David Byrne made a virtual appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Thursday night where he spoke with the host about his upcoming American Utopia film collaboration with Spike Lee, as well as his newest project, “We Are Not Divided.”
Earlier this year, news broke that Spike Lee would direct a film adaptation of Byrne’s hit Broadway show. A teaser video then arrived at the end of August, along with an announcement that American Utopia would premiere on HBO October 17th at 8 p.m.
Related: David Byrne Launches New Radio Show ‘Here Comes Everybody’ [Stream]
After joking about nervously using air freshener as deodorant, Byrne told Seth Meyers that he wants to bring American Utopia back to Broadway, but believes it’ll be about a year before that’s possible, given the current situation with COVID-19. Even with a vaccine, Byrne noted that people’s comfortability would be a big factor in the show’s return.
“Even with masks on, sitting right next to strangers… you can’t do a Broadway theater with 25% capacity. It has to be, like, 80% and so yeah, that might take a while. That’s okay. We’ve got this movie coming in the meantime.”
He then went on to discuss how Spike Lee got involved, telling Meyers about the wonders of texting.
“I texted Spike [laughs]. Yes, text is a wonderful thing,” he said. “I texted him and said ‘somebody might want to make a movie of this. You want see it? Check this out.’ So he came to Boston. It was a two show day…by the second show he came to my dressing room and said ‘I want to do this.’”
Then, towards the end of the interview, Byrne discussed his latest project with Meyers, a multimedia editorial initiative dubbed “We Are Not Divided.” The initiative arrives through his Reasons to be Cheerful online magazine and focuses on bridging the perceived divide between peoples around the world.
“When [the team] first proposed this, I first responded and said, ‘Are you kidding? You know, I mean I wake up in the morning, I read the papers, and I think we’re all ready to kill one another.’”
After seeing a few examples of the kind of content his team was proposing, however, Byrne says he was convinced it was a great idea, especially given the current socio-political climate in the United States.
Watch the entire interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers below. For more information on the American Utopia film click here, and visit Reasons to be Cheerful to learn more about “We Are Not Divided.”
David Byrne On Late Night with Seth Meyers
[Video: Late Night with Seth Meyers]
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