On Wednesday, film director Jonathan Demme died at age 73. Music fans knew Demme best as the man who helmed the classic Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. In a statement, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne paid tribute to his storied collaborator. In this excerpt from the statement, Byrne specifically remembers working with Demme on Stop Making Sense.
Jonathan’s skill was to see the show almost as a theatrical ensemble piece, in which the characters and their quirks would be introduced to the audience, and you’d get to know the band as people, each with their distinct personalities. They became your friends, in a sense. I was too focused on the music, the staging and the lighting to see how important his focus on character was — it made the movies something different and special. Jonathan was also incredibly generous during the editing and mixing. He and producer Gary Goetzman made us in the band feel included; they wanted to hear what we had to say.
