Discover behind-the-scenes stories from Wim Wender’s road movie masterpiece ‘Paris, Texas’
Road movies feel quintessentially American, with films such as Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde acting as definitive instalments in the canon. However, German filmmaker Wim Wenders brought a unique perspective to the American road movie genre with his 1984 film Paris, Texas. After making several German road movies in the 1970s, such as Alice in the Cities and Kings of the Road, Wenders turned his attention towards the mystery and isolation of the American West.
At the BCN Sant Jordi festival (via El Pais), Wenders discussed making Paris, Texas, which he filmed after the disastrous Francis Ford Coppola-produced Hammett. Due to a lack of creative freedom, Wenders vowed never to work in such conditions again and began carving out the bones of Paris, Texas. Co-written by L. M. Kit Carson and Sam Shepard, the film tells the tale of Travis Henderson, who we meet wandering around the desert. He is soon reunited with his brother, Walt, who reintroduces him to his young son, Hunter. Travis embarks on a scenic, transformative journey with his son to find his missing wife, Jane.
“I wanted to shoot in the West, in those immense landscapes. It was and still is clear to me that you can’t make movies by themes, that they can only come from the characters,” Wenders explained. Enamoured by the weight that these landscapes possess and the personality they emit, Wenders embarked on his own journey around barren Western landscapes as research for the film. “I’d get up in the morning and drive off into the blue and just keep driving all day,” Wenders once revealed (via Vogue).
Wenders was attracted to places with unusual names, such as those, like Paris, Texas, that were named after somewhere more densely populated and well-known. He visited New Mexico’s Las Vegas, stating, “For the film too, I often chose locations because I knew they were disappearing.” Wenders snapped plenty of photos on the way, creating a collection of images that reflected the essence of his film. For Wenders, “the American West is where things fall apart,” and these landscapes are integral to the characters of Paris, Texas. It’s hard to imagine Travis aimlessly wandering through anywhere else than a barren, dry landscape, the oppressive sun beating down on him.
Wenders further elucidated at the BCN Sant Jordi festival, “We went through Ford Stanton, a town of about 2,000 people, and El Paso, [which is] quite a bit bigger, because we wanted to show all [the different] types and sizes of American towns.” The crew also filmed in Los Angeles and Houston, Texas, creating a vivid picture of America.
The movie won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival – and it’s easy to see why. Ry Cooder’s enthralling soundtrack, Wender’s impeccable direction, Carson and Shepard’s magnificent screenplay, and every cast member’s precise and emotive performances, particularly Harry Dean Stanton’s, make Paris, Texas a masterpiece. The film’s standout scene occurs in the peep show, where Travis and Jane reconnect after several years, with Stanton delivering an impressive, moving monologue.
Wenders told the Washington Post, “During the shooting of the film, you rarely think you’re doing something that’s going to be successful. You’re so busy doing it and we had so many problems. We ran out of money. We ran out of script. It was only when we shot the last few scenes, when Travis meets Nastassja Kinski in this funky peep show, that it dawned on me that we were going to touch people in a big way. I was a little scared by the idea.”
The director explained that the scene was “ambitious” because Shepard had written “almost like two one-act plays. We treated it like that. We shot it always as a whole.” He added, “The last scene is 20 minutes long, and that’s the maximum length of the film stock. We always started from scratch. If I or any of the actors [screwed] up, then we would begin again. We had to always do it from A to Z.”
Wenders has also revealed that Stanton was incredibly anxious during filming, believing that he was too old and ugly to play the part of Nastassja Kinski’s previous lover. “Harry invested his entire life in the part. It’s the first time he did a leading part after hundreds of supporting parts. It’s almost a little tragic. It’s almost a little late for him to become a romantic leading man.”
Stanton would ask, “Look at Nastassja, how beautiful she is. Don’t you think I’m too old for her?” to which Wenders would reaffirm that he was perfect for the part. Still nervous by the time the film was set for Cannes, Wenders suggested that Stanton hire a young actor to accompany him “so you don’t have to worry about logistics and the tuxedo. Get somebody who can be there for you and hold your hand.” Thus, Stanton was accompanied by Sean Penn, who was a massive fan of the star.
Although Paris, Texas was not entered into the Oscars, the film’s legacy has endured for decades. The tender piece of cinema remains one of the greatest road movies ever made, encapsulating the myth of America like few other films.
