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David Lynch was one of a kind,
an artist turned filmmaker,

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not that he saw the difference,

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who gave us some of the most
beautiful, most haunting,

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and most brilliantly elusive films
ever made.

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Greatest of all his mysteries is
Mulholland Drive,

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the film he described with nonchalant
brevity as a love story

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set in the city of dreams.

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But that doesn't begin to capture
the mesmerising complexity at work.

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But what would you say
was the legacy of his career

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up to the point where
he comes to make Mulholland Drive?

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Well, by that point he had become
possibly unique in that he was,

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I would say, a surrealist filmmaker,

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who had achieved enormous critical,
commercial and awards-based success,

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which has never really happened
before or since, I would say,

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in, certainly not in Hollywood.

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But he was making films
which defied the rules of

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the Hollywood industry,
of the studio system,

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of the conventions of Hollywood,

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and yet he was making hit movies.

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What are you doing?
We don't stop here.

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Get out of the car.

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It is the story of Laura Harring's
brunette, known as Rita,

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who has survived a car accident on
that famous meandering road

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above Los Angeles,
but has lost her memory.

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And it is a story of Naomi Watts's
blonde, Betty,

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a would-be actress newly arrived
in Hollywood,

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who attempts to discover the secret
of Rita's true identity.

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Only Betty is not quite who she seems
to be either.

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I thought when I woke up,
I thought sleep would do it.

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What's wrong?

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I don't know who I am.

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What do you mean? You're Rita.
No, I'm not.

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I don't know what my name is.
I don't know who I am.

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David Lynch's career
can be divided into two parts,

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and one is his cinema, Eraserhead,

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Blue Velvet,
and then of course Twin Peaks,

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which is very interesting because
for him to move from the cinema,

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and I mean a really particular
cinema,

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and then take that same sensibility
to TV,

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it's an interesting sort of arc,

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and you can see elements of
both of those visions and shapes

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in Mulholland Drive.

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But by the time he
makes Mulholland Drive,

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people are starting to question
whether he's in the dark

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a little bit, in his career.

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In 1992, he makes a spin-off
of Twin Peaks,

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called Fire Walk with Me,
which is a huge flop.

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He was working on various projects
around this time,

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he makes Lost Highway, which is now
recognised as a great neo-noir

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but didn't do very well at the time.

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People found it baffling,
they didn't really get it.

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They just thought basically that his
films didn't make sense any more.

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And then Lynch begins to develop the
idea for a pilot called Mulholland,

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based on Mulholland Drive
in Los Angeles,

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and about an aspiring actress.

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And so he goes ahead and writes
and casts this project,

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even starts filming on it,

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and then ABC watches the pilot
and turns it down.

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They find it too weird,
too "Lynchian", ultimately.

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And his idea was to make it
a mystery story

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similar in some ways to Twin Peaks,
where the central mystery was

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what would keep viewers
coming every week.

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But ultimately, that version
of the story didn't quite work out

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the way he had planned.

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Now he lived in Los Angeles,
he worked in Los Angeles,

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but he had a kind of spiritual
creative relationship

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with Los Angeles.
How would you describe it?

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In very practical terms,
he loved the light.

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I mean he would go on and on
about the, I mean that's part of

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his obsession with the history of
Hollywood as well,

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the idea that filmmakers came to
Hollywood for the light,

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and what the light in Hollywood
allowed filmmakers,

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including himself, to do.

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But he was also intrigued
by the duality of Hollywood,

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so this idea of a City of Dreams
where theoretically anything

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was possible, but that behind closed
doors, dark and sordid things

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were taking place, and that terrible
murders had happened,

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and he found it
both creatively liberating

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and also incredibly restricting.

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It was the fact that there was no,
that there was a constant city

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of conflict in a sense for him,

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but he loved the beauty
of its possibility.

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Released in 2001, Mulholland Drive
asks more questions than it answers.

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As far as Lynch was concerned, film
and dreams were much the same thing.

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A man of many parts,

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and finally they are all on show
together

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in Paris's Cartier Foundation.

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Sketches and sculpture,
wallpaper with a difference,

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for David Lynch it seems the
creative process is unstoppable.

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What fascinates me is ideas.

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Everything we do, I believe,

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starts with an idea.

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And sometimes we get ideas
for paintings,

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sometimes we get ideas for music,

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sometimes we get ideas for cinema,

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but everything starts with an idea.

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Never before had so much of Lynch's
work been exhibited under one roof.

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Dozens of canvases and
a hundred photographs,

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giant mixed media installations.

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Some of the work dates back to his
teenage years,

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work that often defies
a verbal explanation.

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To me, again, it's a wordless thing.

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It's an intuitive thing. So much of
this is just writing ideas

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that have nothing to do with
a kind of an intellectual thing.

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It's an intuitive, um, journey.

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The first word that comes to mind
when you speak about David Lynch,

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is surrealist. Yes, he is
a surrealist to a certain extent,

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but he is also a wonderful artist,

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he's an archaeologist
of the subconscious,

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and he's just...

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he brings a painterly attitude
to his filmmaking.

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So they are always great to look at,
even if sometimes

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they are hard to understand.

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The films that David Lynch make
are an extension of his own

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creative impulse as a painter and
an artist.

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He also makes furniture.

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He is kind of a polymath in terms of
culture and his own art.

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It started as a cancelled television
series before wending its twisted way

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to a feature film. The result is that
stunning fable of Hollywood cruelty,

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lost innocence, shattered identity,
murder,

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and the city that the director had
called home for so many years.

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It might be his most personal film.

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This film was meant to be TV,
that's the way he was going to go,

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and he did a pilot and all of that,

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but ABC didn't like it.

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And if you, I grew up on ABC,

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so I can see what would've actually
made them nervous about this,

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but he still had the material,
he still had the story,

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he still had what he wanted to say.

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So what was he gonna do with it?
He turned it into a film.

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He had a kind of
a love-hate relationship

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with the studio system itself,
- didn't he?
- Yes.

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I mean I think that he felt that
Hollywood, you know,

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owed its existence to the studio
system and the long tradition of

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filmmaking was there
because of the studios,

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but he also felt that his own
encounters with the studio system

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had been creatively problematic and
that he was never properly welcomed

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into that fraternity or club.

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So he always felt like an outsider
even though he loved cinema.

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One thing is certain. Once you have
watched Mulholland Drive,

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you are held in its spell forever.

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Oh...

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I can't believe it.

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Having trained as an artist,
David Lynch was driven by the idea of

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creating what he called
breathing paintings.

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This led him to Hollywood, where he
pursued an astonishingly surreal

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variation on film noir.

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Works such as Eraserhead,
Blue Velvet,

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legendary television series
Twin Peaks,

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and the time-twisting Lost Highway,
and then Mulholland Drive.

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Up to the point of Mulholland Drive,

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Lynch was already very well
established as an unconventional,

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uncompromising director of films

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that were mysterious, disturbing,

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occasionally funny,

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and he basically raised the game
for Hollywood

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in terms of films that might
puzzle people

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and yet also actually
find an audience.

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So he kind of crossed over

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from being a pure art filmmaker,

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which is basically what he was,

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into the commercial arena,
almost by default.

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And it's because the work was
so interesting and varied,

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and also because nobody was making
films like him at that time,

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and so he attracted quite a lot of
really fine actors,

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some stars, who just wanted to work
with this new guy on the block

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and see what he would come up with.

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'International capital
of the motion picture

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is a fabulous suburb of Los Angeles,
Hollywood,

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a community whose name alone is
a magic word throughout the world.

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But in Hollywood, where 65% of all
films are produced,

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the making of movies is a serious
and complicated business.'

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Inspiration came from Los Angeles
itself,

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in particular the road that snakes
along Santa Monica mountain,

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from Cahuenga Pass to the Pacific.

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This almost mystical, semi-wild
asphalt ribbon,

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haunted by suicides and murders,

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and named after William Mulholland,

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the engineer behind the city's
waterways,

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who robbed the farmers blind.

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Lynch was struck by the image of
scarlet tail lights

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twisting and turning and disappearing
into the dark.

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Lynch's relationship to Los Angeles
was first of all

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a working relationship because that
is where it was mainly, and still is

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where movies and TV are made.

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What's interesting about Lynch is
that he was able to sort of take

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bits of Los Angeles,
look at Los Angeles,

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as almost like a kind of Martian
in a way,

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and find the Los Angeles

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that actually told him the story
that he needed to tell.

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Mulholland Drive is
quite a wild place

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in relation to the rest of
Los Angeles,

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so those of us who are not
Los Angelinos,

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we don't think of Mulholland Drive,

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we think of Sunset Boulevard
and so forth.

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But Mulholland Drive is
a very different kind of escarpment,

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it goes up, it has wild animals
in and out of it,

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it's quite dark.

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So it's, in a sense, the...

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I guess this underbelly of LA,

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the things that LA
don't want you to see.

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And it's not even ugly, the part,
it's what's hidden.

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It's what's wild, it's what's not
been tamed, quite tamed.

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And so with his imagination,
he would have chosen that road

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to make his story about.

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And the other part of it, you know,
you think all the movies

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that are named after roads,
this Mulholland Drive

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is a kind of metaphor

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for that which is not seen
by most people

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who encounter Hollywood, and most of
us encounter Hollywood on screen.

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So we see sun and we see sea,
the ocean,

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and we see all of that,
and this is darkness.

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This is darkness, this is secrets,
this is closed doors,

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all the things that California
is not supposed to be.

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It also has a sort of a tragedy
baked into it,

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because it's named after a guy
called William Mulholland,

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who built the water system and
the dams that allowed Los Angeles

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to become a city, but whose work,
his finest work, fell to pieces

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literally the following day after he
had given it a final inspection,

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and absolutely guaranteed
that it was solid.

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So he died broken-hearted and broke.

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And so named after a man who was
essential for Los Angeles,

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but also everything about him
crumbled to dust.

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So you have these Hollywood mansions
on Mulholland Drive,

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but then you also have this
incredibly dangerous road

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that snakes off into the darkness.

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It's, um, it's a road of
contradictions.

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How would you say
it influenced the film itself?

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How did it influence David Lynch?

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Well, he used to love the oddity of
driving along Mulholland Drive

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at night and the day,

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the sort of the difference between
driving along it at night

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and then driving along it during the
day. He found driving during the day

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more sinister than driving at night.

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He felt that the darkness of
the road was more apparent, oddly,

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when the day was there.

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He felt that the twinkling views
that you could occasionally get of

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Hollywood, made Hollywood beautiful.

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00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,759
But in the daytime, the sort of
the very sharp speed bends

240
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,159
where people had come off the road,
reflected sort of the things

241
00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,000
that he found alarming about it.

242
00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,959
Mulholland Drive began life as
a television spin-off to Twin Peaks.

243
00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:24,039
It then evolved into a stand-alone
pilot for a new noir-style thriller,

244
00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,039
the story of Laura Harring's mystery
brunette,

245
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,439
who survives an attempted murder on
that famous road,

246
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,039
and blonde ingenue Naomi Watts,

247
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,319
who discovers this distraught woman
in her shower.

248
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,119
Somehow shocked by the Lynchian
strangeness involved,

249
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,279
ABC Studios shelved the project.

250
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:47,359
It was Pierre Edelman of StudioCanal
who came to the rescue.

251
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,959
Lynch had shown his old friend
the pilot,

252
00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,759
and Edelman knew
this was something important.

253
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,079
Negotiating the rights from ABC,

254
00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,839
he financed an additional shoot
a year later,

255
00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:01,719
in order to refashion the pilot
as a cryptic feature film.

256
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,799
As Lynch described it, the story was
now divided into three parts,

257
00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:11,559
a perfect mystery, a sad illusion,
and love. Make of that what you will.

258
00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:15,919
So for Lynch, the kind of three acts
that he sees Mulholland Drive in

259
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,919
have to take shape, and the sort
of conclusions, if there are any,

260
00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:23,599
and that's another question,
have to kind of happen more quickly

261
00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,479
and more succinctly outside of it
being a TV series,

262
00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:28,399
which is a much more long-running
project.

263
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:33,319
So StudioCanal wants him to shoot
more beyond the material

264
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:37,519
he already has, and he is then
tasked with figuring out

265
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,199
how to extend this story
in a satisfying way.

266
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,719
And for his part, he said he felt
that the story's plot tied up

267
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,039
all of its loose ends. I'm not sure
I totally agree with him,

268
00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:51,399
but maybe that's on the individual
you are,

269
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,319
but that's the nature of
Mulholland Drive, it is,

270
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,639
some might say unwieldy,
kind of circular story,

271
00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:03,439
which very much plays narratively on
the ideas of memory, dream, fantasy,

272
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,959
and is essentially
a giant question mark.

273
00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,159
And so I think in many ways,
him having to change the narrative

274
00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:15,359
from TV to feature, allowed him to
play a little bit less with

275
00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,879
the viewer in terms of long-term
viewing, like TV does,

276
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,919
but also brought all those ideas
together

277
00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,359
and make something really coherent.

278
00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:28,159
The career of Australian actress
Naomi Watts was going nowhere

279
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:30,479
when she landed her greatest role.

280
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:34,919
She had looked so different from her
photo, rushing off her flight

281
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,079
without make-up to meet Lynch.

282
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,599
That stirred ideas in the director.

283
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:41,639
First, she plays Betty,

284
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,439
the over-the-top, golly-gee,
out-of-towner,

285
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,159
leaping like Nancy Drew
into a new case.

286
00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,519
By the second shoot, she's playing
Diane, a washed-up actress,

287
00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:57,519
filled with a bitter regret. We never
doubt they are the same person.

288
00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:02,919
Naomi Watts is actually perfect for
these two different incarnations.

289
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,919
The thing is that both these
actresses on the screen

290
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,799
are a sort of part of,
they're split into two,

291
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,919
they become doubles of each other.

292
00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:17,439
And Watts herself was actually on
the verge, having spent ten years

293
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,519
in Hollywood without any significant
success,

294
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:26,919
was about to actually leave
the business and go back home

295
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,519
to Australia, when Lynch finally
cast her.

296
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:32,559
He liked the look of her
straight away,

297
00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:36,319
and when she turned up to actually
talk to him,

298
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,039
it wasn't even an audition,
he just wanted to meet her,

299
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:43,199
she was so relieved that somebody
had actually sort of,

300
00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,999
somebody of his calibre as well,
wanted her in the film,

301
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,439
that she actually cried
during the interview,

302
00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:50,959
and he knew that was the thing
he wanted.

303
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:55,919
He wanted someone who had strength,
was clearly a good actress,

304
00:19:55,920 --> 00:20:00,120
but had this sort of unbelievable
vulnerabilities.

305
00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:05,560
Bomb.

306
00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,280
And action.

307
00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:17,360
You're still here.

308
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,359
I came back.
I thought that's what you wanted.

309
00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:26,239
Betty comes off as the all-American
girl, but she's actually Canadian,

310
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:30,039
which is his big... that's the
biggest joke actually in the film,

311
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,119
and it's very witty,

312
00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:36,479
and it shows
about sort of his feeling about

313
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:41,399
the amorphous nature of Canadians
in relation to Americans.

314
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,959
So she's that.
And then she is this other person,

315
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:49,879
who is in the acting scene
where she does her audition,

316
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,839
you don't even know what to make of
that, it's so devastating.

317
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:58,439
Everybody who watches the audition
is applauding, except the women,

318
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:00,479
who are standing there like
Macbeth's witches

319
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,199
under all this black, thinking we've
got to take her out of here now

320
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,599
to the next place.
But you sit there, as the viewer,

321
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,999
I mean where did that come from?

322
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:15,119
And it overwhelms everyone in
the room, it overwhelms the film.

323
00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:20,279
It also opens up a kind of Hades
as well,

324
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,079
that he wants you to enter into
because now he's gonna tell you

325
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:26,919
about the business,
how it really works,

326
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,999
how he's experienced what they call
the business,

327
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,279
which is making films in Hollywood.

328
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,679
Don't you be a stranger around here.
We'd love to have you here.

329
00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,279
Come on, Betty.
Thank you again, Mr Brown,

330
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,479
and it was nice meeting all of you.

331
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:45,240
Bye.

332
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:47,920
Bye.

333
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,400
It's a slam dunk.
Where the hell did you find her?

334
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:57,800
God, that was awful.

335
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:35,399
Pfft! Cow.

336
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:41,799
Only in Lynch's inverted thinking
would the brunette be modelled on

337
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:46,000
Marilyn Monroe, and he was just crazy
about Laura Harring's head shot.

338
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,999
Then the actress had quite a story
anyway.

339
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,799
A former Miss USA, she was divorced
from the great-great-grandson of

340
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:57,759
German chancellor Otto von Bismarck,

341
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,160
and effectively a countess.

342
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,559
She had dabbled in daytime soaps,

343
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,399
but had the aura of
Isabella Rossellini.

344
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,479
And as if destiny were
making a point,

345
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:14,239
Harring was caught in a minor car
accident on the way to her audition.

346
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,919
So tell me a bit about Laura Harring.

347
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,119
I love this story that Lynch
liked to cast from head shots,

348
00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:22,839
classic Hollywood head shots,
and he saw her head shot

349
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,439
and he was just crazy for it,
and I have to meet her.

350
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:27,959
But she sort of lived up to her
head shot, didn't she?

351
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,239
She lived like a Lynchian character
in a sense,

352
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,719
so she grew up in Mexico,
her parents divorced when she was

353
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,079
very young. She moved to Texas,

354
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:42,159
was shot in the head in a drive-by
when she was, I think, 12.

355
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,639
She then went on to become
Miss Texas,

356
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:50,479
Miss USA, travelled the world where
she met Count von Bismarck's...

357
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,799
- It's his great-great-grandson.
- Yeah,
who was still the Count von Bismarck

358
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:57,199
and married him for two years. They
divorced and she kept the title.

359
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,399
So she was Countess Bismarck for...

360
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,039
and then with those, I think,
excellent qualifications,

361
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,319
set out to become a Hollywood star,

362
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:09,519
and it's a phenomenally appropriate
training for the role of Rita.

363
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:14,119
Yet she walks into that film and
she brings the aura of

364
00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:17,599
Isabella Rossellini, doesn't she?
She has something, a presence.

365
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:22,039
I mean Lynch can cast so well.
I think not just cast so well,

366
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,199
there's something about Lynch that
finds the right person,

367
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:29,279
but he then draws out of them
a performance that is quite often

368
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,999
their career best. I mean,

369
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,159
in terms of what's your favourite
Nick Cage role,

370
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,959
mine is Wild at Heart. So he just
gets the best out of actors.

371
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,079
Naomi Watts in this film is
phenomenal.

372
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,999
Laura Harring is
just perfect in this.

373
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,879
He knows, all he does is take
the head shot and a chat,

374
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:50,479
he doesn't even properly audition,

375
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,199
and then decides on that
that they're the right person,

376
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,679
and makes them become as good as he
wants them to be.

377
00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:00,079
He knows that what you're looking at
is her, her beauty.

378
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:01,679
She is incredible looking.

379
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,879
Incredible presence.
You believe everything.

380
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,999
And so when she turns out to be
something else at the end,

381
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,199
toward the end of the movie, it's
flesh crawling because who is this?

382
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,559
Who is this and why is she doing,
and why did she do what she did?

383
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,479
It casts you out of the movie
for a second,

384
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:20,519
which is what he wants you to do
anyway.

385
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:24,999
It takes you out of the film, and
you have to, as I still have to do,

386
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,359
you have to rethink
bits of that film.

387
00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:29,839
You have to actually go back
and think, wait a minute,

388
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,599
I'm looking for a clue, I'm looking
for something,

389
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,879
because he must have dropped
something and I missed it.

390
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,839
He must have because how could this
happen?

391
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,919
And he, you know, but, you know,

392
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,799
he didn't, you know, it's just like,
you know,

393
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:51,079
and the other incredible part
that people seldom talk about

394
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,799
and was the first stunning thing for
me when I first saw the film

395
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:56,199
when it was first released,
is the great

396
00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:01,039
Ann Miller, a great diva
of Old Hollywood.

397
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:06,759
This woman was a tap-dancing
ballerina, incredible person.

398
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:11,399
He's made... He shows her at this
point in her life as almost rigid,

399
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:15,279
like she can't, she's not moving,
her face isn't moving.

400
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,679
And if you know her work -
and he knew her work of course,

401
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,319
Ann Miller would have been twirling
about in the day,

402
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:26,399
and that's really frightening.
That's really frightening too.

403
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:30,599
Because what he's saying is, this is
Ann Miller, everybody,

404
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,759
you know that if you're into
Hollywood movies,

405
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,519
so look at the phoniness
of the whole thing.

406
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,879
She's really, to me,
the scariest thing in it.

407
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,359
Justin Theroux plays hipster director
Adam,

408
00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:50,079
resisting studio demands to cast a
mystery brunette in his latest film.

409
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,959
His life would descend
into a free-falling nightmare.

410
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,359
Kicked out of his Hollywood Hills
home, his bank account emptied,

411
00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:01,319
he ends up guided by an enigmatic
cowboy

412
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,199
on stranger and stranger roads.

413
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,479
He is surely a cipher for Lynch
himself,

414
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,240
being drawn by those tail lights
deeper into his story.

415
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:14,959
Lynch had been around the block
a few times by the time

416
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:16,919
Mulholland Drive was being made,

417
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,679
and I think you can see some of his
frustrations with Hollywood

418
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,799
generally, as well as his own
specific frustrations in the film.

419
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,919
Justin Theroux is not an entirely
likeable character

420
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:29,759
by any stretch of the imagination,
which I think is interesting.

421
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,919
But he is someone who earnestly
wants to get his film made

422
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,719
and who has it taken away from him,
who loses control of the picture,

423
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,959
who becomes embroiled
in the intrapersonal politics and

424
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:43,239
sexual politics around movie-making.

425
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,639
And how much of that is directly
personal, you can't ever say,

426
00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:51,879
but I think Lynch did struggle and
was very angry with the idea of

427
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,359
having his work interfered with
by money men, by outsiders,

428
00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:58,799
by the commercial element of
Hollywood filmmaking.

429
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:00,839
And of course he had
quite a few projects fail,

430
00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,359
or be pilloried or massively
misunderstood by the general public.

431
00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:08,279
What better inspiration for a film
about the treachery of Hollywood

432
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,599
than the treachery of Hollywood.

433
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:15,439
Lynch translates his many studio woes
into the sinister schemes of

434
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,479
a fictional film company.

435
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,359
Twin Peaks villain
Michael J Anderson

436
00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:24,319
is the studio head, Mr Roque,
who has mob connections.

437
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,719
While Lynch's composer,
Angelo Badalamenti,

438
00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,999
was cajoled into playing
a monosyllabic hood

439
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,839
who spits his espresso out
in disgust.

440
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:37,559
David Lynch loves Hollywood movies,
he loves the older movies,

441
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,759
and he absorbs them. And he's
quite happy to quote from them.

442
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:45,159
He'll quote from Hitchcock,
he'll quote from Billy Wilder,

443
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,399
he'll quote from, in fact,
Ingmar Bergman,

444
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:53,719
so all of these things are sort of
floating around inside his head,

445
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,799
and ultimately manifest themselves
on the screen.

446
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,399
This is, you know,
this is great stuff because it,

447
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,879
apart from anything else it means
that you can consider yourself

448
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:09,119
very clever if you can spot which
elements are from other films.

449
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:10,799
But it, at the end of the day,

450
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,439
he layers them and
knits them together

451
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,799
into something that
could only be made by him.

452
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,719
But there's, you know, constantly
throughout it and throughout

453
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:24,119
Lynch's work, there's this
application of dream logic,

454
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,799
that a film can, you know, slip the
bounds of reality or the reality

455
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,359
it presents,
to move into very surreal places.

456
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,959
So this is a very surreal depiction
- of the Hollywood machine.
- Yes.

457
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,439
And perhaps even more than some of
his previous films,

458
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,199
the gears will shift and,
as you imply,

459
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,159
very strange things will happen.
Yes.

460
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,999
I mean his depiction of
the people in control of Hollywood

461
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:47,919
are, I would say, unique.

462
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,719
People have done films
about the, you know,

463
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,759
the horrors of the Hollywood elite,

464
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:56,759
and they're normally men behind
desks, sweaty guys with, you know,

465
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,799
they call through to their
secretaries and they're just,

466
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,439
it's a standard trope
in a lot of films.

467
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:06,039
These people are something
other entirely. Mr Roque

468
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,279
feels like a dream in himself.
His room is odd, he looks odd,

469
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,479
the way he behaves is
incredibly odd.

470
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,119
It's... it is like a nightmare
just watching his scenes.

471
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,799
The cowboy doesn't feel like a real
person either, the way he speaks,

472
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:24,479
the way he acts. This is how
Hollywood has never been, you know,

473
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,519
the studio heads have never been
depicted like this before.

474
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,559
So you're thinking, well,
are they real?

475
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:32,719
Is this some kind of fever dream
of Hollywood?

476
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,279
The powers that be can't be this
because this is,

477
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,919
but I guess for Lynch, what he's
saying is in this city

478
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,799
built on dreams and imagination and
lurid fantasy, well, why not?

479
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:46,559
Why isn't it run by mysterious
figures in unusual situations

480
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:48,959
who you wouldn't even recognise
in the real world?

481
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,919
The film effectively begins
with the original pilot,

482
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,119
the mystery set up between
Betty and Rita.

483
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,959
Named after Rita Hayworth,
from the framed Gilda poster

484
00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:05,039
on Betty's apartment wall,
as combined of course with plenty of

485
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,239
weird Lynchian subplots.

486
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:11,679
But when they visit the Club Silencio
where the singer lip-syncs

487
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:15,999
to Roy Orbison's Crying, a temporal
rupture spins us into

488
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,359
the desperate more realistic events
of the second shoot.

489
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:22,839
The first two-thirds of the story

490
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:26,159
are now open to drastic
re-interpretation.

491
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,959
The way that Lynch inserts us
into his films

492
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,879
is through his generosity.

493
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,639
It seems an odd thing to say
about a film director,

494
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,919
but I think that David Lynch is
an incredibly generous filmmaker,

495
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,319
in spite of the fact that many
people believe his films

496
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:48,159
to be impenetrable. They may be in
strict possible terms,

497
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,759
but what he is actually doing is
inviting us

498
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,319
to A, bring our own interpretation
of these films,

499
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:58,999
he doesn't control
the interpretation, he doesn't say,

500
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,399
he doesn't guide us through it,
you know,

501
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,199
we're basically
working without a map.

502
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,199
He invites us and he's very happy
for us to have

503
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:09,759
different interpretations.

504
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,399
But not only that,
I think most importantly,

505
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:18,039
he's also inviting us to, or
inspiring us to use our imagination.

506
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,599
Lynch sought to capture
the different moods of Los Angeles.

507
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:26,639
Shooting in the Hollywood Hills
Downtown, El Segundo, Hancock Park,

508
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:32,439
and LAX. He also drew upon some
distinctive movie inspirations.

509
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,639
The West Coast noir of Vertigo and
Sunset Boulevard.

510
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:42,159
The familiar Lynchian parallels
with the dream reality uncertainty

511
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,279
of the Wizard of Oz.

512
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,559
And references to his own work.

513
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:49,399
Betty's hometown is Deep River,

514
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,120
the name of the apartment block
in Blue Velvet.

515
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:57,959
You can say in a way, well, I will
say it, film, the cinema for him

516
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:02,240
is the moving bits of his own art.

517
00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,999
It's not to... it's not a thing you
sit and you cerebrate about so much,

518
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,439
you're not thinking in the way you
would think at a lecture.

519
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,079
It's about experiencing it,

520
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,759
and experiencing yourself in
reaction to it.

521
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,599
That's what he wants you to do

522
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,519
because if you look at a great piece
of art, a great painting,

523
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,199
you are in dialogue with this piece
of work.

524
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:30,519
So for him, and it's fascinating
that he chose films,

525
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,599
because he's saying all the time

526
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:38,599
that to get a piece of work on
screen, or on television,

527
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:44,199
is a kind of artform in itself to
actually get the thing there,

528
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,079
to actually get it there intact,

529
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,039
the way you saw it, with the people
you wanna work with,

530
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,279
98% of the people
don't actually ever accomplish that.

531
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,559
So it's an act of bravery.

532
00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:00,359
You see this guy in the back, and
the director is in the back,

533
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,279
he's in the back of the film, he's
in the back of the actors,

534
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:07,159
he's at the back of the story,
actually trying to make this happen,

535
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:12,559
and he's inviting you to go into his
own, I wouldn't say chaos

536
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:17,439
cos that's incorrect, he's inviting
you to go into his own vision

537
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,160
of what this industry
and the world is about.

538
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,599
What resonates so powerfully
within Lynch's work

539
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:57,479
is his willingness to disturb
the reality of his stories.

540
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:02,079
Recalling the surreal turns
taken by Twin Peaks,

541
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:05,919
Mulholland Drive gives way
to a perplexing dream logic.

542
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:10,399
What are we to make of the monstrous
hobo that lives in a dumpster?

543
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,079
Or that enigmatic cowboy?

544
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,159
Or the sweet old couple befriended by
Betty on her flight,

545
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:20,679
who later return as homunculi,
barely inches tall?

546
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,439
The sense of dread is inescapable.

547
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,079
So Lynch is often talked about in
terms of using nightmare logic,

548
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,999
and I think he does definitely have
this fascination with the Freudian,

549
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,959
with the uncanny,
with the idea of doubles,

550
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:39,239
with the idea of something
just seeming innocuous

551
00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:41,879
but then ever so slightly off.

552
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:46,119
And he evokes this so strongly in
Mulholland Drive,

553
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,039
but also in many of his other works.

554
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,919
This sense of normality, which is
just slightly punctured

555
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:54,799
by this pervasive sense of evil,

556
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,040
this pervasive sense of
almost unknown.

557
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:01,479
And I think you have that
in a nightmare, right,

558
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,759
you have that where you're going
about your daily business in a shop

559
00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,279
or an office or your home,

560
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:11,759
and then something inexplicable
existing within that environment,

561
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,039
and it creates
an incredible sense of dread.

562
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,839
Reviews for Mulholland Drive
were rapturous.

563
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:21,199
This was the grand summation
of Lynch's themes.

564
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:23,759
He won Best Director at Cannes,

565
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,959
August French film journal
Cahiers du Cinema

566
00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:29,279
voted it the film of the 2000s,

567
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:34,359
while a poll by the BBC declared it
the film of the 21st century.

568
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:36,999
Hollywood was left
scratching its head.

569
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,959
A bemused Academy would grant Lynch
his second Best Director nomination.

570
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,399
But it is one of the great Oscar
injustices that Watts

571
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,559
didn't even get nominated
for Best Actress.

572
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,239
The film wasn't just well reviewed,

573
00:36:51,240 --> 00:36:53,919
it was adored by critics.

574
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:57,280
How did it elevate, what level
did it elevate Lynch to?

575
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:03,559
I think it elevated him to this sort
of kind of gnomic,

576
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:09,079
mystic director figure, who had some
kind of almost shamanic quality

577
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,799
in Hollywood. He was nominated for
Best Director,

578
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:13,919
the film made an enormous amount
of money.

579
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,279
And in that film,
there are no compromises.

580
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:18,399
So Hollywood looked at this,

581
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,839
you know, this is insane, this is
not the way everything should work,

582
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,759
but it's a hit, it's beautiful,
everybody loves it. We love it.

583
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,999
What do we make...
How do we make sense of this man?

584
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:32,959
We can't make sense of him.
And so his success in and of itself

585
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,799
was bewildering to the town
that he had this

586
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:37,959
very mischievous relationship with.

587
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:40,599
And I think it made him into this
phenomenal figure.

588
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:44,279
He... It's probably the high point
of his career, I would say,

589
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:46,759
it's probably his greatest work.

590
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:50,359
And it is without doubt
his most glorious moment.

591
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:54,599
That is the moment at which everyone
in the city that he both loves

592
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,879
and he hates, turns towards him
and says you are a genius.

593
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:02,959
Lynch asked that we surrender
to his mysteries,

594
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:07,919
yet he tapped into a collective need
to decode and demystify.

595
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,759
Fans love to posit theories,

596
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:16,479
that perky Betty is the hallucination
of heartbroken Diane.

597
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:21,839
That Rita is her ex-lover, an actress
actually named Camilla Rhodes.

598
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:27,999
With an air of mischief, in 2002
Lynch released a ten-point guide

599
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,599
to deciphering Mulholland Drive.

600
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:35,079
We must pay attention to red
lampshades, robes, ashtrays,

601
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:39,079
coffee cups, and the whereabouts
of Betty's Aunt Ruth.

602
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:41,239
Not that it really helped.

603
00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:44,599
But don't you think there's something
a little bit infuriating about Lynch?

604
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:47,759
And what's delightful about his
films is that yes, he refuses,

605
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,599
yes, there's no confirmed
interpretation of any of his films,

606
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:53,519
but especially Mulholland Drive.

607
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,799
Yet he torments us with
the possibility of a solution,

608
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:59,559
and we as people like solutions,

609
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:01,839
we want the detective story to have
its ending.

610
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:05,479
And he's presenting those tropes to
us in this strange way.

611
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:09,119
But he sort of wants his cake and he
wants us to eat it at the same time.

612
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,719
It's an interesting dilemma
with Lynch.

613
00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:17,239
Yes, I mean one question is, does he
know what's going on in his film?

614
00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:20,439
And I think there's an argument
to say that he might not,

615
00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:23,719
partly because he wrote one story
and then they said OK,

616
00:39:23,720 --> 00:39:26,119
now you're going to have to make it
into a movie,

617
00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:28,799
and he added another story
onto the end.

618
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,599
It may be that he didn't know if
there was a connection or not,

619
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,759
and he does uniquely, I think,
perhaps,

620
00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:38,679
include a series of the ten clues.

621
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:40,799
He released this document,
- didn't he?
- Yes.

622
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,959
With the ten-point clues to, which
was partly a joke, wasn't it,

623
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:45,999
because they made things
- more confusing.
- Yes.

624
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,959
If you answer all of those questions
correctly, you learn nothing.

625
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,839
He basically asks you to go
through the film and

626
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:55,399
answer certain points,
what's the name of the film?

627
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,399
And you look out for things,
don't you, red lampshades,

628
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,119
and robes and ashtrays.
And then you try to connect them,

629
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:04,319
well, why is the red... why is the
red lampshade important?

630
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:06,519
And there is, it doesn't help.

631
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:09,239
It absolutely, trust me, I've done
it, it doesn't help at all.

632
00:40:09,240 --> 00:40:11,999
And there's no doubt in anyone's
minds that we're watching

633
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,559
an absolute drop-dead masterpiece,

634
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:18,239
and it had sort of come out of
nowhere, you know,

635
00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:23,719
and we knew that Lynch was an
extraordinary filmmaker, you know,

636
00:40:23,720 --> 00:40:26,359
he had made some great, great, great
movies.

637
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:32,479
But I don't think any of us were
prepared for the sheer majesty

638
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:37,799
of this one. It's almost as if
every film he had made before then

639
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:39,839
had been leading up to this moment.

640
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:43,159
Just when you think you have a plot
or a mystery and

641
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:45,639
the film figured out,
it upends that,

642
00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:47,719
it does something
totally inexplicable,

643
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:50,719
or it calls something into question
which you hadn't yet considered.

644
00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:53,679
You're no longer sure about the kind
of character you're watching,

645
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:57,279
the kind of film you're watching, or
what any of us is supposed to be

646
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:00,239
or mean. So it...
it wrong-foots the viewer,

647
00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:05,199
it invites you to mystery but then
it wants you to experience it

648
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:07,519
almost beyond logic.

649
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:10,039
The films aren't just puzzles to be
solved in a logical way,

650
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:11,959
they are
something to be experienced.

651
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,599
And that's I think what you come
away with, with Mulholland Drive.

652
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:20,519
Is Mulholland Drive his greatest
achievement in film? Yes. Yes.

653
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:24,039
It's his greatest achievement
because, first of all,

654
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:29,719
he's learnt a lot. He's learnt a lot
about how he has to make film.

655
00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:34,439
He learns that
he is not an American filmmaker.

656
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:38,679
He is a filmmaker who is American,
and working in America,

657
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,159
but he is not an American filmmaker.

658
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:46,879
He knows the business inside and
out, but he's not of the business.

659
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:52,799
And he's got enough courage and
probably piss-off-ness

660
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,119
and everything else I can't say,

661
00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:57,199
to say, right,
I'm gonna show you all,

662
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:01,279
ie, the audience and the business,
that I know exactly who you are.

663
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:05,519
I know exactly who you are, I know
exactly what LA is as well.

664
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:11,199
It's a dangerous place
because you guys are here.

665
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:15,359
And for all the people
who flock to LA,

666
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:19,679
all the sunny little girls who come
off the planes looking for a career,

667
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:25,559
they walk into the mall of
the business and you get churned up,

668
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,759
and you're spit out,

669
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:31,239
and you find things out about
yourself that you don't actually

670
00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:36,439
need to find out, but you do,
and you're left high and dry

671
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:40,799
in the sort of meat grinder
that is Hollywood.

672
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:44,239
There is so much to treasure
about Mulholland Drive.

673
00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:47,319
The tantalising mystery
that keeps it alive.

674
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:50,919
The astonishing multi-layered
performances.

675
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:55,519
That sense of a film unfolding
like a dream.

676
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:59,279
It is one of the great movies
about Los Angeles

677
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:01,679
and the dark magic of Hollywood.

678
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:06,039
Even compared to Eraserhead,
or Blue Velvet,

679
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,559
this is David Lynch's
defining nightmare.

680
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:13,840
And one more question, you know, you
say it's his greatest work. Why?

681
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:17,159
Because it is, I think,

682
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,159
for a filmmaker to make a film

683
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:26,359
which breaks apart the idea of what
film is whilst also celebrating

684
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:31,039
and despising film, is something
that is almost impossible to do

685
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:33,079
and I think it's
only been done once.

686
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,479
People have made films about the
problems that Hollywood presents,

687
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,879
people have made films about the
struggles of being a filmmaker in

688
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:44,399
Hollywood, but no-one has taken the
essence, the idea of film itself,

689
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,839
and torn that to pieces
in front of you on the screen,

690
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,159
and says this is what we're playing
with, this is what we're doing.

691
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:53,519
These are the mystic channels
that we go through.

692
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,759
This is something both wonderful,
incomprehensible,

693
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:59,559
and yet, at the same time, really,
really mundane.

694
00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,919
And this is what you're watching.
So what are you gonna do about it?

695
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:06,479
And we are
flung to the back of our seats,

696
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:09,439
and we just, we're lost,
we're in his hands.

697
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:13,399
We just wish he'd keep going,
don't stop making this film,

698
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:17,039
don't stop this film, I just want
more of this, I need, I need more,

699
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,479
I need to know, I need to
understand. And he says no,

700
00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:22,080
don't try to understand it,
just feel it.

701
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:24,839
Come on, sweetheart.

702
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,800
It's beautiful, a secret path.

703
00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:12,760
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