Talking Heads are celebrating their 50th anniversary by releasing the first-ever video for “Psycho Killer.” The band enlisted the great Mike Mills to direct, with Saoirse Ronan starring as an office worker who dances, squirms, shudders, and screams through her daily routine. “This video makes the song better,” the band said in a press release. “We LOVE what this video is NOT—it’s not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious.” Watch it below, and stay tuned for Talking Heads’ ongoing celebrations of the 50 years since their formation.
Mills, who previously directed the National’s I Am Easy to Find short film, said Talking Heads’ debut album, Talking Heads: 77, “literally changed what was possible in life for me.” He went on, “To get to play with the subversive, uncategorizable beauty of Talking Heads, and to play with Saoirse who brought so much surprise, power, vulnerability and mischief to the party, it’s one of the best things I ever got to be a part of—still can’t believe it actually happened.”
Ronan added, “To simply be mentioned in the same breath as Talking Heads is hands down one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me, let alone making a video with the singular Mike Mills to accompany one of their most iconic songs—‘Psycho Killer.’ I have grown up listening to their music, so this truly is a childhood/teenage/lifelong dream come true. Mike, myself and the rest of the creative team had so much fun making this, and I can’t wait for Talking Heads fans to see it!”
Revisit Andy Cush’s 2021 interview “Talking Heads’ Original Lineup on Stop Making Sense, Their Early Days, and the Future.”
