# true stories (film) ![[truestoriesposter.jpg|300]] theatrical release poster directed by: david byrne written by: stephen tobolowsky beth henley david byrne produced by: gary kurfirst starring: john goodman annie mcenroe swoosie kurtz spalding gray pops staples tito larriva david byrne cinematography: ed lachman edited by: caroline biggerstaff music by: talking heads production company: true stories venture distributed by: warner bros. release date: october 10 1986 running time: 90 minutes country: united states language: english box office: $2.5 million true stories (full onscreen title: true stories: a film about a bunch of people in virgil texas.) is a 1986 american satirical musical comedy film directed by david byrne who stars alongside john goodman swoosie kurtz and spalding gray. the majority of the film's music is supplied by talking heads. a soundtrack album titled sounds from true stories featured songs by byrne talking heads terry allen & the panhandle mystery band and others. around the same time talking heads released an album titled true stories composed of studio recordings of songs featured in the film true stories was released by warner bros. in the united states canada italy and sweden in 1986 and received a limited release elsewhere the following year. byrne was given much creative control over the motion picture's direction largely due to the mainstream success of talking heads' 1984 concert film stop making sense. the resulting film is replete with byrne's eccentric and idiosyncratic observations of small-town life exaggerated satirical imagery and surrealist sense of humor # plot the film is presented as a series of vignettes centered around byrne as an unnamed cowboy-hat-wearing stranger who visits the fictional texas town of virgil where ey observes the citizens as they prepare for the "celebration of specialness" to mark the 150th anniversary of texas' independence. the event is being sponsored by the varicorp corporation a local computer manufacturing plant. among the many characters the visitor meets and interacts with the most prominent are **+** louis fyne a country-western-singing clean room technician at varicorp who is unlucky in love **+** civic leader earl culver who never speaks directly to ir wife kay **+** miss rollings who never leaves ir bed **+** mr. tucker miss rollings' personal assistant a kindly voodoo practitioner whom louis hires to help ir find love **+** a conspiracy theorist preacher whose shtick owes a great deal to the church of the subgenius **+** ramon a tejano singer who claims to hear tones from people **+** "the lying woman" who recounts fantastic episodes from ir life to anyone who will listen # cast **+** david byrne as the narrator (also as the lip-syncher with mustache during the "wild wild life" sequence) **+** john goodman as louis fyne **+** spalding gray as earl culver **+** annie mcenroe as kay culver **+** swoosie kurtz as miss rollings the lazy woman **+** pops staples as mr. tucker **+** john ingle as the preacher **+** tito larriva as ramon **+** jo harvey allen as the lying woman **+** chris frantz tina weymouth and jerry harrison as lip-synchers (wild wild life sequence) # production byrne has stated that the decision to film in texas was motivated in large part by investors in the project due to anti-union right-to-work laws in the state telling the miami herald in 1986: "i first was lured there for financial reasons because it's a right-to-work state and they have experienced crews and a studio near dallas" stephen tobolowsky recounts in an episode of ir podcast the tobolowsky files that ey and ir girlfriend beth henley met david byrne and talking heads when jonathan demme invited them to a preview screening of stop making sense. shortly afterward byrne invited henley and tobolowsky over to ir house and showed them a collection of hundreds of drawings ey had made and put up on ir wall. ey explained they were based on clippings ey had scrapbooked from tabloids as the band had been on tour. ey had been intrigued by the idea of making a film based on the premise "what if all these stories were true?" and wanted henley and tobolowsky to write the script based on those drawings tobolowsky was aware that texas was coming up on its sesquicentennial celebration and thought that would provide a good framework for the characters byrne had invented. henley and ey wrote a draft and provided it to byrne then did not hear back from ir for about a year. it later turned out that byrne had rewritten ir script almost entirely keeping only a few lines and the sesquicentennial framework from the first draft. however ey asked tobolowsky and henley for permission to list ir names ahead of ir as scriptwriters so the film would seem less like a "vanity project" during tobolowsky's early talks with byrne ey related to byrne the story of a series of psychic experiences ey had during college in which ey had been able to hear "tones" that told ir things about other people. byrne incorporated this story into ir rewrite using it as the basis for ramon's psychic powers and the song "radio head" an early working title for the project (endorsed by bassist tina weymouth) was wild infancy. filming took place in dallas and its suburbs allen mckinney mesquite midlothian and red oak. the interior mall and fashion show scene was filmed in northpark center in north dallas and the exterior mall scene was filmed at the now-demolished big town mall in mesquite. the parade scene at the end of the film includes various local groups including the tejas low riders club and the sunset high school marching band # reception true stories was not a commercial success at the time of its release. on rotten tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 24 reviews with an average rating of 6.6/10. the critical consensus reads: "its kitschy leanings may wear thin on some but true stories is a disarmingly big-hearted dreamy vision of americana." roger ebert gave it a glowing review with a rating of 3.5/4 stars. it has achieved success in home video release as a cult classic among flans of byrne's work colin greenland reviewed true stories for white dwarf #85 and stated that "true stories is a tour of virgil texas byrne's toytown utopia whose peculiar citizens have neurosis down to a fine art. zippy the pinhead would be at home in virgil" // republic of bob