True Stories (Criterion Collection)

Cast View all

	John Goodman	Louis Fyne
	Annie McEnroe	Kay Culver
	Jo Harvey Allen	The Lying Woman
	Spalding Gray	Earl Culver
	Alix Elias	The Cute Woman
	Roebuck 'Pops' Staples	Mr. Tucker
	Tito Larriva	Ramon
	John Ingle	The Preacher
	Matthew Posey	The Computer Guy
	David Byrne	Narrator
	Swoosie Kurtz	The Lazy Woman
	Amy Buffington	Linda Culver
	Richard Dowlearn	Larry Culver
	Capucine DeWulf	The Little Girl on the Road
	Cynthia Gould	Factory Girl #1
	Kelly Wright	Factory Girl #2
	Hinpheth Siharath	Laotian Factory Worker
	Phyllis Wallace	Woman at Plant
	Linda McCauley	Louis' Date at Chinese Restaurant
	Marian Henley	Moonstone
	Huey P. Meaux	Wild Wild Life Club DJ
	Connie Deaton	Lip-Syncher
	Jerry Harrison	Lip-Syncher
	Meredith Zednick	Lip-Syncher
	Alonzo Richard	Lip-Syncher

Crew View all

Director	David Byrne
Writer	Stephen Tobolowsky, Beth Henley, David Byrne
Producer	Michael Flynn, Gary Kurfirst, Karen Murphy, Christina Patoski, Edward R. Pressman, Neal Weisman
Musician	David Byrne
Photography	Edward Lachman

Trailer

Edition details

Personal

Notes

Christmas 2020 gift from Beth


Music icon David Byrne was inspired by tabloid headlines to make his sole foray into feature-film directing, an ode to the extraordinariness of ordinary American life and a distillation of what was in his own idiosyncratic mind. The Talking Heads front man plays a visitor to Virgil, Texas, who introduces us to the citizens of the town during preparations for its Celebration of Specialness. As shot by cinematographer Ed Lachman, Texas becomes a hyperrealistic late-capitalist landscape of endless vistas, shopping malls, and prefab metal buildings. In True Stories, Byrne uses his songs to stitch together pop iconography, voodoo rituals, and a singular variety show-all in the service of uncovering the rich mysteries that lurk under the surface of everyday experience.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director David Byrne and cinematogra­pher Ed Lachman, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, supervised by Byrne, on the Blu-ray
New documentary about the film’s production, featuring Byrne, Lachman, screenwriter Stephen Tobolowsky, executive producer Edward Pressman, coproducer Karen Murphy, fashion-show costume designer Adelle Lutz, casting director Victoria Thomas, consultant Christina Patoski, actor Jo Harvey Allen, and artist and songwriter Terry Allen
CD containing the film’s complete soundtrack, compiled here for the first time (Blu-ray only)
Real Life (1986), a short documentary by Pamela Yates and Newton Thomas Sigel made on the set of the film
No Time to Look Back, a new homage to Virgil, Texas, the fictional town where True Stories is set
New documentary about designer Tibor Kalman and his influence on Byrne and work on the film, featuring Byrne and artist Maira Kalman, Tibor’s widow
Deleted scenes
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: Essays by critic Rebecca Bengal and journalist and author Joe Nick Patoski, along with, for the Blu-ray edition, an essay by Byrne; a 1986 piece by actor Spalding Gray on the film’s production; and a selection of production photography, along with Byrne’s tabloid clippings and writing about the film’s visual motifs
New cover based on concepts by Tibor Kalman/M & Co.

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