Cyril Ponds

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jlyon1515
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Cyril Ponds

Post by jlyon1515 »

I once saw an interview with Mark Frost where he mentioned that Cyril Ponds, the reporter character he plays in Twin Peaks, made an appearance in Frost's 1992 film Storyville. Does anyone know more about this? I believe he said something about him being near the end of the film.

IMDB link for reference:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105480/combined

I think I might just need to track this down and watch it, just to try finding Frost's scene.
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LostInTheMovies
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Re: Cyril Ponds

Post by LostInTheMovies »

jlyon1515 wrote:I once saw an interview with Mark Frost where he mentioned that Cyril Ponds, the reporter character he plays in Twin Peaks, made an appearance in Frost's 1992 film Storyville. Does anyone know more about this? I believe he said something about him being near the end of the film.

IMDB link for reference:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105480/combined

I think I might just need to track this down and watch it, just to try finding Frost's scene.
It's on Netflix and I rented it recently...but I forgot to look for Frost. :( I'll have to watch it again just for that.

As for the film, I found it be to be a very entertaining political thriller. Lots of excellent actors - James Spader, Jason Robards, and one Piper Laurie (as well as one Michael Parks).
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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as I recall, the dvd release was atrocious and framed for 4:3 tv's. Would love to see a proper release in hi-def though.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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Brad D wrote:as I recall, the dvd release was atrocious and framed for 4:3 tv's. Would love to see a proper release in hi-def though.
Correct. The version I saw was unfortunately cropped and/or pan-and-scan. Maybe with the renewed interest in Twin Peaks, a proper release will come about. I was interested to discover that a lot of Twin Peaks alums are involved behind-the-camera as well as in front, maybe almost as many as w/ FWWM. Ron Garcia shot it, for example.

In other Frost news, there is a great restoration full set of Hill Street Blues out there (albeit on DVD rather than blu)...but it's not available on Netflix! Gotta sink $126 for the whole set (though for 144 episodes, that's not bad value at all). Maybe one of these days.

And The Believers is online in its entirety on YouTube, certainly not great quality but at least in the proper aspect ratio. Watched that recently and found it pretty entertaining (the priestly figure dancing at a swanky New York party is classic) and very illuminating as a precursor to Peaks.

But we're not gonna talk about The Fantastic Four, we're gonna leave that out of this.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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LostInTheMovies wrote:
Brad D wrote:as I recall, the dvd release was atrocious and framed for 4:3 tv's. Would love to see a proper release in hi-def though.
Correct. The version I saw was unfortunately cropped and/or pan-and-scan. Maybe with the renewed interest in Twin Peaks, a proper release will come about. I was interested to discover that a lot of Twin Peaks alums are involved behind-the-camera as well as in front, maybe almost as many as w/ FWWM. Ron Garcia shot it, for example.

In other Frost news, there is a great restoration full set of Hill Street Blues out there (albeit on DVD rather than blu)...but it's not available on Netflix! Gotta sink $126 for the whole set (though for 144 episodes, that's not bad value at all). Maybe one of these days.

And The Believers is online in its entirety on YouTube, certainly not great quality but at least in the proper aspect ratio. Watched that recently and found it pretty entertaining (the priestly figure dancing at a swanky New York party is classic) and very illuminating as a precursor to Peaks.

But we're not gonna talk about The Fantastic Four, we're gonna leave that out of this.
I was also surprised to see Garcia shot Storyville. I guess that means they wrapped Storyville before FWWM? Still need to see The Believers.

I've actually never seen The Fantastic Four, just read abysmal reviews. Visually from the bits I've seen, it looked hokey as hell.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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Brad D wrote:I was also surprised to see Garcia shot Storyville. I guess that means they wrapped Storyville before FWWM? Still need to see The Believers.
I just tried to look up shooting information but couldn't find anything. However I was shocked to discover, in light of the box office discussion on the other thread, that Storyville only grossed $400,000?! According to BoxOfficeMojo it was only released in 19 theaters in late August. But Ebert's review is dated October '92 so - did it get a wider release later and no one recorded the numbers?

I would love to know more about what happened with this film, especially since Frost never directed again. It's a perfectly enjoyable, well-executed thriller, and was critically acclaimed. Boy, that post-Twin Peaks curse...other than Lara Flynn Boyle it seems like it swallowed everyone whole (at least Frost had success in the literary field).

Anyway, looking through credits quite a few TP alum jumped out at me: Garcia, Piper Laurie, Michael Parks, Richard Hoover, Randy Barbee, and Deepak Nayar. With both Garcia and Nayar pulling double duty on FWWM. Must have been an interesting time for the Lynch/Frost family.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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I am also pretty sure On the Air was produced between March/May of '91. Craziness indeed. It would be interesting to see the shooting schedules for OTA and Storyville to have a timeline of sorts.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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Brad D wrote:I am also pretty sure On the Air was produced between March/May of '91. Craziness indeed. It would be interesting to see the shooting schedules for OTA and Storyville to have a timeline of sorts.
Oh yeah. A Lynch/Frost timeline from the formation of the partnership to the dissolution, particularly shooting dates for everything, would be absolutely ideal.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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Brad D wrote:I am also pretty sure On the Air was produced between March/May of '91. Craziness indeed. It would be interesting to see the shooting schedules for OTA and Storyville to have a timeline of sorts.
Oh yeah. A Lynch/Frost timeline from the formation of the partnership to the dissolution, particularly shooting dates for everything, would be absolutely ideal.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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Brad D wrote:I am also pretty sure On the Air was produced between March/May of '91. Craziness indeed. It would be interesting to see the shooting schedules for OTA and Storyville to have a timeline of sorts.
Yep, that would be great!

By the way, I got a message from Welcome to Twin Peaks. They put up a photo from the Cyril Ponds appearance in Storyville a few years back apparently (see attached).
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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jlyon1515 wrote:
Brad D wrote:I am also pretty sure On the Air was produced between March/May of '91. Craziness indeed. It would be interesting to see the shooting schedules for OTA and Storyville to have a timeline of sorts.
Yep, that would be great!

By the way, I got a message from Welcome to Twin Peaks. They put up a photo from the Cyril Ponds appearance in Storyville a few years back apparently (see attached).
Nice! Now I want the backstory of Cyril Ponds. How did he find himself covering a mill burning rural Washington and a political scandal in New Orleans? It better be in Mark Frost's new book.
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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Inspired by this thread, I asked if Cyril Ponds will be in the new TP novel on Twitter, and Harley Peyton had, I think, a wise perspective on the matter:

https://twitter.com/HarleyPeyton/status ... 2917650432
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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LostInTheMovies wrote:Inspired by this thread, I asked if Cyril Ponds will be in the new TP novel on Twitter, and Harley Peyton had, I think, a wise perspective on the matter:

https://twitter.com/HarleyPeyton/status ... 2917650432
Ponds and Gordon Cole would be welcome additions in any manner down the line... and of course completely doable :D
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Re: Cyril Ponds

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In the summer of 1908, the small town of Sand Lake in the state of New York was shaken by a brutal murder. A young woman, named Hazel Irene Drew, was found lifeless, floating with her face down in a local pond called Teals Pond. He (Mark Frost) often spent the summer holidays in the Taborton area as small, and the reports, especially from the grandmother, told Drew haunted the woods around Teals Lake. The story took Mark Frost into the process when he and David Lynch worked on "Twin Peaks". Frost, for example, went back to Sand Lake to investigate the murder that inspired the original story of one of the world's most famous TV shows.

- She was found at the water's edge, the mystery is unresolved, there were a number of suspects and the different people and social classes she was around. All of this fascinated me, the series maker told, according to the newspaper.
- It's such a place that gives children a terrible form of imagination.
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