Casting Issue

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Shelly_Johnson
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Casting Issue

Post by Shelly_Johnson »

I am completly satisfyed with 99% of the casting that was done for the series, however casting Heather Graham for Annie Blackburn was odd. She was flat in her speach, and her body movements were stiff. I think they could have chosen better. Any thoughts?
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Annie
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Post by Annie »

In defense of Heather's portrayal of Annie, remember that Annie had attempted suicide, so we don't know what all happened with that; she probably spent time in a psychiatric hospital and was taking who-knows-what medications. Plus living in the convent couldn't have exactly contributed to her having a lively personality.

Once again, for details on the real Heather Graham, I defer to John Neff, who knows her personally and once told me she was nothing like the character she played. I think Annie Blackburn was supposed to be rather awkward, very shy and innocent, which was why she appealed to Agent Cooper.
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Post by Ross »

I absolutley LOVED Heather as Annie - easily one of my favorite characters in the whole run. She's just whom I would picture Cooper being with. And I think her so-called "flat" reading was actually a pitch-on portrayal of an akward/shy & damaged girl. Her scene with Cooper in the second to last episode where she speaks of her "forest" being damaged is one of my favorite scenes in the whole series. Beautiful & heatbreaking at the same time.
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Post by Audrey Horne »

I think that Sherilyn Fenn actress would have been really good in the part.
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Post by Shelly_Johnson »

I understand that Annie would have been very shy and awarkard, and will conside that perhaps Heather's acting was dead on due to those reasons.

haveing said that, Ross i have to totally agree with you on Annie's speach about the forest. It was revealing and heartbreaking, yet was strong in the point it made. Utter Brilliance. Heathers soft voice, and her delivery of that speach was dead on.


there are a couple of questions i have as to annies orgin in the series, i dont recall anyone ever haveing spoke of Norma's sister before the episode before Annie came to town, and that seamd a little odd due to the fact that we have met norma's mother ( M T Wentz ) and the two had conversations but none lead to Annie in any way. Does someone recall something im forgetting on that point?

On a side note:
it would have been kinda nice if at some point durring the series, or FWWM we could have seen Diane, the one Cooper sent all his tapes to. I imagine her shakeing her head with a large grin on her face as she jots down Coopers notes in preperation of going to Gordan Cole with them.
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Post by Annie »

I think either Annie was a big surprise (for the audience) because David & Co. wanted to take the emphasis off of Audrey and Agent Cooper, or it was planned all along with no lead-in. (Remember where she was; not all families are proud of their children spending time in mental hospitals or convents.)

As far as Diane goes, seeing her in person would have spoiled the "surprise." It was supposed to be mysterious, with everyone wondering whether she really was typing up all those transcripts from Cooper. That's why the tapes of Agent Cooper are so much fun to listen to.
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Post by dugpa »

I'm ok with Heather Graham, but would have preferred that they kept the Audrey/Cooper romance going on. After rewatching the series, Lara Flynn Boyle's acting in the Second Season was just awful.

Then the casting of Annette McCarthy as Evelyn Marsh was bad. I liked Nicholas Love in Wild at Heart but hated him in Twin Peaks. The whole Jame Hurley leaves Twin Peaks storyline really soured my opinion of the actors in that piece this time around. :P
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Post by silenttwn »

dugpa wrote:The whole Jame Hurley leaves Twin Peaks storyline really soured my opinion of the actors in that piece this time around. :P
Yep. I fast forwarded through it this time through. Made the second season a little bit better. :D
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Post by Shelly_Johnson »

i agree with you on james storyline. could have done with out that.

the Audrey/Cooper romance was fun to toy with, but audrys age would have left a sour taste in my mouth, i couldent see Cooper getting serious with someone that young.
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Post by dugpa »

I thought about that but then it would have also removed another bad casting choice of ... Billy Zane. :)
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Post by Audrey Horne »

I don't think it was ever toyed with though -it was one of the central themes to the show -Audrey and Cooper didn't have to have a romance -but still needed to stay connected, drawn into the same course beyond their control in order for the show (to me) to have a sense of unified scope.

-"Laura was impatient, impatient for her life to begin..." (shot of Audrey at the funeral making eye contact with Cooper)

Audrey prays from her room (surrounded in red drapes) for Cooper to hear her pleas. This scene is sandwiched in between Cooper resting in bed -suggesting it is also his subconscious at work.

The Giant tells Cooper he "forgot something" (meaning Audrey's letter -which is the Giant's only clue to Cooper that does not concern the Laura case)

Benjamin tells Cooper (and reinforces) to the audience that Cooper "and Audrey have a special connection."

Windom Earle is reflected by Cooper primarily for the first time after he mentions he cannot focus on the Palmer case because he is preoccupied by Audrey's disappearance and the "content of her smile." The foreshadowing of these two people (Audrey and Windom) colliding together in Cooper's life to me was always obvious from a writing/story standpoint.

Again, after the rescue of AH (which the whole arc is a homage to Hitchcock's Notorious -which I never see mentioned) -Audrey as Carolyn story is foreshadowed with the first disclosure of Carolyn'd death -"Harry, this isn't the first time that someone I care about is hurt by me..."(sic)

Dramatically, as a loyal viewer at the time, it felt like the rug had been yanked out from the story we had been following for the past year. Heather G and Billy Z seemed contrieved parallel characters that didn't grow out of the story but abruptly thrown in to the mix. oh well, nothing against Graham or Zane -they have no control over that.

Actually, per topic I can't think of many bad performances (bad writing and choices for the characters) -but the actors chosen -just fine. ( the moment I cringe the most at are some of the Windom Earl shitck and Nadine's "I'm going to throw you -cork screw!!")
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Post by silenttwn »

Yeah I have to agree with Audrey. It felt like it should have been Audrey who was kidnapped and taken to the black lodge. I didn't mind Annie Blackburn though. I usually don't like Heather Graham, but I thought she did a pretty good job.
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Post by Shelly_Johnson »

just curious here, but what was everyones favorite actor/actress for the roll they held in TP and what was the least favorite actor/actress for the series.

my favorite actor for the series was: Kyle for his portrial of Dale Cooper

my favorite female actress for the series was: Madchen Amick for her portrial of Shelly Johnson.

least favorite actor and actresses is hard, almost everyone fit the role they were playing extremely well. More to the point for me, is the wrighting of the role. I will have to think about it and get back to you.

its hard to pick favorites, and cerently Sheriff Harry S Truman and Audry Horne are high on my list.

Speaking of casting, i had herd somewhere a long time ago that supposedly if they would have been allowed to do season 3, that Sheryl Lee was to come back into the series as a red head, did anyone elce catch wind of that rumor? I have done some small reshearch on it and havent found anthying to either confirm or deny that rumor, and was wondering if anyone elce had herd anthying on the matter.
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Post by Audrey Horne »

way back in the olden days, I remember my favorite was Lucy after the first episode -of course I loved Kyle. And Piper Laurie's, "bitch! what's your name ...you're fired."

However, that was all blown to bits the next episode as soon as Cooper said, "as long as those grapefruits are freshly squeezed." I loved Sherilyn Fenn. And then she was one of the few younger actors to hold thier own with the seasoned vets -the later scene with Richard Beymer, "oh daddy, I'm so afraid" convinced me she was stellar.

I actually think one of the best moments of acting is -and it's a blink and you miss it moment -is the bathroom scene between Audrey and Donna. When she asked Donna, "ever hear of One-Eyed Jacks?" and Donna answers, "isn't that that western with Marlon Brando?" Sherilyn Fenn does the slightest pause that captures the entire character -it's a slight annoyed, good lord who am I dealing with pause that's held just for the right amount. We'd always rewind and laugh and laugh. And her scenes with Beymer are usually done in one nice long shot where you can see two pro actors sparring with one another.
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Post by Audrey Horne »

I love all the original characters from the first season and all the performances. But the standouts for me are Fenn, Kyle, Piper Laurie (think! think!) Beymer and Grace Zabriski.

My favorite Madchen moments are the ones where she wasn't afriad to show that Shelley is not a sharp cookie -like when she tells Cooper and Truman that she won't testify against Leo -with her brilliant take on Shelly's obviously rehearsed answer to them with the feeble, "He's my husnad and um, I love him." I love that the show had the guts to show her making fun of Leland at the funeral, and I loved the scene where she tells Norma she "um, I think, um I'm gonna have to quit my job." (Peggy Lipton kills me in that scene because she looks like she's high with her constantly serene smile) -oh gosh, I also love Madchen's "um, well think later Booby, I gotta get back to the diner in twenty minutes."

I'll probably blackball myself here -but I just rewatched FWWM for the first time in over ten years (I'm not a fan, sorry) and really don't like Sheryl Lee's performance -as much as it's been praised. I think it's really just the nature of the scenes she's doing -they're heartbreaking and dramatic, so naturally they're going to get attention. But I thought there was no nuance at all -scream, cry, vamp, wild eyed. I thought she was more effective as the photo, and captured briefly in the picnic video. I loved her as Maddy though in the second season.
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