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Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:13 pm
by Jonah
I've read conflicting accounts about LFB and The Return, some that she was offered but refused, and others that there was no role for her.

I haven't come across anything about Moira Kelly.

Given how The Return is so similar in tone to FWWM in some respects and how Lynch uses the FWWM version of the Palmer house, the diner, etc., having Moira Kelly as Donna in The Return would have fit. I wonder why she wasn't approached for role? Any one have any more info on this?

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:19 pm
by vicksvapor77
Jonah wrote:I've read conflicting accounts about LFB and The Return, some that she was offered but refused, and others that there was no role for her.
Lara Flynn Boyle was definitely offered to return. See these time-stamped interview pieces with Sabrina:
https://youtu.be/OPc3CU1nEB4?t=2498
https://youtu.be/OPc3CU1nEB4?t=3090

I assume they decided that if they couldn't get Boyle back, there would be no Donna. I don't think it was anything to do with Moira's performance but rather that Lynch was trying to "recreate" the pilot experience since he sees that as the quintessential Twin Peaks experience.

I have no solid proof of this but I do have *some* information I can't share that suggests that Gersten replaced Donna in the story with Steven, albeit probably in a minimized role from what was originally there, the same way that we know Sylvia replaced Audrey in the assault scene (we know Audrey had more than this with her hair salon but the brutal scene with Richard was definitely written for Audrey initially.)

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:35 pm
by Jonah
It's a shame they didn't approach Kelly once LFB turned it down. I think she would have fit in well. I could have seen her not only in the Gersten Hayward role, but even in the Renee role crying in the Roadhouse.
vicksvapor77 wrote: See these time-stamped interview pieces with Sabrina:
https://youtu.be/OPc3CU1nEB4?t=2498
https://youtu.be/OPc3CU1nEB4?t=3090
Sutherland mentions people were offered but turned it down.

So that's MJA, LFB, Michael Ontkean. Anyone else?

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:40 pm
by vicksvapor77
EDIT: Never mind, earlier post was edited.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:41 pm
by vicksvapor77
Jonah wrote:It's a shame they didn't approach Kelly once LFB turned it down. I think she would have fit in well. I could have seen her not only in the Gersten Hayward role, but even in the Renee role crying in the Roadhouse.
Renee was a role already written, she wasn't a replacement for Donna.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:42 pm
by Jonah
I know, but she also said a few people turned down roles in general. So I was just wondering who they were?

And then I said, once LFB turned down the Donna role, I think they should have gone to Moira Kelly.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:43 pm
by vicksvapor77
Jonah wrote:I know, but she also said a few people turned down roles in general. So I was just wondering who they were?

And then I said, once LFB turned down the Donna role, I think they should have gone to Moira Kelly.
Sorry! I replied too quick, I redacted my post because you edited yours haha. :)

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:07 pm
by N. Needleman
I honestly still don't believe it about LFB. It still feels like a polite white lie told to allow her dignity given her IRL troubles in recent years; they don't directly speak on her unless directly asked, and then only very briefly. I can't see where Donna could have fit. I guess it's possible it was Gersten.

Aside from MJA's meltdown I only know of one other alleged turndown, which had extenuating circumstances.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:56 pm
by Mr. Reindeer
N. Needleman wrote:I honestly still don't believe it about LFB. It still feels like a polite white lie told to allow her dignity given her IRL troubles in recent years; they don't directly speak on her unless directly asked, and then only very briefly. I can't see where Donna could have fit. I guess it's possible it was Gersten.
I know we’ve done this dance before, but I respectfully disagree. Lynch has always rejoiced in casting washed-up/“troubled” actors (see Dennis Hopper in 1985 as the epitome of this), and given that credible sources have repeatedly told this version of events involving LFB, I see absolutely no reason to disbelieve it. Gersten’s appearance in TP:TR feels equally random to Sylvia’s (yes, Lynch has a longstanding relationship with Alicia Witt, but the character appeared in one episode as a child). It feels eminently credible to me that, with decades of water under the bridge, L/F intended for Donna (one of four characters to appear in every single episode of the original show) to return on the new show, that LFB still had a chip on her shoulder, and that they then slotted in a random bit player, just as they did with Audrey/Sylvia. I mean, honestly, what are her “troubles”? Some bad plastic surgery and substance abuse issues? I don’t see that being an obstacle in Lynch’s eyes, in and of itself, to her doing a few days of shooting. We’re talking about a director who repeatedly cast a chronically alcoholic Jack Nance.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 8:33 pm
by N. Needleman
It is entirely possible. She's just been divorced from Peaks for so long that idk, I don't see it.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:03 pm
by vicksvapor77
Mr. Reindeer wrote:
N. Needleman wrote:I honestly still don't believe it about LFB. It still feels like a polite white lie told to allow her dignity given her IRL troubles in recent years; they don't directly speak on her unless directly asked, and then only very briefly. I can't see where Donna could have fit. I guess it's possible it was Gersten.
I know we’ve done this dance before, but I respectfully disagree. Lynch has always rejoiced in casting washed-up/“troubled” actors (see Dennis Hopper in 1985 as the epitome of this), and given that credible sources have repeatedly told this version of events involving LFB, I see absolutely no reason to disbelieve it. Gersten’s appearance in TP:TR feels equally random to Sylvia’s (yes, Lynch has a longstanding relationship with Alicia Witt, but the character appeared in one episode as a child). It feels eminently credible to me that, with decades of water under the bridge, L/F intended for Donna (one of four characters to appear in every single episode of the original show) to return on the new show, that LFB still had a chip on her shoulder, and that they then slotted in a random bit player, just as they did with Audrey/Sylvia. I mean, honestly, what are her “troubles”? Some bad plastic surgery and substance abuse issues? I don’t see that being an obstacle in Lynch’s eyes, in and of itself, to her doing a few days of shooting. We’re talking about a director who repeatedly cast a chronically alcoholic Jack Nance.
Well said! I 100% believe Lara was asked back. Again, I don't feel comfortable indicating much more other than Gersten was definitely added through the course of rewrites. Since Steven was having an affair with someone, I think Donna is the most logical choice given that Gersten is her sister, they did this with Audrey/Sylvia, Sabrina says Lara was asked back, Mark Frost kept Donna as a drug addict in The Final Dossier up until he had to amend the outcome of her character due to the rewrites, it was a way to tie two original characters together through story (Donna/Shelly)... It all adds up, at least to me with what I know.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:18 pm
by N. Needleman
Fair enough!

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:06 pm
by LateReg
I personally love that it ended up being Gersten. Such a powerful and strange bit of screentime. A totally peripheral character that gives a deeper glimpse into the life and trajectory of the town. And Witt knocked it out of the park.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 1:50 pm
by BGate
vicksvapor77 wrote:I have no solid proof of this but I do have *some* information I can't share that suggests that Gersten replaced Donna in the story with Steven

This is my suspicion too although I have no hard information, at least nothing I can recall.

Re: Moira Kelly and The Return

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:52 pm
by Jonah
Mr. Reindeer wrote:[(one of four characters to appear in every single episode of the original show)
I'm guessing the others are Kyle, Ontkean, and... ? Madchen? Jack Nance? Sherilyn?