The actor David Lynch hated: “Not a good person”
It would be lovely to think that every actor is as charming as they can appear on screen, but the reality is sadly much different. Don’t get me wrong, there are some genuinely great people working in Hollywood, but then there are those who let the fame go straight to their heads.
David Lynch had mastered filmmaking not just in the sense that he knew how to make terrific films, but he also knew exactly how to cast his actors so that he found joy in going to work every day. Over the years, he found actors who truly understood his unusual visions, never questioning his logic and fully putting their faith in the surreal mind of the gentle beast.
Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Jack Nance, Harry Dean Stanton, Catherine E Coulson are all familiar faces for Lynch fans, and people that he considered to be genuine friends of his, the director’s first ports of call when it came to bringing his ideas to life.
“He had close friendships with all of them,” Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost told Far Out earlier this year, “He had a repertory company of people he liked to work with who show up time and again in his work, and I think that’s a signal of a strong director and a strong body of work.”
It’s a crushing realisation when you discover that an actor you admire was actually far from perfect though. We know it’s futile to put these people on pedestals; they’re no different from me or you, apart from their inflated bank balances, but it still hurts. “Glenn Ford ruined the joy of filmmaking for Frank Capra. I’m really upset with Glenn Ford,” Lynch once claimed.
Lynch’s disappointment with this Old Hollywood face stemmed from how the star was less than friendly with his director. “What I got out of reading about Frank Capra was that Glenn Ford was a fucker, man. Glenn Ford apparently was not a good person to Frank Capra, and Frank didn’t have the fight in him to deal with it,” he told Vulture.
Capra directed Ford in 1961’s Pocketful of Miracles, but the actor’s role as co-producer on the movie soon came to put a strain on his relationship with the director. He was demanding and even challenged Capra’s choice of actors, which left the legendary filmmaker feeling let down.
In his memoir, The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography, Capra wrote about the film’s less-than-pleasant behind-the-scenes, describing it as being “shaped in the fires of discord and filmed in an atmosphere of pain, strain, and loathing”.
This is exactly what Lynch tried to avoid, which he certainly achieved by finding people whom he respected and who respected him. While Capra and Ford locking horns didn’t completely derail the film, which received mixed reviews from critics, it’s a shame that the former’s final project was tainted with such hellfire; I guess that’s just how it rumbles in showbiz.
