GreenCine | article

By far his best film since Blue Velvet, writer-director David Lynch's Inland Empire will likely be the most radical film of 2006. Running 179 minutes with much rhyme and very little reason - in the positivist sense - Inland Empire debunks nearly every Hollywood trope imaginable.

The primary plot focuses on Nikki Grace (Laura Dern), a rich kept wife and actor who has just landed a role as Susan Blue in a new film. Her co-star, Devon Berk (Justin Theroux, who played the young film director in Lynch's Mulholland Drive), has a reputation for seducing his co-stars and that could be a problem. As Nikki becomes more and more like Susan, the multifaceted films-within-films refuse to offer any simplistic path to follow.

Co-starring Jeremy Irons as film director Kingsley Stewart, Harry Dean Stanton as his assistant, Naomi Watts as a surreal sitcom character, Diane Ladd as a talk show host, William Macy as an announcer and Julia Ormond as a murderous wife, this is a demanding yet rewarding film that has left many novice filmgoers nonplussed, if not downright angry.

Sitting at a table full of journalists, the usually quiet Lynch and the typically gregarious Dern talked about their film over a slice of banana cr�me pie.

Journalist: When did you first start writing the script?

David Lynch: I wrote a scene without Laura. But I didn't know it was going to be a big scene with Laura. And shot that as a stand-alone thing. I didn't know anything was going to happen. I kept looking at this scene thinking, "Wait a minute. There's something more. It's holding something." And then I'd get another idea and write that scene and go shoot that. And then I'd get another idea without Laura and I'd shoot that. I didn't know how one would relate to another - if it was going to hold together, or be anything. Then a thing happened five or six scenes down, where I see a story coming out that unites these scenes. Then it went faster. I'd write more and more and more and then we'd shoot more traditionally after that. But in the beginning, it was long time; wait, another scene; wait, another scene.

Journalist: Which scene [was the first]?

DL: That doesn't matter. Because I always think if you're watching a movie and that scene comes up, somebody will go [he nudges Dern], "This is the shot." It putrefies the thing.

John Esther: To counteract the first question, how did you know when you were done writing?

DL: There's a thing - it happens in painting, music and other things - a moment where the whole thing feels correct and it's done. When you shoot a film there's all these stages; so it's not until the very end that you start dealing with the whole. Toward the very end, you think you got the whole thing corralled and then you have a screening, some other people are there, and you say, "Wait a minute." You've got huge problems. And you go to work, get closer, have another [screening], get closer, and then there is a moment where it happens. It's done. It feels correct as a whole.

Journalist: David, this movie explodes in different directions - horizontally, vertically, and it's asymmetrical in that sense, to me. Also the naturalness of everyday life is there. I found that to be the structure. Was that something that you thought of?

DL: No. It's the ideas. An idea comes. You get an idea and the idea tells you everything. I understand the idea enough to translate it to cinema and stay true to that and try to get everybody to tune into that idea that's driving the boat. Sometimes, if you're true to the idea, these ideas have "harmonics" and someone may pick up a harmonic like you - some kind of angle - and, if you've been true to the idea, then the harmonics are true. You see what I mean? I can go back on a film that I made a long time ago - if I was true to the ideas - and get a whole different thing out of it. Because I was true to this idea, this idea is true. See what I mean? Stay true to the idea. Stay true to the idea.

Journalist: How difficult is that?

DL: It's not so difficult. It's just that you can't let up, because every element is critical. Every element has got to feel correct before you walk away, correct in terms of the idea. You just have to do your work until things feel correct. Then you've done that day's work. The next day you come in, you've got all these unfinished things looking at you, bit by bit by bit by bit. All elements you try to get to 100 percent feeling correct based on the original idea. That's your job.

Journalist: Laura, you've obviously worked with David before - Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart. Was it that much different of an experience of working this particular way?

Laura Dern: Yes. There are obviously things that stay true to the unique experience of working with David. And interestingly, they weren't in the area of working scene by scene, not having a script. It was more in the area of working with digital film: the ease with which you can shoot your day; the ease with which David can shoot alone and move the camera around and get the scene; to - which is unheard of on a traditional 35mm movie set - have a working day and have filmed 10 of our 12 hours. We got to work and we'd start working. We had the luxury, because 40 minutes is in the camera, of shooting an entire scene without cutting. It gives you a great deal of freedom as an actor to truly be in the moment as opposed to being in the moment, holding it, and [laughs] try to go back to that moment and replicating it.

Then comes the fact that he gave me several characters to play. It was just pure bliss. To have someone who I've admired my whole life to trust me enough to say, "Let's work this way and you're going to explore these different people, or aspects of a person, let's just go." If David could impart anything to other filmmakers, one thing that I think would be so helpful in the area of working with actors is that actually actors will be what you want them to be and feel brave and daring and be as good as you want them to be. Believe in them. And you can't fake that. He so believes in actors. He is so specific and detailed about what he wants. Because the film is abstract one thinks that his expression of what he wants to you would be vague or surreal and it's not.

Journalist: Laura, you're a producer on this film. What did you see, the script or the author?

LD: This is question for David, really. I can't even speak as to what that means.

DL: I don't understand that question.

LD: Well, as an actor, what I always see first is the author, the filmmaker, and that's who I go to work with. When this David calls, I show up. I don't need a script. As a producer, I think that's a very gracious token of esteem from David for going along for our three-year ride.

Journalist: Is the Jeremy Irons' character sort of a surrogate of yours?

Further Reading

Last year, John McMurtrie spoke with Lynch about "a subject as close to his heart as film: Transcendental Meditation."

DL: No. Kingsley Stewart always came from the idea that he's British. And there's Jeremy Irons all over it. I was very fortunate to get Jeremy because he, in my mind, was the guy.

Journalist: You used the quite famous Japanese actor Nae Yuuki in your film.

DL: I can't say enough good things about Nae.

Journalist: Although she speaks English you used subtitles?

DL: Yes, she's saying many things that are critical and with her accent, many people couldn't understand everything. So it's better to go with subtitles.

Journalist: What role did music play in your creative process?

DL: Music is huge. It's huge because sometimes you get ideas from listening to music. Sometimes a scene comes right out of music, or a mood. It's inspiring and sometimes marries to a scene. It's a magical ingredient.

Journalist: Was there any specific music?

DL: All the music that you hear is music that I found married to the place in the film where it exists. A lot of things were tried. If it doesn't work you know it doesn't work. So then you got to start again.

JE: What are your political intentions with the film?

DL: Political intentions. Zero. Some people are very political [Dern raises her hand to indicate she is one of those people] and they'll see politics in everything. This is a world on its own and you just go into this world. When there are abstractions, people have varying interpretations, thoughts, about it. But it's the same with all film. It's so beautiful when the lights go down, the curtains open, and we get to go into a different world.

LD: The mere existence of this film is political. It is rare people are using their voice and doing what they want to do. David isn't trying to redefine cinema; he's defining his own voice. And we need more of that. So I think it's a highly political film.

Journalist: Well, you're a brave actor.

LD: Oh, no, I just feel lucky.

Journalist: Can you tell us a little about your Oscar campaign?

DL: Laura should be at least nominated. But we don't have any money and we're not connected with a giant studio. So I had this idea, because Academy members love show business, that I would go out on the street with signs for Laura, along with a cow and a piano player. It was beautiful. It was to make people aware a film was coming that had a great performance by Laura.

Journalist: What is the main thing about your relationship that makes it work?

DL: Pure love.

LD: Love.

DL: Seriously, it's love, trust, Laura's a great talent. If someone you love is right for the part, you're very happy because you're going to get to go down the road for a long time with this person. There was so much happiness seeing her nail these things.

Journalist: Could you talk about the Polish theme?

DL: I fell in love with the city of Lodz, Poland, a city so beautiful and old, filled with factories and great giant electrical plants and these low hanging gray clouds and a Polish rain or cold and mood, and ideas started coming.

JE: Fellow Academy nominee and filmmaker Robert Altman recently passed away. Could you comment on what his work, and he as a person, meant to you?

DL: [A wave of sadness crosses his face]. I felt so happy that he respected me. We had a bond. I respect his work, his talent, and his strength to stand up against all the studios through the years, and stick to his voice and make sure he stuck to his voice. I don't think there's anybody stronger than Robert Altman out there for getting the job done the way he wanted to get it done. I kind of loved Robert Altman, really respected him, and I'm sorry to see him go.

LD: I just want to add, the purist, greatest time I ever had on movies were with David and Robert Altman. Because they both demand that it's a family having a good time together. And it is a complete party 100 percent of the time because they believe in it being fun. Unfortunately, it's a very rare experience.

ADVERTISE on GreenCine!

New