but mixed digitally in Hal Ashby鈥檚 editing room 鈥 heralded a disorienting information age future while at the same time making the case that this strange new world could also be funky as hell.
鈥淭here鈥檚 most definitely a prescient nature in David鈥檚 lyrics,鈥 Harrison says. 鈥淒avid seemed to capture, you might say, the future zeitgeist.鈥
That can be heard in what Byrne was singing about but it鈥檚 also embodied in his constant, live-wire physicality. It was only a few years before 鈥淪top Making Sense,鈥 on tour in 1980, that Byrne began to find his a stage persona.
鈥淏efore that, I didn鈥檛 move much. I just thought: It鈥檚 OK to move but you have to find your own way to do it. You can鈥檛 be imitating other performers,鈥 he says. 鈥淪o I just listened to the songs and thought: How does this groove make you move? On 鈥楲ife During Wartime,鈥 I felt like running.鈥
Unlike most concert films, Demme elected not to cut away to the audience until the final moments of the film. He wanted to preserve the pure experience of a live concert, and not mix in interviews along the way.
鈥淯2 wanted to make a film that was better than 鈥楽top Making Sense鈥 and then they went and ruined it by doing all those interviews,鈥 Weymouth says. 鈥淭he art should be separate from the personalities. So you don鈥檛 get all the dysfunction.鈥
To her, 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥 derives from a different era when not everything was self-documented. It was a vividly artful presentation that left it up to the viewer to interpret, or dance to.
Talking Heads never participated in another film, though Byrne鈥檚 鈥淎merican Utopia鈥 was captured thrillingly by Spike Lee in . (Lee, in attendance at the Toronto premiere, pronounced 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥 鈥渢he GOAT" of concert films.)
The 1983 tour was the last time Talking Heads hit the road, and Byrne has consistently said he has no interest in a reunion tour. After their experience with Demme, a career-spanning documentary also seems unlikely.
鈥淚t would have to take something pretty extraordinary to make us want us to do something like that,鈥 says Harrison. 鈥淚f the right filmmaker came along and you could then imagine yourself in the framework he or she sets up, it鈥檚 possible. It certainly wouldn鈥檛 be now.鈥
Besides, who needs legacy burnishing when 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥 is still so alive? In conversation, the band again and again marveled at how deeply in tune they were with one another then 鈥 perhaps especially in contrast to the years that followed.
鈥淭his is going to sound really ridiculous but I think about the fusion of the sun,鈥 says Weymouth. 鈥淚t implodes and explodes. And I think that push and pull was so magical to our creative forces, the way that we worked together, the way we were supportive of each other. It was very special and none of us has found it again. If we sat down and played music, we鈥檇 be connecting again.鈥
The Talking Heads members are now, a little surreally, part of the audience gazing back at 鈥淪top Making Sense.鈥 It remains the defining encapsulation of what the Talking Heads were and what they achieved. If there's one thing they can all agree on, it's an abiding love for it.
鈥淗aving had two near-death experiences in the past couple of years 鈥 one with Tina in a head-on car crash -- who鈥檚 the guy who said 鈥楨njoy every sandwich鈥? Warren Zevon," Frantz says. "That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 doing.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 a good legacy. Now I can die,鈥 says Weymouth, before adding: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to.鈥
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
