Talking Heads just released the first-ever music video for “Psycho Killer.” Its director, Mike Mills, who helmed the Ewan McGregor/Christopher Plumber film Beginners, is revealing his thought process behind the concept.
“The last thing you want to do is pin down or reduce what the song is about. The song is so much more than being psychotic or killing,” Mills tells Vulture. “At first, I was totally daunted. I was like, How the f*** do you make a video for ‘Psycho Killer’ for my art heroes? It’s impossible. I can’t think of that idea, it’s too hard.”
“Then walking down my hallway, the idea came to me in a flash,” he adds, sharing that the video’s star, Saoirse Ronan, “isn’t at all a psycho killer or anything. It’s the environment and that life and false normality.”
The video follows Ronan through her daily routine; while the routine doesn’t change, she does, slowly unraveling as each day passes.
Mills explains, “There’s something violent in the banality of it all. It’s psychic violence, but it’s still hostile to me. I don’t think normality actually exists. It’s a construct.”
Mills says the band was totally on board with his concept, noting, “They really liked that it wasn’t reducing the meaning of the song. That’s essential to the way they work.”
Mills says both he and Ronan were nervous about the band’s reaction to the final product, but David Byrne soon sent him an email with “Brilliant” in the subject line.
“I didn’t even open the email for five hours because I was like, That’s enough. That’s a beautiful gift. I’ll just keep it at that, who knows what’s inside,” he says. “My response was, Okay, great, I don’t have to do therapy for at least a year.”
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