‘Blue Velvet’: the most important performance of Dennis Hopper’s entire life
“Baby wants blue velvet,” says the menacing Frank Booth, portrayed with a twisted blend of vulnerability and psychopathic relentlessness by Dennis Hopper in David Lynch’s 1986 psychosexual thriller Blue Velvet. This occurs during one of the most unforgettable moments in the film, with Frank huffing gas before he assumes the roles of ‘Baby’ and ‘Daddy’ as he engages in bizarre and sadistic acts with his sex slave, Dorothy Valens.
Hopper’s performance is simply terrifying, and the fact that he was never nominated for an Oscar remains a cinematic crime. The character spends the entire length of the film – a meditation on the darkness lurking within the heart of American suburbia – spreading terror. He repeatedly rapes Dorothy before almost killing her, while he succeeds in murdering her husband, whom he had initially tortured by cutting his ear off. Frank is a true manifestation of evil, with his behaviour evidently stemming from childhood trauma, something he allows to manifest into his bizarre sexual rituals with Dorothy.
The role of Frank wasn’t offered to Hopper initially, with Lynch instead considering actors like Michael Ironside and Willem Dafoe, whom he would soon cast as a villain in 1990’s Wild at Heart. While Hopper was a huge star, rising to prominence for writing, directing, and starring in the Oscar-winning film Easy Rider in 1969, he had a rocky career partly down to his daredevil nature, as well as his lack of success with his second directorial feature, The Last Movie.
The early 1980s were a mixed bag for Hopper, who directed the long-forgotten gem Out of the Blue (also starring in the film), while appearing in movies like Rumble Fish and The Osterman Weekend. However, Hopper’s star power had certainly dwindled, and it was Blue Velvet that he credited with revitalising his career. The actor delivered a career-defining performance, practically begging Lynch for the part when he heard about it by telling him, “You have to let me play Frank Booth. Because I am Frank Booth!”
Hopper wasn’t a psychopath, but he certainly had experience in being reckless, drug-obsessed, and unhinged like Frank, so this came in handy when it came to embodying the antagonist. The actor was one of the wildest stars of the 1960s and 1970s – he shot a tree on acid thinking it was a bear, snorted someone’s ashes, and even did the Russian Suicide Chair experiment. Evidently, he was perfect for the part, and Blue Velvet proved to be an incredibly important moment in Hopper’s career.
The film was actually a huge moment for many of its stars. Isabella Rossellini was taken seriously as an actor for the first time, Kyle MacLachlan was able to get over the failure of Dune and become a star, and an 18-year-old Laura Dern also garnered significant attention. The movie earned Lynch a ‘Best Director’ Oscar nomination and remains one of his greatest films, but it’s hard to imagine it being as good as it is without Hopper’s frightening performance.
His ability to embody shameless insanity in various different ways was truly impressive, from acting like a baby or shedding a tear as Dean Stockwell’s character lip-syncs Roy Orbison to being unrestrainedly horrifying. He’s grotesque and often darkly funny, and it seems as though Hopper understood the surreal and slightly campy humour that Lynch harnessed, striking a perfect balance between absurdity and true terror.
