Spike Lee to Direct Filmed Version of DAVID BYRNE'S AMERICAN UTOPIA

Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee is signed on to direct a filmed version of the acclaimed Broadway show, David Byrne's American Utopia.

Participant, the leading media company dedicated to impact media and engagement toward positive social change, announced today that it will be the lead financier and executive producer for the project, which River Road Entertainment and Warner Music Group will also co-finance.

David Byrne's American Utopia opened October 2019 and runs through February 16, 2020, at the Hudson Theatre, where it has played to sold-out, record-breaking houses. Weyermann will oversee the production for Participant. The film is planned for a 2020 release.

"Pinch me. This couldn't have worked out better for this project," Byrne said. "Spike Lee directing and Participant producing - two socially engaged teams, well, three if you count us in the band, coming together in what I feel will be something moving, important, and unlike anything anyone has seen before."

"American Utopia is a true celebration from a great artist and a beautiful reminder to our nation that we are all born barefoot and wearing the same suit," said Participant CEO David Linde. "We are incredibly excited to work with Mr. Byrne and the incomparable Spike Lee, along with RadicalMedia, River Road and Warner Music Group in bringing this one-of-a-kind event out of the theater to audiences around the world."

"Stop Making Sense is one of the greatest music performance films ever," said Jon Kamen, RadicalMedia CEO. "To have the opportunity to revisit the genius of David Byrne with American Utopia and produce a bookend film with Spike Lee and Ellen Kuras is a dream."

The Broadway sensation features Academy, Grammy and Golden Globe Award-winning musician Byrne (Talking Heads), together with 11 musical artists from around the world performing songs from Byrne's 2018 album of the same name, along with songs from Talking Heads and his solo career for a major cultural milestone in the worlds of music and theater.

David Byrne's American Utopia will be an integral part of Participant's 2020 social impact work, including efforts dedicated to civic engagement and democracy, both major themes in the production.

The original American Utopia album was released by Warner Music Group's Nonesuch Records in 2018. The record received a Grammy® nomination and was the first by Byrne to reach No. 1 on the Album Chart; it was also his first to reach the Top Five on the Billboard 200 chart. The concert tour in support of American Utopia included more than 150 dates in 27 countries over nine months. The British publication NME said it "may just be the best live show of all time." Nonesuch also released the cast album for the Broadway production of David Byrne's American Utopia. Nonesuch has released eight other David Byrne records since 2003, including two versions of his musical Here Lies Love. Byrne is also signed to WMG's music publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music, which administers his global catalog, including American Utopia.

The film will be produced by RadicalMedia, as well as David Byrne's Todomundo and Lee's Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks production companies. Byrne, Lee and Participant's Jeff Skoll, David Linde, and Diane Weyermann will executive produce; along with Warner Music Group's David Bither, Charlie Cohen, and Kurt Deutsch; Bill Pohlad of River Road; and RadicalMedia's Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick and Meredith Bennett. Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson and Patrick Catullo, who lead produced the Broadway production, will also serve as executive producers.

Lee is currently in post-production on Da 5 Bloods, starring Chadwick Boseman, Paul Walter Hauser and Giancarlo Esposito. Most recently, Lee's BlacKkKlansman earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Lee is represented by ICM Partners and attorney Robert Strent at Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks.