Lynch really busy with Wild At Heart?

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Teopeaks
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Lynch really busy with Wild At Heart?

Post by Teopeaks »

It's always said that Lynch was not much involved in the second season of Twin Peaks because he was involved with Wild At Heart. Frankly, it's actually not quite true and I think the real reason is that he was so disappointed with the fact that the murder's identity had to be revealed that he decided not to be involved anymore. My guess is that the Wild At Heart involvement is just an official excuse.

I was just reading a biography of Lynch, and regarding the years 1989-1990, here is what it states:

1989: Wild At Heart begins shooting on August 9th. On November 10th, Lynch produces Industrial Symphony N°1, with Julee Cruise and co-written with Angelo Badalamenti, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

1990: On April 8th, at 9:00 am ABC broadcasts the first episode of Twin Peaks. A few weeks later, at the end of May, Wild At Heart is awarded the Palme d'or at Cannes Film Festival.

Well, it seems Lynch was busy with Wild At Heart during the first season of Twin Peaks, and not at all during the second one. Actually, Wild At Heart was released in the USA on August 17th 1990, while the first episode of Twin Peaks' second season (May the Giant Be With You) was broadcast on September 30th, almost two months later. Lynch had time to direct this episode, which lasts 90 minutes, and also the next one, while still promoting Wild At Heart.

Then, I'm wondering, how come Wild At Heart prevented him from getting involved in the second season?

Well, I guess the truth is just a matter of him being disappointed with being forced to reveal the killer's identity, which I totally understand anyway.

Suddenly, a TV screen being smashed as first image of FWWM seems more powerful a symbol than I had previously thought.
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Post by TheArm »

I 100% agree; Lynch always uses Wild at Heart as his reason for not being as involved with the 2nd season, but it doesn't make any sense. He would've shot Episode 14 in early-fall (September 1990) so that it could be aired in November 1990; Wild at Heart premiered at Cannes in May 1990, while the first season was wrapping up. The 2nd season hadn't even been greenlit while Wild at Heart was shooting! I always just wonder if this is because he just has a legitimately bad memory, or if it's a cop-out...

It's a shame though, and I've always sensed a slight resentment from people like Sherilyn Fenn and Kyle MacLachlan that Lynch "abandoned" them, and it seems that they are kinda right. I think the show needed Lynch's creative drive more than ever after Leland's death, and he just didn't seem to be around, for whatever reason.
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Post by eyeboogers »

I do think it factors in somehow though. He could've been promoting Wild At Heart internationally and also if i'd just shot a feature film, set up a filmed stage musical and directed four hours of a tv show that i was also executive producing i might feel like taking a tiny vacation. Also keep in mind that the shows would be shot long before being aired.
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Post by Evenreven »

I've always heard that Wild at Heart was the reason for his non-involvement in episodes 3-7. Wasn't that was Mark Frost said? Like you say, blaming Wild at Heart for season 2 doesn't make much sense. His continuing dislike for having to reveal the killer, on the other hand, explains a lot. And I think he was wrong in that respect. Spending 32 hours - or more - on solving a murder mystery is bordering on the ridiculous. The investigation storyline had gone on long enough, in my view. He should have stayed on board to tell Frost what the hell he should have done with Bob.
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Post by John »

I am so glad someone brought this up (and supported the claim by lots of good data--nice).

Lynch was done with WAH well before season 2. He was, in fact, around quite a bit during season 2. He shot four out of (I think) the first nine hours of the season. Then he appeared as Gordon Cole in a couple of episodes in the latter half of the second season (2018 and 2019) and then, of course, directed episode 2022.

He was a presence for sure.

John
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Post by grrlskout »

I think if it was *anything* it would have been "On the Air" that would have distracted him. That was on the air at the same time as Season 2.... at least the few episodes that were... "on the air" (hee har). But still... yeah, I think David was done with Peaks as soon as the killer was revealed. He was pissed (he had a right to be) and took it out on the show. But then he came back to tie it up at the end and did (of course) a fantastic job.
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Post by Jerry Horne »

They did not air at the same time. Lynch and Frost did 'On The Air' well after Twin Peaks wrapped. Filming wrapped on TP around March '91 and OTA did not hit ABC until mid '92
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Post by grrlskout »

I stand corrected. For some reason I was remembering them being on at the same time, but I'm guessing that's cause I was rewatching them on tape in highschool. I'm gettin' old... the memory goes....
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Post by Teopeaks »

And Lynch only directed one episode from "On The Air" I think. Personnaly, I could not watch On The Air til the end. I was deeply bored and could not see the humour in it. It was for me the same kind od humour there was in the wine-testing scene in Twin Peaks with Dick Treymane, and that was definitely not by favourite part of the show.
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Post by TheArm »

Teopeaks wrote:And Lynch only directed one episode from "On The Air" I think. Personnaly, I could not watch On The Air til the end. I was deeply bored and could not see the humour in it. It was for me the same kind od humour there was in the wine-testing scene in Twin Peaks with Dick Treymane, and that was definitely not by favourite part of the show.
I liked the pilot episode that Lynch directed, and I still find it really funny. But the comedy in "On the Air" suffers much like the comedy in "Twin Peaks." The other directors that aren't Lynch just don't quite get it, as hard as they try. Hence, in TP we got scenes like the wine-tasting and the pine weasel. I know what the intention was, but it's just a total miss.
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Re:

Post by NoiselessFan »

TheArm wrote:
Teopeaks wrote:And Lynch only directed one episode from "On The Air" I think. Personnaly, I could not watch On The Air til the end. I was deeply bored and could not see the humour in it. It was for me the same kind od humour there was in the wine-testing scene in Twin Peaks with Dick Treymane, and that was definitely not by favourite part of the show.
I liked the pilot episode that Lynch directed, and I still find it really funny. But the comedy in "On the Air" suffers much like the comedy in "Twin Peaks." The other directors that aren't Lynch just don't quite get it, as hard as they try. Hence, in TP we got scenes like the wine-tasting and the pine weasel. I know what the intention was, but it's just a total miss.

Are you suggesting if Lynch had directed these crazy storylines, they'd have been any better?
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Mikeindustry
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Re: Lynch really busy with Wild At Heart?

Post by Mikeindustry »

Noiseless fan - yes: see shooting script of last episode (written by Frost) vs filmed final episode (directed by Lynch).

But to the bigger question - It's been the official party line for years that WAH kept Lynch from the second season, and I agree with all the points everyone here made - he was well finished shooting and promoting WAH by the second season, and more, he was IN a lot of the second season, so... here's my question:

Did Lynch himself ever say this? Anyone got a source on it? Because I've always thought that it was just one of those half-baked things said around a water-cooler, on the internet, in a film zine, whatever, that got repeated over and over till it was "true" - but as far as I remember, I don't think Lynch himself said it, has he? (I could be wrong on that one).

I'll note this though - due to the mysterious nature of Twin Peaks, combined with the large audience, there were a lot of people throwing out "Facts" from early on that had nothing to do with reality, and oddly, some have stuck.
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Re: Lynch really busy with Wild At Heart?

Post by NoiselessFan »

Mikeindustry wrote:Noiseless fan - yes: see shooting script of last episode (written by Frost) vs filmed final episode (directed by Lynch).

If Lynch would've removed foolish scenes like Nadine hurling grown men 30 ft in the air, I'm with you 100%!
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Re: Lynch really busy with Wild At Heart?

Post by greg4881 »

NoiselessFan wrote:
Mikeindustry wrote:Noiseless fan - yes: see shooting script of last episode (written by Frost) vs filmed final episode (directed by Lynch).

If Lynch would've removed foolish scenes like Nadine hurling grown men 30 ft in the air, I'm with you 100%!
Wasn't just embarrassing watching scenes like that, wtf were they thinking. Can you imagine sitting around a table of writers and telling them "I think Nadine should be given super strength, have her think she's in high school again and become a wrestler." I would fire that person right on the spot.
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Re: Lynch really busy with Wild At Heart?

Post by greg4881 »

Wasn't it
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