Twenty One Pilots’ Josh Dun On The Journey Taken With The Band’s ‘Cinematic Experience’

Fans of Twenty One Pilots will be able to see the band in theaters almost a year after the release of their sixth studio album, Scaled and Icy.

The encore of the band's livestreamed show that launched the release is a concert event. Fans from more than 200 countries watched the broadcast from the arena in Columbus, Ohio, which was billed as a one-time-only concert.

This big-screen version has an extended cut of the show with more than 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage. It screens for one night only on Thursday, May 19, 2022, with a handful of encore screenings on Sunday, May 22, 2022, in select locations.

I talked to Josh Dun about the road to Twenty One Pilots Cinema Experience, the experience coming full circle, and whether or not he will be in the audience himself on the big night.

You have a win at the Billboard Music Awards just days before the movie comes out. Was that coincidence?

Josh Dun said it was cool and felt like a nice ramp up to the cinema experience. It worked out nicely despite being coincidental.

It will be in theaters on the day that the Scaled and Icy album is released. When the album came out, was it always the intention to have these 12 months apart?

Dun: That happened organically as well. The original livestream was a part of the album release. You could buy the album as soon as the event happened. We didn't know what we would do with the livestream after that, but there were definitely the beginning of plans and conversations about what makes sense, and it was like, "Okay, let's hold on to it for now and think." Because of the Pandemic, we couldn't tour. The way it was initially performed and streamed was with people sitting at home alone or calling friends and watching it together. Everyone can go back to where they were before and experience this thing again with other people. It is one of those cool moments where you can relive that experience surrounded by people and it will be completely different.

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Thompson was surprised by how much effort was put into that. Many bands were doing this kind of thing, but the staging was stripped down. Twenty One Pilots staged a high production stadium show. Who had the idea to go so big?

That is a good observation. People ask us if we will ever do a livestream, because it has been around since before the Pandemic. The way we pull off our show requires people and we have made it that way. Since we were playing in bars and clubs, that hasn't changed. The idea of doing something without an audience felt impossible because we have always involved the audience. We are putting on a show without our other band members. We started seeing some bands and artists doing livestreams after the Pandemic hit. It was a little disappointing for us to be completely transparent. After two songs, you know exactly what the rest of the thing is, because the show starts with a countdown on the screen. When we decided to try and tackle something, we knew we had to change everything from the ground up, and in some ways, we took advantage of the fact there wasn't a crowd there. The arena was rented out. The entire arena floor was taken up by the set pieces we ran back and forth from. We couldn't do that with a crowd, so we added backup singers and band members. We had to start from the ground up again.

Was the fan reaction to the call a good one? Is that where the confirmation and validation came from?

Dun thinks so. Having an audience at our shows has been so ingrained in what our band is and how we present ourselves that I felt a little self-conscious performing something without an audience that was going to go out to an audience. I hoped that people would like it and that they would stay engaged in performance the whole way through. We put a lot of money into it. It was difficult to get people in a room to have logistical conversations because of the eight months of preparation. We had people all over the country popping on the site and talking about what they would like to see at the event.

Thompson: Have people approached you before about doing a concert movie, a documentary, or something theatrical with your work?

Dun: It was never really a conversation we had before. There are some storylines that go all the way through our albums, Trench and Blurryface. If you don't know anything about the band or its lore, you can listen to the songs and enjoy them. When Trench came out, many people said, "Hey, you should do a movie or a series on this." That was never something that had crossed their minds. It would be fun and cool to do that one day, but it wasn't something that we intended when we were working on those albums. For a long time, Tyler and I have focused on music and trying to put on the best live show that we can, so anything outside of that just felt a bit daunting and not really what we were trying to focus on. The idea of a cinema release came about after we did the livestream.

Thompson asked if this experience had changed how you feel about performing. Green Day is an example of a band who has taken their work and put it on stage with great success. What about the scores? Both Danny Elfman and Trent Reznor have had success in that area.

As you move forward in life, I feel like you unlocked things in your mind. Tony Hawk did the 900 on a skateboard. He unlocked the ability for other people to do that after he did it. It is a common thing for people to do, and sometimes it takes a mental unlocks to do it.

You couldn't see how the audience was responding to the livestream. With it screening in theaters, you have the chance to be in that room with the audience, watching them, so are you going to sneak into any of the screenings and see what it was like from the other side?

Dun: I'm going to. I was asked by my mom if I was going to go to any of these. I didn't want to be in that situation. My first thought was that. I would rather stay home and pretend that everything is great, all the theaters are packed out, and everyone is having a great time. If I didn't show up at a movie theater and enjoy it with everyone, I would look back and regret it. I think it's a complete circle thing, where we can now be around people. I think that music and movies are a stamp in time. I listen to albums from high school and they bring me back to that moment, and it will bring up feelings or emotions that I have had at that time. I think it will take me back to the middle of the epidemic when there wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel, and many things were bleak and uncertain. Going and sitting in a theater, surrounded by other people, and reliving that moment with a fresh perspective would be fun and exciting. I think I will have to go and enjoy it as well.

Which city will you visit? Do you know? Are you going to randomly pick one?

It will be Columbus, Ohio. It will be the most convenient for me.

Josh, ticket sales for screenings in Columbus, Ohio will go through the roof.

I don't want to be the only one in there.

You will find the most up-to-date information about participating theaters here.