The unlikely inspirations behind Gregg Araki’s ‘Nowhere’
Between 1993 and 1997, New Queer Cinema pioneer Gregg Araki made what has become known as his Teenage Apocalypse trilogy. These thematically-related films all starred James Duval as a teenager coming of age in a strange world, with each film becoming less tethered to reality. By the time Araki got to Nowhere in ’97, he had fully embraced a surreal, heightened Lynchian tone that still had a vibe all his own. Amazingly, though, while David Lynch was an admitted influence on the film, a couple of other inspirations were much more leftfield for an arthouse director like Araki.
When Araki sat in a Los Angeles coffee shop writing a script in the early 1990s, he could have had no idea he was about to meet a collaborator who would define his decade. In 2024, he told Roger Ebert’s website that Duval used to frequent that particular spot, and he happened to notice him “showing pictures to his friends like he was a model or actor.”
Araki admitted, “I just walked up to him and said, ‘We’re casting this movie. Would you like to audition?’ Then it was kind of history from there.”
That movie was Totally Fucked Up, which told the story of a group of gay teens finding their way in life, and Araki cast Duval as the main character Andy. That shoot went so well, and Araki connected so deeply with Duval that he also wrote The Doom Generation and Nowhere for the young actor.
What exactly did Araki see in Duval that made him perfect for these films, though? Well, Araki mused, “He represented to me this kind of earnest romantic soul caught in this world of chaos and violence and surrealism. He’s very sensitive and open to the world.” In some ways, Araki believes he created a forerunner to more modern incarnations of masculinity, which have space for sensitivity and real emotion instead of macho posturing.
He quipped, “The opposite of toxic masculinity.”
By the time Araki wrote Nowhere, he had moved into a much more abstract vein of creativity. This time, Duval’s character didn’t have a normal name like Andy or Jordan White, his name in The Doom Generation. Instead, he was called ‘Dark’, and the story followed his struggles to date his girlfriend Mel while both are having separate bisexual relationships at the same time. The movie also featured characters named Lucifer, Zero, Cowboy, and Handjob, and weaved nightmarish sequences and a murderous alien in with its more standard tale of broken relationships.
Reading that description, it’s perhaps unsurprising that David Lynch’s uncanny TV masterpiece Twin Peaks was a huge source of inspiration for Nowhere. However, its influence stretched beyond simply embracing the frightening, surreal elements of the show. Instead, Araki’s imagination was captured by its unique mix of cinematic production values and style within a more traditional TV format. Araki explained, “The pilot of Twin Peaks was released as a feature in Europe, so I had this idea of making a feature that was basically a pilot.”
With this in mind, it makes perfect sense that Araki would do some research to familiarise himself with the style of teen TV in the ’90s before making Nowhere. He revealed, “I was watching Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 to get the structure, conventions, and all that.” However, he quickly noticed something about these shows that gave him pause. He said, “The format is so hermetic, and it becomes so boring after about two seasons. If you’re in the 90210 world, everyone’s fucked everybody, and everyone’s had a drug problem.” In essence, the shows had a habit of burning through storylines so quickly that it left them with nowhere fresh to go creatively.
Ultimately, this is why Araki pushed the heightened elements of Nowhere so hard. He was intrigued by the notion of making a feature film that felt like a TV pilot but didn’t want it to become boring like so much of the television he watched in preparation. He said, “Things like the alien and all those dreamlike, nightmare-like elements that make it totally unpredictable. It starts out like any other day with the kids riding around in the convertible and eating breakfast, and then it gets more and more fucking crazy.“
So, there you have it: Araki’s nightmarish queer masterpiece was simultaneously inspired by Twin Peaks and 90210.
