The movie David Lynch made because Laura Dern told him to: “I didn’t want to do it”
When you think of David Lynch, one title pops to mind: director, and not just a director, arguably the director, one so powerful he made himself an icon, leading to the coining of the term ‘Lynchian’, as his filmmaking style was so sharp and distinctive that it needed its own terminology.
That will forever be how most people remember him, bringing to mind his powerful filmography of projects he directed and how they changed cinema forever. From the dark world of the suburbs in Blue Velvet to the fever-dream anxiety that pervades so many of his projects, his words will live on as vital reference points for filmmakers forevermore. What likely won’t live on as a reference point is Lynch’s few acting roles, where, in a strange move, he ventured to the other side of the camera.
During season two of Twin Peaks, Lynch stepped away from the project, ceasing to direct the TV show after the revelation of Laura Palmer’s killer. The story goes that the director really wanted to leave it there, but with high ratings, the studio demanded it go on long. “I stopped watching that show because it got so bad,” he said of the third quarter of the second season; however, that didn’t stop him from acting in it.
Even after moving away from the directorial team, Lynch’s own Twin Peaks character, Gordon Cole, still appears as he plays the loud-speaking, partially deaf agent who is Dale Cooper’s supervisor. Is it the show’s finest performance? No, absolutely not. Is it utterly charming? Yes.
That tends to be the review of the rare performances Lynch has put in. In his list of appearances, he wanders onto screen a few times in his own projects, as a random extra in The Elephant Man, or a worker in Dune, but then, in 2022, a serious offer landed on his table when Steven Spielberg was working on his semi-autobiographical movie, The Fabelmans.
He wanted a great to play the role of John Ford, the iconic director who greatly inspired Spielberg, so it seemed to make sense to him to cast another deeply influential filmmaker in the role, about which Lynch had doubts. “The reason is, when it comes to acting, I’ve purposely tried to stay away from it, giving the likes of Harrison Ford and George Clooney a chance at their careers,” he joked to Empire, before more humbly admitting, “There’s a lot of people who are born to act. But I’m not one of them.”
But when one of Lynch’s favourite stars began trying to talk him round, he was easily convinced. Having worked with Laura Dern repeatedly and clearly seeing her as one of those true talents in the acting world, Lynch took her advice to take the role seriously.
“She’s a special person in my life. She encouraged me to do it. She thought that it would be very enjoyable, and it turned out to be very enjoyable,” he said, in the end thanking his friend as he finally agreed to take the role with one stipulation: there had to be bags of Cheetos on set for snacks.
