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Dennis Hopper on David Lynch: “He was like a Boy Scout”
In David Lynch’s 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet, there is an eerie discomfort that vibrates throughout the entire runtime, a feeling of discontent and visceral fear. Of course, this is a key part of the iconic American classic, as something strange brews beneath the surface and threatens to disrupt the perfect order of suburbia, but the appearance of Dennis Hopper’s Frank Booth embodies this paranoia in human form.
A horror of Lynch’s suffocating reality, Hopper’s Frank Booth is a peculiar escort who guides the protagonist through a strange new underworld that bears little resemblance to the comfort of suburbia. A psychopathic gangster and drug lord, Booth is a terrifying uncanny figure with an eerie, disturbed psyche, situated somewhere between childish infatuation and carnal rage. Huffing a nondescript gas through a transparent pipe, Booth seems to operate on different fuel to the average being, living in a totally different reality entirely.
Made all the better by Hopper’s extraordinary performance, Booth has gone on to become one of David Lynch’s most iconic characters, with the peak of his time on screen coming when he mimes and half dances to a rendition of Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams’ whilst seemingly losing his mind.
Perhaps the most memorable aspect of Booth’s character is his constant inhalation of a mysterious gas, often treating himself to a drag of the unknown drug during the film’s most intense moments. On set, Hopper revealed to Interview Magazine that Lynch used helium gas for these scenes that “made you sound like Donald Duck,” with the maverick actor also revealing just how sheltered he thought the filmmaker was.
Suggesting they use “nitric oxide or amyl nitrate,” instead of helium, Lynch responded to Hopper saying “what’s that?”, totally unaware of the existence of the soft drug.
“David was like a Boy Scout,” Hopper adds, explaining: “He doesn’t take drugs. He meditates. He’d give direction like, ‘Dennis, if you say that, when you say that word…’, And I’d say, ‘David, that word is fuck’”. Refusing to even say the swear word, this gave Hopper a peculiar impression of the Blue Velvet director whose personality differed greatly from the daring films he created.
Outlining a scenario that made Hopper question the director, he explains, “You’d do this very, very dark scene, and he’d be like, ‘Howdy-doody! Solid gold! Let’s do one more!’ It makes you think that whatever he has inside, he really keeps buried”.
Dennis Hopper’s role in Blue Velvet stands as one of the best of his whole career, ranking high among other appearances in his directorial debut Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola and the classic action movie Speed with Keanu Reeves. Working with some of the finest filmmakers of movie history and becoming a key player in the evolution of American cinema throughout the late 20th century, Hopper has earned his place in history as one of the most unique actors of all time.
