anderswolleck

If I didnt know better I would think David Lynch was Italian. He uses his hands to describe ideas more than anyone I have ever met. Its fascinating to watch this man communicate. He pulls out the cigarette pack, the lighter, moves the ashtray, lights the cigarette, puts the pack away the and then, once his hands are free, resumes emphasizing his words with enigmatic gestures. Lynch, a four-time Oscar nominee, remains one of the most enigmatic American filmmakers. He first entered the feature world with Eraserhead, which was a five-year journey. Since then hes directed the film adaptation of Dune, Blue Velvet, co-created the cult television series Twin Peaks and directed many other features. His latest picture, Inland Empire, is the first feature he has shot on video. He's even taking a stab at self-distribution. Inland Empire was another five year journey from start to finish, and once again Lynch is working with old friends and collaborators such as Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton and perhaps his most talented muse, Laura Dern. Dern plays an actor who, after a long dry spell, lands a coveted role in a big film. While filming, Dern's character and the other actors are told that the film is actually a remake of another picture that was never completed for mysterious reasons. Along the way Dern plays two other characters and seems to segue from reality to fantasy without any warning. In other words, Inland Empire is classic Lynch.

Check out the official website for Inland Empire

Daniel Robert Epstein: Hello David, its a pleasure to meet you. Ive been a fan of yours since I saw The Elephant Man as a kid.

David Lynch: Did it freak you out?

DRE: Yes, it did.

DL: Doggone.

DRE: Isnt that what you wanted to do?

DL: No [laughs] but its tough for a little kid. I remember someone telling me they saw The Elephant Man when they were eight. I think it was a little too much.

DRE: I might have seen it when I was nine or ten.

DL: Uh-huh.

DRE: I had nightmares about your elephant scene.

DL: Right, sure.

DRE: It was very scary. Elephants were friendly when I was a kid.

DL: Uh-huh [laughs].

DRE: I look at Inland Empire as more of an art piece than a feature film. Do you see it that way?

DL: No I dont but Ive heard people say something like that.

DRE: Do you see a narrative in it?

DL: Yes.

DRE: How many times do I have to see it until I discover the narrative?

DL: Youd only have to see it once. Well, you might have to see it a couple times, but its there.

DRE: It reminded me of that old quote of yours from when you first got into film, where you said that you wanted to see the pictures move. Inland Empire feels like you are using the paintbrush to go in many directions. Is that more of an editing process or are you already thinking about this stuff when youre shooting?

DL: It is weird. It is all from ideas and then the ideas tell you everything. But you get to a point where the ideas are gathered and now youre getting close to a whole thing, a sequence is indicated pretty clearly. Then theres a point where for the sake of the whole, another thing happens. When you finally see the whole thing and react to that you see that theres much more work to be done and then theres sometimes rearrangements and deletions, maybe even something new that you never thought you were going to use. So its a process but driven by the ideas.

DRE: Watching Inland Empire is a harrowing experience for the viewer. Is creating it as harrowing?

DL: When you get an idea its like seeing it in a movie so its not so much as harrowing, its like thrilling. It fires you up because then you know what youre going to do. You get an idea, you love the idea and you love the way cinema is able to translate that idea. Those things are what drive the boat for me. Its not so harrowing, but if you get a fragment of a whole, thats usually the way it happens. Starts with fragments, then an unknown thing opens up and thats sometimes harrowing, but beautifully harrowing because you dont know whats there and you want to know.

DRE: Is it true that you were writing scenes right before you shot them?

DL: No, not right before I shot them, Id write them before I shot them but not necessarily right before [laughs]. Now a couple of times I wrote them the day before, because I was in a place where I had to take advantage of an idea that was there. It was like a blurred, veiled inkling and then this thing happens and you focus on it and it comes into focus and you see it and you write it down. I was in places where I needed to do something there because Id be leaving.

DRE: The scene where the prostitutes do the song and dance number to The Loco-Motion reminded me of Lost Highway where in the middle of the movie Robert Loggia freaks on the guy on the highway and also the Naomi Watts audition scene in Mulholland Drive. These are very impressive, in-your-face scenes. Do those things liven it up for you or is that all just part of the process?

DL: Its part of the process. Different scenes do different things and when youve got nine girls dancing to The Loco-Motion or something like that, its got to be in the liveliness department.

DRE: Does a scene like that energize the movie?

DL: No, its not like you say, Oh, I need something here. The idea came along for it. It is not that I feel I need something and then would make something to fill that need. The idea is whats doing it.

DRE: A few years ago I interviewed David Cronenberg. Now, Im not comparing the two of you.

DL: Good.

DRE: Too many people do that. I asked him if he puts certain things in his movies to tweak the audience and he told me that if he were to do that it would be more like he was tweaking himself. That seems to jibe with what you were saying with just putting something in a film.

DL: Yes, that would be a real false note and I feel like if youre true to the ideas and you work on it until you realize those ideas and they feel correct based on the idea, then they have a chance of feeling correct for others. Even if youre going on a intuitive feel, if youre true to those ideals, sometimes theyve got these harmonics, if you dick with them, you might ruin the harmonics. They would be bad things and people would start smelling a rat. You may not even understand those harmonics, but somebody out there might and its true on that level and its true on the harmonic levels. So youve got to be real careful.

DRE: Are the harmonics ever not correct?

DL: No, they have to be. If the notes, the chords are correct, the harmonics are going to be correct. But you may not understand the beauty of the harmonics but somebody else might. If youve been true to these notes, theyve got a chance to appreciate some other thing. On Eraserhead, I dont remember what it was but I had the feeling that I appreciated some other level of it later, but I wasnt even aware of it when I did it. Its that thing.

DRE: Your past films are so recognizable and famous for having great, lush cinematography and beautiful colors. Even though Inland Empire does have those things, it is in a much different way.

DL: It was because I was shooting DV so the quality isnt film quality. But it is its own quality. For projection in theaters it needs to go to film, so youve got a certain quality resolution DV up-res-ed to Hi Def and then put on film. All these processes are opportunities to me. They keep adding something thats really magical and beautiful.

DRE: Besides it being shot on video did you try to shoot it the way you did your other films?

DL: I sometimes put it on the tripod and light it but sometimes its floating. Something happened because Im holding the camera more on this and when you hold the camera you find yourself moving based on the feeling youre getting from the scene and I think thats a secretive act. Youre looking and listening and you are just doing things that you wouldnt do if you had an operator. You wouldnt be able to tell him in time. Its more like youre in there and youre doing things that you couldnt have done before.

DRE: Did the idea of the movie come before the idea of self-distributing it?

DL: Oh yeah. People would tell me that Ive got a three hour picture that no one understands. [laughs] But I long for the 14 year old girls in the Midwest to fall in love with Inland Empire and embrace it. That would be so cool. I dont see why it couldnt happen but theres a whole bunch of things happening and I dont know all of it at all. Its a feeling that the studios are just following the music industry. The music industry used to be a big advantage to artists and then those advantages started going down and down and down. To the point where they say, Jack give me your final album and maybe well distribute it. Theyre going down low enough so that you say, Well wait a minute. Im going to do the same amount of work, take this advance and thats the last nickel Im ever going to see. You dont see another nickel even if your film is doing good. How depressing is that? So Id rather go a different route and take my chances. Its a little bit thrilling to do it. It is a large amount of work but Im getting to meet the people. Im getting to meet the theater owners and Im taking a hair more responsibility than in the past. I think its the way of the future.

DRE: I saw the video of you with the cow in Los Angeles on Youtube, are ventures like that something you want to be a part of?

DL: It is whats just going to happen, but for me, Im still hanging on to the theatrical experience as the best. But it wont be too long before there wont be any DVDs. We will be downloading our films and what you do with it is up to you but I would recommend squirting it on a big wall with speakers in a dark room and seeing it all the way through. Kill the phones so you have that experience and you can go into another world. But a lot of people are going to see it on their phones and their computers but in my book they wont have seen the film.

DRE: Was it very important to have actors youve worked with before like Laura [Dern] and Justin [Theroux] in the main roles?

DL: Whats important is to get the right actors for the roles. If youve already worked with them, youve already developed a shorthand and youre friends but that is not the reason to cast them. But when they marry to the part and youve got that added bonus, its beautiful. Laura is in a film thats considered somewhat strange, but she has given a performance that will rival anything done this year so I hope she fares very well. The danger is that it will take a while to filter into the culture and miss an award but I think shell be remembered for her role.

DRE: It is interesting how self-referential the film is. Much of it takes place on a film set, part of the movie is about a director working with actors, part of the movie was shot in Poland and theres a Polish character in the movie. Do you like putting whats happening to you right into your movies?

DL: I also went to New York City but no ideas came in New York. You see what I mean? Its the ideas coming and how one relates to another. You never know whats going to trigger them or when theyre going to come. When they come along, then you focus on those and that focus and desire for more brings more in time. So the thing starts growing, you dont know where its going, it just starts growing. A whole thing comes from Poland and from Hollywood. Now if I hadnt gone to Poland, I dont think Id have gotten the Polish idea, but something was happening there. But Ive gone to other places where somethings happening but the ideas didnt come.

DRE: What is it you like so much about Los Angeles?

DL: I love the light. I love the feeling. It comes, I think, from the light, maybe more than that. But in LA I get the feeling of all possibilities. A freeing feeling of all possibilities can be gotten.

DRE: You started the short film Rabbits before you finished Inland Empire, did you always intend to put it into Inland?

DL: It started something happening. One thing leads to another, thats the beautiful thing about the world. So some things you do and thats it. Some things lead to more and more and more.

DRE: I believe you had some non-professional actors in Inland Empire.

DL: Well there were Polish actors, American actors, professionals and some surprises.

DRE: And regular people?

DL: Regular people, yeah.

DRE: What does putting regular people into your movie do for you?

DL: Everybodys an actor and they might be bad, but theres an actor in everybody. So sometimes you meet someone and see that their face would work. If theyre right for that thing, then thats what you got to do.

DRE: Would you ever work for a studio again?

DL: Well, I havent ever worked with a studio, really. But it is like asking, would you ever poke a knife through your chest? Maybe, but I dont think so.

DRE: Are you already doing things for your next project?

DL: No, Ive got to do this distribution. But Im longing for the day to start focusing on catching ideas. Maybe Ill catch them during the distribution thing. Ive got some ideas for the next one but a lot more has to come.

DRE: I heard a rumor about more Twin Peaks.

DL: No, somebody asked me about that the other night. I dont know where that rumor is coming from.

DL: Is there material there for a special edition DVD of The Elephant Man?

DL: I dont think so.

DRE: What do you think about the rise of Eli Roth?

DL: Oh, Elis my buddy. I havent talked to him in a long time. Eli is a go-getter and hes smart and a good guy. So everybodys got their own voice but Eli, I guess, is making it happen.

DRE: Do you watch many movies?

DL: No. I dont have time. Ive got to work.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck