Mulholland Drive

Pullman's dream is one of the most unnerving Lynch scenes, which is saying a lot. I need to rewatch LH, it has been my least-favorite Lynch ever since I saw it but because of that I have only seen it once.

ideas, themes and modes echo and recur through his work

By the end of TP:TR, I was using the phrase "David Lynch cinematic universe" in all sincerity. His works each have their own specific vibe, but they also all have variations on many recurring themes. (Allowing that in this sense Dune may not be canon, but I also haven't rewatched that one since it came out.)

Dune is absolutely canon (see the post-credits sequence where The Cowboy and Bobby Peru are riding a sandworm across Arrakis).

I’m aware from my Twin Peaks research that Mulholland Drive was originally conceived as an Audrey Horne spinoff series.

Silencio!

Yeah I guess Dune would be canon for the introduction of Kyle MacLachlan (our hero) alone.

Several actors from Showgirls (1995) appear in MD, but I won’t go down that rabbit hole.

showgirls and robocop def part of the david lynch extended universe

OMG you just prompted me imagine a Lynch-directed Robocop and I'm pretty sure part of my brain just exploded

Yeah there are bits throughout tptr that specifically recall every lynch project, even stuff like hotel room

Richard Horne is the grown-up Eraserhead baby.

And the pine weasel episode, which is the only one I saw when it originally aired and wondered, 'this is the show everyone is so gaga about?!?'

misread this as garden weasel and thought there was some Larry Sanders/Twin Peaks crossover i wasn’t aware of.

Larry Sanders would definitely exist in the Mulholland Drive multiverse

Do we have a discussion/anticipation thread for the new series he’s reportedly working on?

xpost I don't recall if they ever mentioned which network Larry Sanders was on so we can't say for sure that he didn't air after The Lester Guy Show.

xp

There was some discussion of the potential new series in the TP:TR thread. Tantalizing.

I am v out of the loop wrt unrecorded night, I hope it happens whatever it is

So no mention of Straight Story at all in this thread?

some of the Twin Peaks threads have Straight Story arguments, many have no mention of it

Oh jeez, Alvin. That's a darn good grabber.

I got the Blu-ray... the interview in the booklet is terrific. (Except for the moment where the interviewer, bizarrely, tries to get Lynch to help "analyze" an element of the film – and is understandably met with silence.)

The "Deleted Scene" isn't much, but nice to see it, lol

Is that the one with the Robert Forster and the other cop talking?

Yep - cool to see Forster in an add'l scene.

i think the straight story is very very good and once made a lynch-obsessive friend almost suplex me for arguing that many lynch fans ignore it or dont take it seriously just bc it doesnt feature any midgets or baby entrails or whatever

One of the many interesting things about MD is how "dated" it looks -- in a good way. Like, the hair & clothing styles are extremely "1999/2000"... and I find it appealing, how it situates the film in a particular moment.

There are also other weird resonances with the time period -- like when it cuts to the two "bros" discussing a car accident in a cramped office, you wonder: What's up with these dudes? Why do they sort of have 'Aphex Twin' faces? And in the final segment, Diane Selwyn looks a hella lot like Liz Phair looked at the time. It's just a coincidence (I guess), but it all feels like some kind of "cosmic unconsciousness" at work.

I'm sure this is tediously old news to most, but just in case, Ronette Pulaski and Laura Palmer are in the theater at Club Silencio
https://i.redd.it/gdgejpw04c051.jpg
(of course Lynch denies it)

When I watched this for the first time, during the initial Winkies scene, my wife (totally joking) was like, “One of those ‘Woodsmen’ guys better not jump out....”—and then (of course): Oh, HELL no!

(To add to the point I made above: the “jitterbug contest,” and the cold open specifically, obv. tie into the “swing craze” of the era, and—why not?—the Swingers movie specifically. You’re money, and you don’t even know it.)

Those agent cooper tik toks are hilarious

A minor plot (or whatever) question—from the Wikipedia summary:

A casting agent takes (Betty) to a soundstage where a film called The Sylvia North Story, directed by Adam, is being cast.

the stagehand says it, according to #3 here: https://www.mulholland-drive.net/studies/10clues.htm

Huh, I’ll have to listen again (thanks).

LOL @ that site – Lynch’s 10 Clues!!

Lynch's 10 Clues was an insert in the first release on dvd and I'm sure were a handout at the initial cinematic release.

Hate hate hate that "woodsman" jump cut - gave me the creeps just thinking about it and prevented me from rewatching the film for last 20 years :)

She’s actually a woman, I belatedly discovered.

Why are people saying "woodsman"?

Have you seen Twin Peaks: the Return? The answer lies therein.

I haven't! Only made it up through FWWM so far. Been meaning to get to it. Thanks.

Technically there are woodsmen in fwwm as well, in the scene above the convenience store: jurgen prochnow and one of the other guys sitting down are credited as woodsman #1 & 2 (the guy with the stick is “electrician”). But yes s3 will explain the comparison with the man behind winkies, though I’m sure you can guess

Woman behind Winkies!

I don’t mean to brag, but David Lynch said he was looking for the most incredible face he could find

i have a great memory of getting the DVD and sitting down with my friend to go over the 10 clues as we watched it. it was fun!

I’d still say man (credited as such I think? but def called “a man” and “he” in the film itself) but yeah the actor is a woman. in twin peaks there is an uncanny being called “bosomy woman” played by a male actor

I know horror is subjective but that jump scare is quoted so often as one of the scariest moments in film history that I just wanted to say that although I do find the build up itself very creepy and effective I don't find the figure itself, that face, scary at all. Anyway, nice to get that off my chest

Me neither! It was just a bit comical. I’m the same with Bob in Twin Peaks though.

Laura Dern's distorted face in IE tho, now you're talking

The horror of the Winkie's moment imo is not the actual jump scare but rather the reification of the nightmare, the confirmation that some horrific dream entity has erupted into our world beyond all reason.

It's the dread that David does so well.

Yes that's what I was implying, or trying to imply. I find the actual 'creature' itself a bit of a disappointment when the mood has been so skillfully created

shoulda got stan winstons creature shop to come in and beef up the design

Yep – for me, the horror of a fear being embodied is undermined by the hobo being so cartoonish. Of course, it would be a different story if I was actually Patrick Fischler's shoes. And it was still a massive jump scare.