The World of David Lynch

I first came across David Lynch work when I was studying for my London A levels in Colombo somewhere in 1984/85. The age of bombs, I was so scared to travel to Stafford College, in Cinnamon Gardens from Mt Lavinia on 154 buses. Nevertheless, I made sure to read a good book or watch a good movie during this period of my life. It was an Omni magazine, and I read an article about a movie with Sting (of the band Police) acting in it. Being a huge Police fan at that time and being a huge sci-fi fan, I wanted to watch the movie that was called 'Dune'. As usual, after school I made a stop at Naztars video club at Liberty plaza, and collected the movie on VHS.

It was like a triple treat to me, because then I found out the theme was scored by the band ToTo (Who had the hits Africa and (Rosanna), and Brian Eno. I really had no Idea about Frank Herber's book when I first saw Dune, the movie. It was so elegant, beautiful and poetic. The way the voice overs used by Lynch and the way he composed his shots made it so poetic. I also thought the screenplay was very powerful. (One must remember that, I watched the movie, before I read the book). Most of the diehard fans of the book hate the film. (This seems to be a pattern here; I think we should discuss this issue separately about Film and Literature, since books give one a greater imagination because it is a personal and individual one).

David Lynch

If one would ask, how David Lynch came about to make Dune he walked away when George Lucas asked him to direct Return of the Jedi and made his own sci-fi epic Dune instead. Since I grew up with Star Wars and me being a Star Wars fan, would have loved to see David Lynchs version of Return of the Jedi (1983). Lynch is just different. In the 1970s he actually went to the same Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Los Angeles every day at 2.30 pm for a chocolate milkshake.

From there on I started to enter The weird world of David Lynch after watching his 1986 drama "Blue Velvet." Like the chocolate shake every day at Bobs Big Boy, Lynch prefers to work with the same actors for a long time. 'Blue Velvet' and Wild at Heart were two great movies I came across when I landed in New York City for my film studies. The twisted and intoxicating violence dark journey of his film 'Blue Velvet', places him at the position, of being different and to some people wired kind of director. With 'Twin Peaks' TV series and 'Wild at Heart', I discover Lynch is not just a filmmaker, but a true artist in all sense.

David Lynch is more than an innovative modern American filmmaker. He is well recognized as a writer, television producer, cartoonist, graphic artist, photographer and even a composer. David Lynch's films are as powerful as they are dark, and each work offers an original and mysterious vision. From the eerie exquisite 'Blue Velvet' to the brilliant nightmare vision of 'Lost Highway', Lynch captures our imagination and emotion.

'Blue Velvet' is one of Lynchs personal projects. After the critical and commercial failure of the 'Dunehe' gets back into one of his old projects from the days of 'Elephant Man.' 'Jack Nance' (His actor from 'Eraserhead') remembered Lynch talking about 'Blue Velvet' during the editing of 'Eraserhead': "He showed me this little drawing he'd done...of this rustic roadhouse or saloon, out in the countryside. It was just by the side of the road with this big neon sign on top of the place that said: 'Blue Velvet.' He showed it to me and said: 'How do you like it, Jack?' I said: 'It's beautiful.' He said: 'We're going to do that someday.' I said: 'Do what?' And he said: 'We're going to do 'Blue Velvet' someday. It's a movie.

After Lynch finished shooting the 'Elephant Man', he tried to interest various investors and Lynch pitched the film to Warner Brothers. Lynch wrote two treatments of 'Blue Velvet' at Warner's request, but they hated both versions. The film was dead until Lynch finished filming 'Dune', and was asked by producer Dino De Laurentiis if he had any projects he'd like to do next. Lynch pitched 'Blue Velvet', with one condition - he had to have final cut. De Laurentiis agreed in exchange for Lynch cutting his salary and the film's budget in half.

Some questioned if it was wise for De Laurentiis to fund Lynch's new project given the poor box office of 'Dune'. Dino's system was to always presell everything through his European and international contacts, so he never lost money." With the green light on the project, Lynch made draft after draft of the screenplay.

Till the forth draft of the screenplay he could not find the ending. He actually came up with the ending after a dream the night before he finished the forth draft. He had seen it all in his dream, yet he doesn't know how it happened, but he had to plug and change a few things to bring it altogether. Lynch felt Kyle MacLauchlan is the right person for Jeffery's character in 'Blue Velvet,' since he worked in 'Dune.' Lynch felt he will go well with the girls. Lynch says with some actors, when you look into their eyes, you just don't see them thinking. Kyle can think on screen. I personally feel it was a wise choice of David Lynch, because for me Kyle's face is so blank, yet you get to understand what he is going through when you see him on screen. This is the kind of face I was hoping that I could have for Vishva's character in my 'Alone in a Valley' (Nimnayaka Hudakalawa).

To be continued