Editing David Byrne (section)

===Work in theatre, film, and television: 1981–present===
In 1981, Byrne partnered with choreographer [[Twyla Tharp]], [[film score|scoring]] music he wrote that appeared on his album ''[[The Catherine Wheel (album)|The Catherine Wheel]]'' for a ballet with the same name, prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of ''The Catherine Wheel'' appeared on Broadway that same year.

He was chiefly responsible for the stage design and choreography of the concert film ''[[Stop Making Sense]]'' (1984).

Byrne wrote the [[Dirty Dozen Brass Band]]-inspired score ''[[Music for "The Knee Plays"]]'', released in 1985, for [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]]'s vast five-act opera ''[[The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down]]''.

He wrote, directed, and starred in ''[[True Stories (film)|True Stories]]'' (1986), a musical collage of discordant [[Americana (music)|Americana]] for which he also produced most of the film's music. He was impressed by the experimental theatre that he saw in New York City in the 1970s and collaborated with several of its best-known representatives. He worked with Robert Wilson on "The Knee Plays" and "The Forest", and invited [[Spalding Gray]] (of The Wooster Group) to act in ''True Stories'', while Meredith Monk provided a portion of the film's soundtrack.

Byrne also provided a soundtrack for JoAnne Akalaitis' film ''Dead End Kids'' (1986), made after a Mabou Mines theatre production. Byrne's artistic outlook has a great deal in common with the work of these artists.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Steenstra|first1=Sytze|title=Song and Circumstance|date=2010|publisher=Continuum Books|isbn=978-08264-4168-3|location=New York and London|pages=93–137}}</ref> The same year he also added "Loco de Amor" with [[Celia Cruz]] to [[Jonathan Demme]]'s film ''[[Something Wild (1986 film)|Something Wild]]'' (1986).

His work has been extensively used in film [[soundtrack]]s, most notably in collaboration with [[Ryuichi Sakamoto]] and [[Cong Su]] on [[Bernardo Bertolucci]]'s ''[[The Last Emperor]]'' (1987), which won an [[Academy Award for Best Original Score]].

Some of the music from Byrne's orchestral album ''[[The Forest (album)|The Forest]]'' was originally used in a Robert Wilson–directed theatre piece titled ''The Forest''. The play premiered at the ''Theater der Freien Volksbühne'', Berlin, in 1988. It received its New York premiere in December 1988 at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] (BAM). The Forestry Maxi-single contained dance and industrial remixes of pieces from ''The Forest'' by [[Jack Dangers]], Rudy Tambala, and Anthony Capel. Byrne released his soundtrack album in 1991.

Byrne also directed the documentary ''Île Aiye'' (1989) and the concert film of his 1992 Latin-tinged tour titled ''Between the Teeth'' (1994).

''[[In Spite of Wishing and Wanting]]'' is a soundscape Byrne produced in 1999 for Belgian choreographer [[Wim Vandekeybus]]'s dance company Ultima Vez.

In 2003, Byrne guest starred as himself on [[Dude, Where's My Ranch?|a season 14 episode]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]''. Released the same year, ''[[Lead Us Not into Temptation]]'' included tracks and musical experiments from his score to film ''[[Young Adam (film)|Young Adam]]'' (2003).

In late 2005, Byrne and [[Fatboy Slim]] began work on ''[[Here Lies Love]]'', a [[disco]] opera or [[song cycle]] about the life of [[Imelda Marcos]], the controversial former First Lady of the [[Philippines]]. Some music from this piece was debuted at [[Adelaide Festival of Arts]] in Australia in February 2006 and the following year at [[Carnegie Hall]] on 3 February 2007.

In 2008, Byrne released ''[[Big Love: Hymnal]]'' – his soundtrack to season two of ''[[Big Love]]'', which aired in 2007. These two albums constituted the first releases on his independent record label Todo Mundo. Byrne and Brian Eno provided the soundtrack for the film ''[[Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps]]'' (2010).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.film.com/movies/review-wall-street-money-never-sleeps#fbid=KdR0UiwBhKE |title=Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps |first=Laremy |last=Legel |date=23 September 2010 |website=Film.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726014726/http://www.film.com/movies/review-wall-street-money-never-sleeps#fbid=KdR0UiwBhKE |archive-date=26 July 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2015, he organized ''Contemporary Color'', two arena concerts in Brooklyn and Toronto, for which he brought in ten musical acts who teamed up with ten [[color guard (flag spinning)|color guard]] groups. The concerts were made into a [[Contemporary Color (film)|2016 documentary film]], directed by the [[Ross brothers]], and produced by Byrne.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.contemporarycolor.com/about/|title=About|website=Contemporary Color|access-date=2 September 2018}}</ref>

He collaborated with [[Stanford University]] professor [[Mala Gaonkar]] in 2016 to co-create NEUROSOCIETY, a guided [[immersive theater]] performance.<ref>[https://arts.stanford.edu/arts-institute/the-makers-series-david-byrne/ THE MAKERS SERIES DAVID BYRNE AND MALA GAONKAR] Stanford Arts. Access February 9, 2023.</ref>

In October 2019, his ''[[American Utopia#Adaptations|American Utopia]]'' opened at the [[Hudson Theatre]] on Broadway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/american-utopia-522679/|title=broadway-production|website=ibdb|access-date=20 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="var-20oct2019">{{cite magazine |last1=Aswad |first1=Jem |title=Broadway Review: David Byrne's 'American Utopia' |url=https://variety.com/2019/music/reviews/david-byrne-american-utopia-broadway-review-1203376072/ |access-date=November 23, 2019 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=October 20, 2019}}</ref> Byrne appeared in comedian [[John Mulaney]]'s children's musical comedy special ''[[John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch]]'' (2019), where he performed the song "Pay Attention!" His song "Tiny Apocalypse" was also featured as the special's end credits song.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/tv/2019/12/24/david-byrne-sack-lunch-bunch-cameo-john-mulaney/|title=Behind John Mulaney's 24-hour race to get David Byrne for a 'Sack Lunch Bunch' cameo|website=EW.com|language=EN|access-date=2020-03-05}}</ref>

On February 29, 2020, after a 30-year absence, Byrne performed as the musical guest on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' with John Mulaney as host. Byrne performed "[[Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads song)|Once in a Lifetime]]" and "[[Toe Jam (song)|Toe Jam]]" with the cast of the Broadway show ''American Utopia'' and appears in the "Airport Sushi" sketch singing a parody of "Road to Nowhere". This was Byrne's third appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''. He previously served as the musical guest as part of Talking Heads in [[Saturday Night Live season 4|1979]], and as a solo musical guest in [[Saturday Night Live season 15|1989]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://popculture.com/music/2020/03/01/snl-david-byrne-triumphant-return-over-30-years-saturday-night-live/|title='SNL': David Byrne Makes a Triumphant Return After Over 30 Years With Talking Heads Classic|website=Music|date=March 2020 |language=en|access-date=2020-03-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jambase.com/article/david-byrne-saturday-night-live-videos|title=David Byrne To Return To 'Saturday Night Live' After 31 Years|date=2020-02-06|website=JamBase|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-05}}</ref>

In 2022, Byrne again collaborated with [[Mala Gaonkar]] on another immersive theater production based on his life,<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/theater-of-the-mind-invites-audiences-to-revisit-and-rethink-their-past "Theater of the Mind" Invites Audiences to Revisit—and Rethink—Their Past] The New Yorker. Access February 9, 2023.</ref> "Theater of the Mind"<ref>[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/david-byrnes-theater-of-the-mind-180980778/ Take a Trip Through David Byrne's Mind] Smithsonian Magazine. Access February 9, 2023.</ref> transforming a 15,000 square-foot warehouse in Denver, Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Radiolab: The Theater of David Byrne's Mind on Apple Podcasts |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theater-of-david-byrnes-mind/id152249110?i=1000581927918 |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=Apple Podcasts |language=en-US}}</ref>