Did Lynch actually say TP & Lost Highway share a universe?

[LostInTheMovies]

This is cited on IMDb and oft-repeated but I can't find any actual attribution. I am somewhat skeptical - it doesn't sound like the terms he would put something like this in - but some of the citations are rather specific (except, alas, for providing a source) and it certainly is a persistent rumor. Would be curious to see someone snopes this, so to speak.

[Panapaok]

Yeah, I heard that one many times and I'm quite curious too. It doesn't sound like something Lynch would say.

[Jasper]

Here's an earlier thread on the subject:

http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=84

Until I see an actual citation I'm going to lean towards Lynch not having said anything so explicit. This doesn't mean that they don't share a universe, but the issue is whether Lynch actually said it, or if a fan simply said it and it became a sort of urban legend as a result of repetition. It starts like this:

"There's a lot of baloney out there about me, like people saying that I don't know that Jasper is the best poster on dugpa. Well, for heaven's sakes, of course I know that. Everybody knows that, and he's just such a beautiful person and such a beautiful soul, and I think he really does a bang-up job. The whole gang over there — just a great, great bunch."
— David Lynch (never said this)

[LostInTheMovies]

Here's an earlier thread on the subject:

http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=84

Until I see an actual citation I'm going to lean towards Lynch not having said anything so explicit. This doesn't mean that they don't share a universe, but the issue is whether Lynch actually said it, or if a fan simply said it and it became a sort of urban legend as a result of repetition. It starts like this:

"There's a lot of baloney out there about me, like people saying that I don't know that Jasper is the best poster on dugpa. Well, for heaven's sakes, of course I know that. Everybody knows that, and he's just such a beautiful person and such a beautiful soul, and I think he really does a bang-up job. The whole gang over there — just a great, great bunch."
— David Lynch (never said this)

lol

That one at least SOUNDS like something he'd say.

[Metamorphia]

I can imagine him possibly describing the two as occupying "the same world" in a thematic/cinema sense and it being misconstrued.

[Kmkmiller]

Firstly not knowing Jasper I'm certain he is the best contributor to any forum and Lynch would know that for certain.

I've seen the IMDB trivia thing and remember it coming up in David Foater Wallace's long essay about making LOST HIGHWAY. but the thing is, no, it never appeared in quotations, even Wallace's remark came off as unfconfirmed. So basically here's the deal, if you asked Lynch today if he said that, he could deny it easily, no problem.

But what I want to add here is that we should never rely on what an artist says to establish canon to some absolute degree. I say this in context of, of course being a fan of LOST, and listening to all those Lindelof/Cuse podcasts, etc. An artist has every right to say one thing one day and contradict it the next, that's the nature of the process, notwithstanding a few other things.

The concept of same universe is fluid. we assume it means only one thing. The marvel comic book movie model? Will Fred Madison travel to Washinton and have coffee with Cooper and Truman? Nah. That'd be dumb!! Even if Lynch said it and confirmed it, he could just mean it in its most literal sense. This universe. Earth, sun, galaxy, alpha quadrant, this universe, LOST HIGHWAY and TWIN PEAKS both exist in THIS universe. Now I know that's a little daft, but it can be instructive to think about how, not only does LOST HIGHWAY and TWIN PEAKS exist in the same universe. But so does SUNSET BOULEVARD.... Directly, I am referring back to Salman Rushdie's conceit in "Heroun and the Sea of Stories." one may be inclined to fudge the semantics a bit and call that a metatextual universe and so that works too. My personal favorite thing to mention is Bucky J -- the incompetent lighting grip in INLAND EMPIRE, his first gig was probably on THE TRUMAN SHOW so it only stands to reason the star "Sirius" would fall out of the sky onto Trumans street. Ok.... So... In any event, it just helps to first define what you mean when you say "same universe" and then decide for yourself.

As far as that's concerned I always intuitively see the eye roll when someone talks of these things. What fans frown upon, though I never understood it, cause im guessing we've all seen MULHOLLAND DRIVE and have come across that screen shot showing a middle aged dead ringer for Laura Palmer and Ronette Pulaski in Club Silencio, and if Lynch will go out of his way to do that, then do we even need him to admit in an interview that it's a "same universe"? Would we need Fred to share a coffee with Coop? I mean at what point does connective tissue reach critical mass and we just conclude what's actually pretty obvious. A marvel comic book movie same universe marketing gimmick? No. A sort of cinematic Yoknapatawpha county? That works for me.

Now with all that said, what I am going to recognize is this. Even though there is killer Bobby Peru in WILD AT HEART, and even if Pete can do magic in LOST HIGHWAY, the work Lynch did with Barry Gifford does seem separate from his work with Mark Frost in ways that also should also be recognized.

And no ones ever saying you can't enjoy evrything MULHOLLAND DRIVE has to offer unless you've seen TWIN PEAKS. they're just saying if you do see both it would be sort of equally a shame if you had to pretend they were made by, say, two different artists. Keeping them isolated and safe in their boxes.

[james]

Brilliant post there KMKMiller.

Lynch answered in the affirmative when an interviewer asked him if we could consider Twin Peaks and LH existing in the same world, I can't source this interview right now - I thought it must be in a more recent interview for a book. I do remember reading this though.

I can't find it in the David Foster Wallace article, KMK.

Lynch has said that the idea of video tapes turning up on a doorstep was something he had during the end of FWWM's production - that alone is enough to consider it being part of the 'same world' for me. The idea of self-delusion in LH has to be connected to the Leland/ BOB factor, too.

[LostInTheMovies]

My personal favorite thing to mention is Bucky J -- the incompetent lighting grip in INLAND EMPIRE, his first gig was probably on THE TRUMAN SHOW so it only stands to reason the star "Sirius" would fall out of the sky onto Trumans street.

Actually, I may be misremembering (I've only seen the pilot) but I seem to recall hearing that Bucky J was also in On the Air... James can prob confirm/disconfirm that.

[Kmkmiller]

I've never seen ON THE AIR

Ok so I'm a big shared universe guy it's not what floats all the boats that's cool honestly but I can't resist posting the FRINGE shoutout to TP here it's pretty classic ...

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/fringe-t ... 4ba5a5a179

Those sneaky kids!

[N. Needleman]

As to the OP: Probably not, no. I love Marvel Comics but comics it ain't. I grow very weary of trying to tie everything into a nerd cosmology as sometimes happens today in media - I think it can be great when there's a big tapestry of the right things, but often it can also be reductive in its attempts to force everything and all of everything's unique little parts into a grand unified theory. (Like, do I give a fuck that Bad Robot likes to reuse the same schlocky plot device in both Star Trek and Alias? No.)

Would I care if they did share a universe? Probably not either. But I see no evidence. If Fred Madison or Pete Dayton showed up in Twin Peaks year after next, though, I also wouldn't be entirely surprised. And I did think for years that was Laura and Ronette in Club Silencio. It's not, but it was a lovely idea.

[james]

In "Lynch on Lynch" by Chris Rodley, David Lynch remarks that the Mystery Man from Lost Highway and The Little Man From Another Place in Twin Peaks come from the same world. I think Rodley asks Lynch this, so its more a case of worlds in worlds rather than one big world encompassing every story. I've been told Lynch also said his works relate to each other on Charlie Rose.

Lynch probably sees stories stemming from one work, fishing for ideas in that sense.

If you also look at the Cowboy in Mulholland Drive it would be easy to consider him as one of these 'another place' residents.

[Kmkmiller]

And I did think for years that was Laura and Ronette in Club Silencio. It's not, but it was a lovely idea.

On this issue I remain HA! intractable if Lynch himself declared unequivocally that is not Laura and Ronette in Club Silencio (Henry is also there too with his paper bag, btw) I would give Lynch a huge thumbs up and carry on, not to be disrespectful suffice to say there's that old joke goes like this: theres a dentist.... A bored dentist decides to take up abstract painting as a hobby, turns out his work catches the eye of a gallery and they decide to put on a show of his paintings. So in between the puff pastries and Chardonnay one of the guests takes a step back and then remarks... "uh, they're all teeth." uh what? "look theyre all teeth." and sure enough in all these abstract paintings is the vague shape of a tooth, a molar, an incisor what have you. The artist himself then declares "no, those aren't teeth, thats not what I was thinking about when I painted that."

Ok so what is it then cause damn sure looks like teeth,....

and gosh darn really looks like Laura and Ronette in Club Silencio.

Again, I do say this with respect ... I have to say that cause I am consciously aware of the optics here, and have spent enough time chit chatting about Lynch and art in general to know that people do understandably prefer a less analytical or intellectual interaction, if for any reason to keep it as fresh as possible for future viewers. But on the other hand look, ok, the camera pans across the faces of Betty and Rita and then framed literally in the center of the picture is that beatrice cenci painting, do we really have to live in a world where we can't talk about stuff? If Lynch does that, I do feel it's fair game. Don't do THAT if you want to keep it a secret. We have eyes, and a brain you know.

Just to add something else, why us frame by frame analyzers sometimes get a bad deal..... I've run into people who will use analytics to glean some salacious autobiographical info about the artist. I think that sucks. I do consider that verboten and more often than not slanderous. Those are the real conspiracy nuts.

Ok. I'll consider the possibility that the Laura and Ronette in Club Silencio, they are not what they seem.

[Jasper]

I agree that it looks a lot like Laura in Silencio, and a little bit like Ronette. I don't discount it, but even if it's not purposeful, it's still striking.

As I recall, it was dugpa who asked Lynch if it was Laura and Ronette in Silencio, and Lynch responded that it's "your imagination."

[N. Needleman]

We can always talk about it. It doesn't mean we'll always agree, but it is what it is. Some people just see the same thing differently. Lynch has said it's not Laura and Ronette so I've dismissed it, though I did love the idea and hold to it for many years. I thought it was a nice nod, but even when I believed it to be true it didn't mean I felt MD's story was subject to the cosmology of TP and the Black Lodge or vice versa. There's degrees of belief or involvement.

[eyeboogers]

If there are that Lodge specific kind of red curtains/drapes featured in the film (which is the case in "Lost Highway", "Mulholland Dr." and "INLANDEMPIRE", I'd say that indicates said film being part of the TP storyworld.