Few movies are as electric to see in a theater as a concert film, which is generally designed to make you want to sing along and dance. Stop Making Sense, 1984’s Talking Heads film by Oscar winner Jonathan Demme, is the pinnacle of this: Stories about audiences jumping into the aisles to groove along to hits like “Burning Down the House” and “Life During Wartime” have followed the film for the last 39 years.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of being one of those thoroughly entertained viewers during the film’s repeated repertory screenings over the years—I’ve been fortunate enough to watch it on the big screen twice myself—you’ll get your biggest chance yet this year. A24, the distributor behind recent Oscar hit Everything Everywhere All at Once and other acclaimed indie fare, has acquired Stop Making Sense. To celebrate, it plans to give the film a 4K-remastered, worldwide theatrical release later this year.
The news came with the most suitable (ha ha ha!) trailer possible: Talking Heads frontman David Byrne celebrating the film’s big re-release with a trip to the dry cleaners. He’s had his most-famous costume from Stop Making Sense waiting for him there since the mid-’80s, and he can’t wait to take it home and try it back on.
Cut to: David Byrne wearing the enormously oversized suit he wore in the film, for the song “Girlfriend Is Better.” That’s the song the film’s title comes from too—it’s really a centerpiece in its own way, in large part because of Byrne’s large suit.
Byrne’s been back in the zeitgeist of late for his own endeavors. Most notably, he starred in the Tony- and Emmy-nominated American Utopia, which ran on Broadway from late 2021 to spring 2022. The performance-driven musical combined cuts from throughout his career with his surreal, funny, heady (sorry, can’t stop myself!) musings.
Byrne also appeared in the utterly perfect satire John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch on Netflix in December 2019, performed with Sia at Cyrus’ latest New Year’s Eve Special, and was just nominated for an Oscar for “This Is the Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Here’s hoping that Byrne rings in the theatrical re-release with some in-person Q&As, where he lets us marvel once more at that gigantic blue suit.
