Arkansas Society for Cinema and Television Production (ASCTP)

(a Non-Profit Education Corporation)

contact: Gary William Jones gary@jonesfilmvideo.com

RTV 3303-001 Spring 2010 Class #12

1980-1989

Corey, Melina and George Ochoa, editors. The American Film Institute Desk Reference. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2002.

It was a time of blockbusters, from E.T. (1982) to Die Hard (1988), but also of a burgeoning independent film movement, from the founding of the Sundance Institute to sex, lies, and videotape (1989).

Hollywood in the 80s was dominated by blockbusters and sequels. Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977) had proven that thrill-packed genre spectacles would attract hordes of youthful moviegoers.. Movie making became a competition to see who could produce the most astonishing special effects, generate the most sequels, and sell the most tie-in merchandise. Escapist fare….ruled the box office. Release schedules were organized around summer and Christmas, when kids were out of school. Films about real life aimed at adults (such as Driving Miss Daisy (1989) became scarce.

Huge sums of money were need t to produce and advertise these spectacles, and Hollywood protected its investments by courting stars, directors, and producers who had proven their worth in previous outings. The fees of a few select stars, aided by powerful agencies such as Creative Artists Agency (CAA), climbed astronomically. Even so, the big box-office hits kept the American film industry in economic health, assisted by the spread of the home videocassette recorder (VCR) and cable television access, which offered new outlets for its products. The increasing American domination of foreign markets also helped Hollywood prosper.

With the major studios reluctant to take chances on offbeat material, the demand for quality and experimentation in films began to be filled by independent film companies such as New Line Cinema and Miramax, a trend that would grow even stronger in the 90s. Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, founded in 1980 to encourage young filmmakers, gradually began to attract attention to independent films, particularly those showcased at the annual Sundance Film Festival. By hook or by crook, filmmakers in the 80s managed to release number of innovative and unusual films, including Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980), John Waters’s Polyester (1981), Barry Levinson’s Diner (1982), David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law (1986), John Sayles’s Matewan (1987), Steven Soderbergh’s sex, lies, and videotape (1989), and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989). (p. 109)

People in Film: Directors:

Lunch, David (1946-) American director and screenwriter . Trained at the American Film Institute Center for Advanced Film Studies, he gained cult audiences with his outrageous film Eraserhead (1977) for which he also served as producer, art director, editor, lyricist, and special effects artist. Later, more mainstream, films encompass wider themes but remain true to his core unconventionality. He usually writes his own films, which include Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), The Straight Story (1999), and Mulholland Drive (2001). He developed the curious television series Twin Peaks in the 1990s. (p. 316)

David Lynch Biographical Notes from IMDB


http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0000186/bio

Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future director Jennifer Chambers Lynch shortly after he turned 21. That experience, plus attending art school in a particularly violent and run-down area of Philadelphia, inspired Eraserhead, a film that he began in the early 1970s (after a couple of shorts) and which he would work on obsessively for five years. The final film was initially judged to be almost unreleasable weird, but thanks to the efforts of distributor Ben Barenholtz, it secured a cult following and enabled Lynch to make his first mainstream film (in an unlikely alliance with Mel Brooks), though The Elephant Man was shot through with his unique sensibility. Its enormous critical and commercial success led to Dune, a hugely expensive commercial disaster, but Lynch redeemed himself with the now classic Blue Velvet, his most personal and original work since his debut. He subsequently won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival with the dark, violent road movie Wild at Heart, and achieved a huge cult following with his surreal TV series Twin Peaks, which he adapted for the big screen, though his comedy series On the Air was less successful. He also draws comic strips and has devised multimedia stage events with regular composer Angelo Badalamenti. He had a much-publicized affair with Isabella Rossellini in the late 1980s. 
Written by: Michael Brooke 



Born in 1946 in Missoula, Montana, David Lynch was raised early in small town America. After high school, he went to Boston to attend the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Shortly after that, he planned a 3 year trip to Europe to work on his art, but didn't take to it and left after 15 days. In 1977, he released his first film Eraserhead, which, although not critically acclaimed, was noticed by many people, including Francis Ford Coppola, who was rumored to have screenings of it for his cast and crew on the Apocalypse Now set. After a stream of visually stunning films such as Blue Velvet, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr.. All these films, and a few more, beginning with Blue Velvet, and including his Twin Peaks TV series, feature what has now been added to signature Lynch features, such as vibrant colors, the use of dreams and amazing montage to connect character thought and multiple emotions into one sequence. In addition to that, since Blue Velvet, Lynch has gained the reputation of one of the foremost auteurs in the filmmaking industry, and one of the few living auteur's who continually defies both cinematic convention and the Hollywood curse. His films continually represent his ideal that films; representing life, should be complicated, and, in some cases and sequences, be inexplainable. I'm sure he knows why he puts the scenes and shots and props and cuts and effects and filters and lights and colors and actors and costumes and music in the scenes, but he'll never tell anyone else. For this reason, and due to the beautiful confusion of his films, he will always be recognized as if not one of the greatest filmmakers, one of the most original. Lynch is a creative master, and even if his films aren't necessarily realistic, they are real in their representation of what life is: a confusing, irrational series of random events that truly have little purpose, and one makes their own interpretation of every event, giving their life purpose personally. Lynch wants his films to resonate emotionally and instinctively, and for every person to relate and make their own understanding. As he said "Life is very, very confusing, and so films should be allowed to be, too". David Lynch is original. He has done things in filmmaking that D.W. Griffith did in his day. David Lynch will never stop making beauty on the screen. 
Written by: TADAMS

Blue Velvet (1986)

http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0090756/trivia

Trivia 


The role of Jeffrey was originally offered to Val Kilmer, who turned it down, describing the script he read as "pornography", although he says he would've done the version that finally made it to the screen.

Several of the actors who were considered for the role of Frank found the character too repulsive and intense. Dennis Hopper, by contrast, is reported to have exclaimed, "I've got to play Frank. Because I am Frank!"

Robert Loggia wanted to play the role of Frank Booth.

Lynch originally wanted Frank to be inhaling helium during the sex scene with Dorothy.

David Lynch initially envisioned Hanna Schygulla for the role of Dorothy. When she declined, he thought of Helen Mirren for the part, before meeting model Isabella Rossellini in a New York City restaurant.

Isabella Rossellini and Kyle MacLachlan went through improvisations of all their scenes together when they first met, the day Rossellini was testing for the role of Dorothy.

Isabella Rossellini actually was naked under her velvet robe when she did the "ritualistic rape scene", a fact that her partner Dennis Hopper was not aware of, until the cameras started rolling and his co-actor opened her legs for him to kneel between. This scene was the very first time the two of them ever worked together.

The producers did not want to pay the rights for including the original recording of Bobby Vinton's song "Blue Velvet". So Angelo Badalamenti was brought in to record a new version that sounded exactly like the old one. After Badalamenti delivered, the filmmakers invited Vinton into a studio to re-record vocals for his famous song. It had to be arranged two and a half keys lower because of Bobby's changed vocal range. Lynch heard the new recording, liked it, but thought that it would not work as well as the original version and finally convinced the producers to shell out the extra money for using it.

Producer Dino De Laurentiis had to set up his own distribution company, D.E.G., in order to get the film into theaters, as nobody else was willing to touch it.

The scene in which Jeffrey and Frank go driving off at breakneck speeds was filmed by having stagehands rock the (stationary) car while others ran past with lights in their hands.

A big picture of Montgomery Clift hangs in Sandy's bedroom.

A scene in which Dennis Hopper hits Isabella Rossellini was edited so that his hand connects with her face off-screen, to satisfy MPAA concerns about violence towards women. Director David Lynch opined that that change only made the scene more disturbing.

Director Trademark: [David Lynch] [highway at night]

David Lynch cut the film from its original four-hour running time to one frame short of two hours. Despite repeated attempts, the missing two hours of deleted scenes cannot be found. All that seem to remain are numerous still photos from these scenes, these are included on the 2002 special edition release of the film. The missing scenes can also be read in the original screenplay of the film. The missing scenes include a conversation between Jeffrey and Dorothy on top of the roof of Dorothy's apartment followed by a lovemaking session between the two, Dorothy committing suicide in the original ending, a call from Jeffrey's mother during the party with him and Sandy, among others.

Roy Orbison initially rejected David Lynch's request to use the song "In Dreams" in the brothel scene. Lynch found a way to legally use the song anyway and Orbison did not discover the song was in the movie until Orbison just happened to see the movie in a California theatre. Orbison eventually filmed a video for the song that was produced by Lynch with footage from the movie.

Molly Ringwald was originally offered role of Sandy, but her mother objected to her starring in it, due to the graphic content of the film. Laura Dern was cast instead.

Steven Berkoff was Lynch's first choice for Frank Booth. When he rejected it the role went to Dennis Hopper. Berkoff said that "there was nothing in that part except destruction".

Dean Stockwell held a worklight in the "In Dreams" sequence only after director David Lynch saw him holding one during a lighting session. He was originally supposed to hold a microphone.

Dennis Hopper says "fuck" in nearly every sentence. He is also the only one to use the word in this film, except for Dean Stockwell who says it once (on command by Dennis Hopper's character)

Contains several references to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Jeffrey Beaumont is warned not to go to Lincoln Street, where Deep River Apartments are located. Frank Booth's name evokes John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin. Don Valens is shot through the head much the same way Lincoln was. References to Lincoln's assassination appear in Mulholland Dr., as well - the blue haired lady sits in the balcony in the same position as Lincoln did in the Ford Theater.

The character of Frank was to breathe helium at various intervals in Lynch's original script, but Dennis Hopper suggested this be changed to amyl nitrate which he knew was used to enhance sexual experiences. Hopper only realized years later how bizarre the concept of a helium-breathing maniac talking with a high voice was. Lynch, however, felt that using helium might result elicit laughter in the audience which would have been undesirable.

Isabella Rossellini claims that during the initial filming of the ritualistic rape scene, David Lynch couldn't stop laughing off-screen at the weirdness of it all. Though she was baffled as to why he was laughing at the time, Rossellini says that to this day, she herself laughs uncontrollably every time she watches that particular scene.

The prosthetic ear found by Kyle McLachlin's character at the beginning of the film is on permanent display at Movie Madness Video and More (video store) in Portland, Oregon.

Dorothy Vallens's apartment is on the 7th floor. The actual filming location (Carolina Apartments in Wilmington, North Carolina) is only 6 stories high.

Chris Isaak was up for the role of Jeffrey Beaumont, but he turned it down. David Lynch used two songs from his 1985 debut album "Silvertone".

When Frank and his crew arrive with Jeffrey at the brothel, Frank announces, "This is it". The neon sign in the window of the brothel says, "This is it".

The movie's line "Don't you fucking look at me!" was voted as the #74 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.

Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies".

Voted one of the greatest films of all time by Entertainment Weekly in 1999.

In an interview, Dennis Hopper claimed that writer/director David Lynch would never say the word "fuck" during filming, he would simply point to the line in the script and say "that word". Hopper laughed, saying "He can write it, but he won't say it. He's a peculiar man." Lynch has said this isn't exactly true, but he didn't want to charge the atmosphere anymore than it already was.

Ranked #8 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Mystery" in June 2008.

Ranked #4 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 Greatest Movies since 1983.

Meryl Streep didn't like the erotic tone of the film, and later claimed that the part of Dorothy Valens was written at Isabella Rossellini's request.