The movie that made David Byrne laugh and cry
Though he’s primarily known as the frontman of new wave pioneers Talking Heads, David Byrne has never allowed himself to be restrained to one art form. Throughout a career spanning half a century, the Scottish-born singer has dabbled in theatre, writing, filmmaking, and more, somehow mastering each and every creative craft he puts his mind to.
With each new project, Byrne has delved further into the weird and wonderful capabilities of art. True Stories, his singular venture into directing, saw Byrne combine surrealism and suburban life, while his work with Talking Heads blended nonsense lyrics with danceable genre experimentation. Between his peculiar dance moves and tender meditations on humanity, Byrne has made countless audiences laugh and cry through sonic and visual art.
Though he is often the purveyor of moving art, Byrne is no stranger to feeling the effects of it. The multi-talented creative once recalled being moved to both hysterics and tears by a surprising movie choice – Pixar’s beloved family superhero film, The Incredibles. As he recalled in his online journal, Byrne “laughed and cried” at the story of the “disgruntled retired superheroes”.
Released in 2004, the film remains just as well-loved now as it was upon first release. With an endlessly entertaining screenplay and a stellar cast of actors, including Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson as the iconic Frozone, it endeared itself to kids and parents alike, even earning a sequel 14 years later. Amidst its fans was Byrne, who, like many audiences, found emotional highs and lows in the story of the Parr family.
“I laughed and cried,” he explained, “As I do at lots of animated movies”.
Though it’s one of few creative areas he’s yet to venture into, Byrne went on to contemplate his love for animation as an art form, asking, “I wonder if I get more emotionally involved in animated characters than in films using real actors?” Suggesting that he finds emotional catharsis in animation more often than in live action, Byrne makes the case for drawings being “easier to identify with” than real people.
This seems like a difficult case to argue – it seems that most cinema-goers would be more likely to empathise with real-life actors than animated characters – but Byrne argues that it’s not as strange as it may seem. “Maybe the fact that they’re drawings makes them more ambiguous, more universal, and easier to identify with,” he speculated.
It’s an interesting argument to make and one that certainly seems to have worked with The Incredibles. For almost two decades now, audiences have laughed and cried alongside the Parr family, and Byrne is no exception.
