Talking Heads (all 4 members reunited) held a Stop Making Sense screening + Q&A in New York on September 13th, 2023.
This was 2 days after the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) premiere of A24's remastered version of Stop Making Sense, which was also the first reunion of the band in over 20 years and included a Q&A moderated by Spike Lee. This one was moderated by NBC journalist John Heilemann and happened at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) with all 4 members of the band answering questions about the film: David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth.
Unfortunately this is not a full video recording (it would be amazing if one exists, but it's unknown if it does), and includes a short video of the intro then just audio for the rest of the Q&A. But it captures the talk quite well, and I made a bunch of small edits to make the volume more consistent in places where it was too quiet or loud.
I also wrote timestamps summarizing the questions & including the initials of band members who answer [d/j/c/t]. Check the comments for a list where I summarize the answers too.
00:00 [band introductions WITH VIDEO]
01:50 [moderator introduction]
04:20 how did the tour come together? [d]
05:55 how did the extended band come together? [j]
08:00 do you remember the first time any of the band decided to make it a movie? [c]
10:05 tell us about conversing with Jonathan (what the movie should/shouldn't be) [t]
11:55 what did you think Jonathan would bring differently to the music videos? [d]
13:30 do you think he showed a world/family that you couldn't see yourself at first? [d]
14:13 what was the experience with Jonathan's personality? [c]
16:55 do you see this as more of a concert movie, performance art, acting, a conceptual piece, or just "hey, we're a band and we're playing our songs"? [t]
18:10 how do you categorize this piece of film? [j]
20:00 what's the story that's being told? [d]
21:35 tell us about making the new version of the film [j]
23:45 what did you think when seeing the IMAX version? [c]
24:45 does it feel like long-time-ago nostalgia or like it just happened yesterday? [t]
25:45 [John talking about how timeless the movie feels]
27:05 how did you make it feel timeless? was that on your mind at all? [d]
28:45 Jerry, any idea where the timelessness comes from? [j]
29:35 (talking about outfits) how did the blue polo shirt happen? [t]
30:40 talk about joy felt about the tour at the time and now while watching it [c]
32:50 did you all feel that way? [j]
33:25 are these songs personal to you? [d]
34:25 You said you were one of the best live bands in the world at the time, but you never toured again. Do you have regrets about not taking it to the next level? [j]
36:15 were you making this for yourself or for us? [t]
36:50 what goals and objectives did you hope to get out of this? at the time, and what do you feel like you've done now? [t & j]
39:15 when making this, were you doing it for us, yourself, both, or neither? [d]
40:30 when you see yourself here, what do you think of that guy from 40 years ago? [d]
41:20 when are we getting a Tom Tom Club reunion? [c]
41:35 most people would love to see talking heads play live together again, could putting this out and seeing people's reaction potentially open the door for more live stuff? [c]
43:30 [partial host outro, cuts out at very end]
Recorded Wednesday 13th September 2023 during a screening held at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in New York City.
Special thanks to John for interviewing the band, Saidah for providing the video at the start, Dick for providing the photos, Morgan for providing the audio, and to Talking Heads & crew for making this event happen! I hope people enjoy this video I've put together, and I hope people find my question summarizations useful! Remember to check the comments for my summaries of their answers too!
22 авг 2024