Blue Velvet: AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID LYNCH Author(s): Laurent Bouzereau and DAVID LYNCH Source: Cinaste, Vol.

15, No. 3 (1987), p. 39 Published by: Cineaste Publishers, Inc Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41687487 . Accessed: 06/12/2013 19:19
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Blue Velvet AN INTERVIEW WITH by Laurent Bouzereau

DAVID

LYNCH

ith Eraserhead (1978) and The Elephant Man (1980), David Lynch gained a reputationas a Wi filmmaker with a unique vision and style. In thefollowinginterview, Lynch discusses his latestfilm, Blue Velvet(1986), which won him an Academy Award nominationthis year as Best Director. Cineaste: How did you get the idea for Blue Velvet? David Lynch: I startedto get ideas forit in 1973 but it and a title.Then, was all veryvague. I onlyhad a feeling when I finishedThe Elephant Man, I met RichardRoth, and he told me he the producerof Julia. We had coffee had read myscriptfor Ronnie Rocket.He had likeditbut, he said, it wasn't his cup of tea. He asked me ifI truly, had any otherscripts.I said I had onlyideas. I told him I had always wanted to sneak into a girl's room to watch her into the nightand that, maybe, at one point or another,I would see somethingthat would be the clue to a Roth loved the idea and asked me to murdermystery. I went home and thoughtofthe ear in writea treatment. the field. Cineaste: Whyan ear and not a finger, for example? Lynch: Ithad to be an ear because it's an opening.An ear is wide and you can go down into it. It goes somewhere vast. I wrotetwoscriptsbut none ofthemhad a good middle, so theywere rejected.Then I got involvedwithDune and it was only afterthe movie was released that I went all the right ideas came to back to Blue Velvet.Strangely, me rightaway, as iftheyhad been on my mind all that time.Then Dino De Laurentisgotinvolvedand theproject ifI took anotherturn.I could have totalartisticfreedom kept the budget down and took a cut in my salary. Of course,I tookthe deal. Cineaste: Blue"Velvet has a lot of graphic sex scenes. The word' fuck is said repeatedlyand therelationships between Jeffrey, Dorothyand Frank are quite sadistic. Wereyou afraidthefilm mighthave been ratedX? Lynch: People told me to understandthatthe sex in the to film mightbe a problem.I neverreallywantedthe film be so graphic.I wanteditto be moremental,moresubconscious. Luckily,the MPAA didn't cause me any trouble and wrappedin a because all the situationswerejustified context. Cineaste: Did you have any problems with the actors duringtheshootingofthesado-masochisticsex scenes? Lynch: Forthosescenes we had a closed set. We onlyhad the people thatwere needed. The actorswere reallygood as theycould about everything. They wereas comfortable be and theyfounda lot ofunderstanding. I thinkthe reason we reached such an achievementis because we spent a long timerehearsing.The actors got tuned intothe mood of the filmgradually.We solved all the problems.They broughta lot of freshideas to their roles withouttrespassingon my ideas and my vision of the film. Cineaste: Blue Velvetis closer toEraserheadthan itis to The Elephant Man or Dune. Whichstyle do you prefer? Lynch: Blue Velvetand Eraserhead are more personal and also more subconscious. There are certain desires that color your ideas and make them personell.I'm attractedby certain concepts. Once they start coming, I startto link them. I also like to do other people's work because the ideas are alreadyorganized.I have moreconfidence, though,in my own concepts. I understandthem and therefore can get moreout ofthem. better

David Lynch in art has to have a Cineaste: Do you thinkeverything meaning, a reason? Lynch: Ifyou could put intowordsthe symbolicequivalentto mostofmyvisual concepts,no one would probably want to produce my films.I don't know what a lot of or thattheyare right thingsmean. I just have the feeling not right.My work is fullof abstractideas but theyare is life,therefore ideas I know about. My first inspiration makes sense because it is linkedto life. everything Cineaste: Why are the colors in Blue Velvet so important? are partofthemystery. One Lynch: The colorsin thefilm of Frank's accomplices,forexample, always wears a yellow suit or raincoat. Blue is also my favorite color and I wanted it to be in contrastwiththe red lipstickwornby Dorothy. Cineaste: All yourfilms feature monsters or freaks. They're eitherphysically or mentallydeformed.Why? Lynch: The storyof the Elephant Man was about someon theoutsidebut who insidewas one who was a monster a beautiful and normalhuman beingyou fellin love with. He was a monsterwho wasn't really a monster.I like human conditionsthat are distorted.It makes the untoo. distorted stand out. I like psychologicaltwists, Cineaste: Whichone ofyourcharacters representsyou the most? fromBlue Lynch: Henry fromEraserhead and Jeffrey have a lot in commonwithme. They are Velvetdefinitely both veryspecial to me, but I can't reallyexplain why. Cineaste: Is RonnieRocket goingto be yournextproject? Lynch: Precisely.It's an absurd comedy,the storyof a midgetwithred hair and physical problems.It's the absurd mystery of the strangeforcesof existence. Isabella Rossellini,Dennis Hopperand Dean Stockwellwillprobablybe in it.I don'tthinkKyleMaclachlanwillbe inRonnie Rocketbecause he looks too normalforthatfilm. 39

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