Exciting news: American Express just announced that Todd Haynes and My Morning Jacket will be the next filmmaker/band pairing in its Unstaged series, which has previously featured collaborations by Terry Gilliam/Arcade Fire, John Legend/Spike Lee, and Duran Duran/David Lynch. If the match seems a bit random, it’s worth noting that My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James appeared in Hayne’s 2007 Bob Dylan film, I’m Not There; he sang “Goin’ to Acapulco” with Calexico backing him up, and according to the director, they immediately hit it off.
As Haynes told ArtsBeat, this is will be his first time shooting a live concert, but his past experience, specifically his work on 1998’s Velvet Goldmine, should come in handy: “When you’re shooting concert scenes in films, we try to bring in, where appropriate, as much of a sense of live performance as possible. Once you set up those elements, you really let the live performance dictate it. Hopefully you’re working with great operators who are spontaneous and dexterous and versatile, and they can catch those moments that you can’t really ever completely plan.” Look for the online broadcast on May 31st.