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Spike Lee’s filmed adaptation of David Byrne’s play “American Utopia” is set to open the Toronto International Film Festival. Lee’s upcoming filmed version of the Broadway hit will debut as the Opening Night film at this year’s event. They aren’t even denying that this is a doc in the same style as the Disney+ “Hamilton” release from earlier this month.
Lee already has already released one film in 2020, the overpraised Netflix entity “Da 5 Bloods.” Lee is no slouch to the documentary genre, in fact, some of his best movies have been non-fiction (“4 Little Girls,” and the 4-hour Katrina masterpiece “When The Levee Breaks”).
As seen in the new teaser for “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” the new project is a filmed version of Byrne’s acclaimed Broadway show that featured performances of his own songs, both solo and with the Talking Heads. Speaking of Byrne’s former band, they already have a masterful doc made about them, 1984’s Jonathan Demme-directed “Stop Making Sense” an absolute groundbreakers and must-see concert film.
This year’s TIFF is expected to kick off on September 10th
”American Utopia” will premiere October 17th on HBO.