Mulholland DriveDavid Lynch 2001

David Lynch

Jimmy Stewart from Mars

Home grown surrealist

Tension, Mood, Sensation of work stands out

Lynchian

Violent Essence of American Life

Transforms nightmares into pleasurable experience

Devious humor, stylistic excess, and earnestness blended together

Dread of women

Disconnected series of images and moods

Nothing in Life is fixed (Movies, characters, aren’t fixed)

Believes that ideas come from outside of us

Born in Montana in 1946--to “normal parents”

Enjoyed idealistic rural life, but knew “there was something else under the surface”

Studied painting in Philadelphia

Became anxiety ridden about the urban squalor and violence in the large city

Studied at the American Film Institute

The Grandmother 1971

Eraserhead 1972 (Released in 1977) Took several years to complete

The Elephant Man, Oscar Nomination

Dune, Expensive Fiasco

Blue Velvet “The Hardy Boys go to hell”

Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway

no objective reality

Betty is the dream of the actress Diane

Narrated (like William Holden in Sunset Blvd) from Diane after her death

Dark view of the ruthlessness of Hollywood--but told not as a linear narrative, but as a nightmare

Thematically, the film says the same thing as Sunset Blvd, but in a different way (the perils of basing your life on something false)

Mulholland drive 2001

Diane depends on Camilla in real life and the tables are turned with Rita and Betty--

Betty is also achieving fast success in Hollywood while Diane struggles

In the second half we see the elements of the first half reversed

Doesn’t use terror to drive the plot, but emotion--with nothing conventional to cling to

There is no band

Whatever story the film chooses to tell, the sadness behind it will always be there, a 'tape recording' that will continue whatever identity a character chooses to take.

Crucial Scene

Funding

ill-fated ABC pilot

Developed for the 1999–2000 TV season

Large portion of the film was shot with Lynch's plan to keep it open-ended for a potential series (events left open to interpretation)

8 Million for the Pilot 7 million of additional French funding

Budget:  $15,000,000

Gross Revenue:  $20,112,339

Mary Sweeney unsung hero?