Subject: Film Threat article reposted
From: jgp@raid.Rational.COM (Jim Pellmann)
Date: 1992-09-15, 18:15
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks
As requested, here is a repost of the Film Threat summary:
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As has been reported here, the October issue of Film Threat magazine has a
series of cover stories on "Fire Walk With Me". Although there is really
nothing new in these articles, it still represents the most thorough coverage
of both the series and movie yet seen in print. A must for all Peaks Freaks.
Here are the articles that appear in the issue, along with a few tidbits I
thought interesting or amusing.
* Main article: The Lynch Mob Strikes Again
A long (9-page) description of the series and movie, including the genesis of
the movie right after the cancellation of the series, discussion about the
different directors used in the series, summary of the shooting script for
the movie, the effect TP has had on Sheryl Lee, and the effect TP has had on
TV.
Has about half a dozen pictures of scenes from the movie.
Points of interest:
- "Many familiar faces are NOT returning [to the film], although they
were in the original script. [Co-screenwriter Robert] Engels acknowledges
that several scenes were trimmed to get the film down to a still-overlong
135 minutes. 'We had to shape the story towards Laura Palmer,' he
explains. 'Obviously, a number of the actors [who were cut] are
disappointed.' Adds Catherine Coulson, who's reprising her role as
the Log Lady: 'It must be really devastating for some of them. But
the spirit of ALL of the characters is in the film.'
"A few who had the opportunity to renew their 'Peaks' citizenship simply
did not or could not. Lara Flynn Boyle, whose Donna Hayward became a
major part in the movie, flat-out refused to re-up (her replacement is
Moira Kelly, last seen in the ice-skating drama 'The Cutting Edge').
'I could say something catty and self-serving,' says Engels. 'But I
don't know why Lara didn't want to do it. If anything, she should have
taken it out of gratefulness for what the series did for her.' And sadly,
due to Sherilyn Fenn's prior acting commitments ('Diary of a Hitman',
'Ruby'), the saddle-shoed seductress Audrey Horne sashays no more."
- "The $9.5 million budget for "Fire Walk With Me" was anteed [sic] up by
CIBY Pictures, a French film company where Lynch has a four-flick/five-year
deal. 'With this picture's money-making potential, we could have gone
anywhere,' says Engels. 'Even though our last show was ranked 72nd,
it was still seen by 10 million people. And if those 10 million people
go to the movie, it's a hit.'"
- "Some viewers resented the series myriad plot tangents. 'A lot of times
we got creamed because people thought, "Those assholes! What's THAT now?"'
Engels says. 'But we were never trying to goof anybody up. I mean,
every time we showed the wind blowing through the trees, then cut to a
shot of the stoplight, somebody would start another doctrine.'"
- On ABC's treatment of the show: "Engels says, 'We got shoved around a
little. But we didn't listen to the network as much as we should have,
either. We got off-track in the storytelling, and by the time we put
in Windom Earle and got going again, it was too late.'"
- "[Director Tina] Rathborne, according to a production assistant, had a
zest for multiple takes--which, for the outrageous funeral scene in the
fourth episode, reportedly numbered close to a dozen: 'Ray [Wise] had
to ride Laura's casket up and down and up and down repeatedly as Grace
Zabriskie [playing Sarah Palmer] wailed, "Leland, don't ruin this too!"'
Wise himself says the experience was 'not something I'd want to do again.
It was like a mechanical bull going insane. I had to surpress the urge
to giggle.'"
- On Lynch's behavior on the set: "Not so amusing to some is Lynch's
penchant for using a megaphone on the set--regardless of his distance
from the person he's addressing. Recalls the anonymous production
assistant: 'One time he used it while I was standing right next to
him. I jumped three feet.'"
(I can't help but think that this was the impetus for the megaphone
gags in "On the Air".)
- "According to Engels, he and Lynch wasted little time [after the series
was canceled] devising an outline for the movie. 'We liked these people
and liked being in that place,' he says. 'We just sort of got caught up
in it.' Once the series was officially dead at ABC, and potential deals
to revive on a cable channel ('not enough money could be raised to cover
the $1.2 million-per-episode budget') and Fox Television (studio chieftain
Barry Diller 'always felt that "Twin Peaks" was the series THEY should
have done') fell through, the pair quickly tapped out the screenplay.
"Why did they go with a 'prequel' instead of a sequel? 'This may sound
like bullshit, but there really wasn't a conscious decision about which
was the coolest story,' says Engels. 'It was just kind of what we
arrived at. The challenge was that everyone already knows how it ends.
We had to turn that into a STRENGTH--as opposed to people sitting there
thinking, "This is kind of dumb." It gave us more freedom to create
suspense than you'd initially think."
- "Engels says moviegoers 'should be able to enjoy the film without having
seen the series.' To ensure that the screenplay stood firmly on its own
while remaining true to 'Twin Peaks,' the script was flagged by several
nonviewers as well as die-hard fans. In addition, a researcher was hired
to check the storyline's consistency with "The Secret Diary of Laura
Palmer," "Diane ... The Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper," and other
literary spinoffs.
"Luckily for the writers, there were few logistical problems. 'The pilot
was so loaded with stuff, so marvelously ambiguous, that we could always
find a place to get around things,' says Engels. 'We were helped by the
fact that Cooper wasn't on the Teresa Banks case [referenced several times
in the series], and that he said he wanted Albert [Rosenfeld, played by
Miguel Ferrer]--not Sam Stanley--when he drove toward Twin Peaks in the
pilot. That allowed us to open up the Banks story."
- "'Twin Peaks' fashionably rustic lodge, the Great Northern, was barely
shuttered when CBS' 'Northern Exposure'--another hour-long drama peopled
with offbeat characters and filmed in the wilds of Washington State--became
the new darling of media critics. Although the two series are quite
different--'Exposure' favors frothy, message-filled storylines, whereas
'Peaks' preferred a murkier, more cynical tone--some have pointed out their
surface similarities. Bob Engels, for one, finds 'Exposure's' claims to
originality offensive. 'I like [the people behind the show], and I don't
mean to say they're copycats. But to think that 'Northern Exposure' would
exist at all without us is preposterous. I mean, they have a waitress
named Shelly--they've had a couple of things in there that were a little
out of line, that they shouldn't have done. But the real tragedy is that
there aren't more shows like these on TV.'"
* Side article: Cherry Pie in the Sky
A half-page article on the things fans did when TP was canceled. Covers
the creation of COOP and the Twin Peaks Gazette.
* Side article: The Smokin' "Twin Peaks" TV Episode Log
A two-page listing of all TV episodes, giving titles, airdates, writer and
director credits, short plot summaries, new characters, and other trivia.
Although it has more than a few errors, and the writer clearly dislikes
most of the post-Leland episodes, the titles he has thought up are clever,
and it could be handy in looking up scenes on tape.
Points of interest:
- "Peak Freak Tidbit: On Rick Dee's short-lived TV loser 'Into the Night,'
Madchen Amick--not Fenn--actually performed the amazing cherry stem trick."
* Side article: Lynch's Hall of Freaks
A one-page chart showing the "cinematic anomalies" from Lynch's works,
listing their "traits, talents, and fate". Includes:
- Henry's Baby from "Eraserhead"
- Radiator Lady from "Eraserhead"
- John Merrick from "The Elephan Man"
- Sandworms from "Dune"
- Baron Harkonnen from "Dune"
- Ben, the Suave One from "Blue Velvet"
- Nadine Hurley from "Twin Peaks"
- Dr. Jacoby from "Twin Peaks"
- Bobby Peru from "Wild At Heart"
* Side article: Into the Wood
A one-page article about Catherine Coulson, who plays the Log Lady.
Points of interest:
- The Log Lady was a former ballroom dance instructor.
- "'The first log brought to David [Lynch] was hollowed out, and he didn't
like it at all.' says Coulson. Lynch wanted Ponderosa Pine--a type of
wood on which his father, a former research scientist for the U.S. Forest
Service, did his Ph.D. thesis. He settled on a solid, sap-oozing
50-pounder from the Northwest; the log had to last, as Lynch decided there
would be no stump doubles. ('One time, on "Donahue," they used another
log--but it was very offensive,' Coulson says.)"
* Side article: Id's Showtime!
A one-page interview with Frank Silva, who plays Killer Bob.
Points of interest:
- "Silva believes the name 'Bob' is Lynch's nod to his own well-documented
weakness for Bob's Big Boy restaurants. It's hard to fathom how a
freckle-faced fast-food icon with a fat ass could inspire such a sinister
character. But then, Lynch finds evil in the unlikeliest of places."
- "Q: Have you received other acting offers?
A: Not really. But I did a stag party for a guy in Santa Monica. His
friends thought it would be great if Bob could be there, because this
guy was so terrified of him. I agreed to do it for SAG minimum. So
I went over to the house just as the stripper was finishing her
striptease, and before I went in they had the guy blindfolded and
handcuffed to a chair. I hid behind the sofa and they took the
blindfold off. They played a tape of 'Twin Peaks' clips that were
all horrific scenes with Bob; the guy was freaking out. When the tape
ended, I sprang out from the sofa. I crawled up to him and started
speaking backwards. His wife-to-be was named Sheryl, so I screamed in
his face, 'Beware! Sheryl is my SISTER!' He just totally flipped
out."
* Side article: Little Fop of Horrors
Two-page article on Michael Anderson, the little person who plays the
Man From Another Place.
Points of interest:
- Has a picture of Cooper and Man From Another Place in the Red Room.
MFAP is examining a ring. (Presumably a scene from the movie?)
- Picture has caption written backwards. You must hold it up to a mirror
to read it.
* Side article: Ire Walk With Me
Half-page article on the real-life town of Snoqualmie Falls, and the crass
commercialism there the series has inspired.
As I said, it is quite a comprehensive look at TP, well worth hunting down:
Film Threat (The Other Movie Magazine)
October 1992 (Issue No. 6, Volume 2)
ISSN 0896-6389
Single copies can be ordered for $5.00 each from:
Film Threat Back Issues Dept.
9171 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 300
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
--
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"I lived in my head mostly." | Jim Pellmann (jgp@rational.com)
"That's not a bad neighborhood." | RATIONAL
"There were some pretty strange neighbors." | Santa Clara, California
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