The Q&A
David Lynch: Climbing the 'Peaks'
The cult-cinema director looks back on his landmark ''Twin Peaks'': How ABC ruined it, why he'd never work in TV again, and what, exactly, Agent Cooper is doing today.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20154190,00.html
DAVID LYNCH ''The question of what happened to Laura Palmer was the goose that laid the golden egg. Then ABC asked us to snip the goose's head off, and it killed the goose.''
by Jeff Jensen, an EW senior writer, has been despondent since the cancellation of ''Twin Peaks''
''She's dead...wrapped in plastic...''
With these creepy words — intoned by the late Jack Nance —
Blue Velvet director David Lynch and producer Mark Frost launched their deeply beloved, greatly irritating, and widely influential cult-classic TV series
Twin Peaks in the spring of 1989. It was a smashing success...for a few weeks or so. Initially, the show became an international phenomenon thanks to its engrossing, aggressively marketed ''Who Killed Laura Palmer?'' mystery, quirky-cool hero (Kyle MacLachlan's pie-loving, coffee-swilling FBI agent Dale Cooper), and Lynch's auteur celebrity and distinctive brand of oddball wit, rich imagery, and atmospheric dread. But soon, viewers began tuning out in droves, alienated by the cryptically-plotted murder investigation, a deep dive into
what the hell?! mysticism, and the general appearance of aimlessness. Following an erratically scheduled second season, the bizarre boomtown of
Twin Peaks went bust in 1991.
Now, after years of delays, due to wrangling over rights to the show's two-hour Lynch-directed pilot (which itself remains one of great artistic achievements in TV history), Paramount is bringing the entire
Twin Peaks experience — the pilot, plus the first and second seasons — to DVD. Dubbed
Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition (see the
EW review), the 10-disc set is loaded with extras, including deleted scenes (a rarity for a Lynch-authorized DVD), the rarely-seen and truly spooky alternate ending to the pilot (created for a feature-film version that was released abroad), cast and writer episodic commentaries, and documentaries tracking the creation of the series and the unique phenomenon it sparked. Once again,
Twin Peaks lives — and it's wrapped in plastic, no less. An excited Lynch recently spoke with EW.com about
Twin Peaks from Milan, where he was exhibiting a collection of his paintings.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You know this is a dream come true for Peaks freaks, don't you?
DAVID LYNCH: Well, yeah, it's kind of a dream come true for me, too, because the pilot has never been included with the series [on DVD], and now it is.
When I interviewed you a couple years ago about the history of Twin Peaks, you told me at that time that you love the whole notion of an ongoing, never-ending story, and that's really what you had hoped to achieve with Twin Peaks.
A continuing story, right.
Why is that a ''beautiful thing,'' to use one of your favorite expressions?
Because you can go deeper and deeper into a world and discover more and more things. A feature film has an ending. A continuing story doesn't. Eventually it could, but it can just go and go and go, and if the ideas keep flowing, it can be pretty thrilling.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In your imagination, is the Twin Peaks story still going?
DAVID LYNCH: Well, yes and no. Obviously, there is a lot more. And there are clues, not only in the series, but in the feature film,
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me [
the poorly received 1992 prequel], that indicate something more, but I've never had a chance to go there.
Is there a chance that we could go there again?
I don't think so. On the Internet, maybe, but it's a big deal. It's a hungry medium, and it would take 100% focus to go there.
In your imagination, what's Agent Cooper doing right now?
[
Pauses] I'd rather not say. [
Laughs]
I know ABC asked you and co-creator Mark Frost to wrap up the Laura Palmer murder mystery much sooner than you wanted—
About 10 years sooner! [
In a previous interview with EW, Lynch revealed that his original plan was to resolve the Laura Palmer murder mystery at the very end of the series. The idea was that the ongoing investigation into Palmer's murder would reveal mysteries within mysteries to be solved, crimes within crimes to bring to justice.]
In your mind, does that tarnish the way you personally feel about the Twin Peaks experience?
For sure. Like I was saying before, the question of what happened to Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) was the goose that laid the golden egg. Then ABC asked us to snip the goose's head off, and it killed the goose. And there went everything. It was never meant to be — there was so much more to the mystery....
This DVD has many extras — deleted scenes, commentaries, a conversation with you, Kyle Maclachlan and Madchen Amick (who played Shelly the waitress on the show) about the series. But in general, are you an extras kind of guy? Do you like to put that kind of stuff on your DVDs?
I believe that a film or a series stands on its own — I believe in the work the most. On the sidelines, extras can be very good. But it's a tricky business. Extras could possibly taint what's most important. But stories about the show or movie, or some deleted scenes — all of that can be good, okay. The conversation I had with Kyle and Madchen — they put us together in a kind of a
Twin Peaks setting, and we had some pie together and talked. It was real nice. The cast of
Twin Peaks was sensational. And there I was, after a long time, with Kyle and Madchen, and it was nice to go back in time and talk about things.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Twin Peaks introduced the world to your ''fondness'' for many things, including coffee. Last year, you launched your own line of coffee, David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee. How's the business treating you?
DAVID LYNCH: It's going good. Every business is tricky. The coffee is very, very good tasting. I drink it every day. I'm looking forward to getting it out into stores. A lot of cinemas are starting to take it, and that's cool — it's becoming like a cinema coffee. And it's fitting, because part of the profits goes to the American Film Institute, which helped put me on the map. So there are ideas in every bean, and great, great taste.
Nice tagline! Twin Peaks is an incredibly influential show, and inspired a lot of the great TV that's on today, including shows like Lost. Do you watch much TV? Have you kept track of what's out there?
No, I don't watch TV too much. Except when I travel. I haven't seen
Lost.
You tried to return to TV a few years back with a pilot for a drama set in LA. When ABC passed on it, you famously salvaged the pilot and turned it into one of your most acclaimed movies, Mulholland Drive, which earned you an Oscar nomination for directing. Would you ever be tempted to work in TV again?
No. I'd go onto the Internet, because Internet is the new TV. [
You can find some of Lynch's experiments in digital filmmaking and storytelling at his website, davidlynch.com.]
One last question: did you know that Ray Wise — who played Laura Palmer's demon-possessed father on Twin Peaks — is now playing the devil himself on a show called Reaper?
Didn't know that! Ray can play the very, very good side and the very, very bad side of people. I'm glad he's working away — but I hope it doesn't take him down playing the devil.
Posted Oct 25, 2007