The story of how ‘Paris, Texas’ almost ended differently
Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas is a monumental feat of filmmaking which rightly earned the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival upon its release in 1984. From the impeccable score by Ry Cooder to the studied performances from Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, and Dean Stockwell, Paris, Texas is unquestionably one of the greatest movies ever made.
We are first introduced to Stanton’s Travis as he wanders around the desert, mute and aimless, before he is rescued by his brother, Stockwell’s Walt. The pair return to Los Angeles, where Travis is reunited with his young son, Hunter, who he hasn’t seen for several years. Initially hesitant around his father, the pair eventually connect and embark on a road trip to find Kinski’s Jane, Hunter’s estranged mother.
The movie is emotional and tender, yet it never veers into overly sentimental, saccharine territory. Instead, Paris, Texas presents us with the harsh realities of many familial relationships, which are often unsteady, abusive and painful. Travis is far from perfect, yet Stanton plays his flawed character with such nuance and conviction, making his performance so beautifully devastating.
Throughout the movie, we see Travis and Hunter become father and son again, although this inevitably leads Travis to face his complicated past. The standout scene comes when Travis discovers Jane working in a peep show, and the pair talk through the one-way glass. During their conversation, Travis tells the couple’s story, which stuns Jane, who eventually shares her side, delivering a gorgeous monologue in which she reveals, “I used to talk to you all the time, even though I was alone. I walked around for months talking to you. Now I don’t know what to say. It was easier when I just imagined you.”
Both Kinski’s and Stanton’s performances are astounding, and Wenders allows the pair to talk for an extended period as though we are watching a stage play. The pair’s monologues reveal how Travis and Jane had an unhealthy relationship, which culminated in him tying her to the bed after she tried to escape. Then, he woke up to find the house in flames, and Jane and Hunter were nowhere to be seen.
Jane expresses her interest in reuniting with Hunter, and the movie ends with the pair meeting for the first time in years at a hotel. Travis waits outside before driving away, alone again. It’s easy to imagine a big Hollywood production allowing the family to live happily ever after, but Wenders’ film takes a different approach. He told Roger Willemsen in 2001, “He steps aside and says, ‘I’m not going to make this mistake again. I’ve already done harm to this woman and this child. I don’t want to do that again.’ That’s what really makes him a tragic, great figure.”
However, the movie almost took a different trajectory because it was written as filming went along. The movie’s main screenwriter, Sam Shephard, had not penned an ending when shooting began. Wenders explained in the same interview, “Both Sam and I were so certain that we had found just the right story for the two of us and just the right actors. We were so presumptuous that we said, ‘We don’t need to finish the script.'”
He added: “We had half of it. Up to the point where Travis finds his son. And from that point on, since we knew the characters so well, we thought we’d just write the rest bit by bit as we went along. We started the film with half a script, a wonderful script up to that point. As for the dialogue, I could shoot it right off the page. However, our dream that Sam would be with us and travel with me and watch the actors and write the second half of the script while I was filming the first half, that didn’t come true.”
Wenders practically begged Shephard, who had to go work on another project, to help him finish the script. Wenders and L.M. Carson came up with the movie’s second half, including the iconic peep show scene, and Shephard wrote the incredible dialogue over the phone. Thus, Paris, Texas received its magnificent ending, with Wenders stating, “We couldn’t have done it any other way. So Sam did finish the film. Because that dialogue makes the film in the end. How those two meet. Up till then, I somehow kept my head above water, and then finally Sam did deliver gloriously.”
