Mulholland Drive, Lynch, lesbianism, Laura Harring, genius, kissing Naomi Watts, and why turn down Twin Peaks
The star of Mulholland Drive on Lynch and that lesbian scene
We
talk to Laura Harring about the director’s genius, how nervous she was
before kissing Naomi Watts and why she turned down the new Twin Peaks
Naomi Watts and Laura Harring in Mulholland Drive
We
talk to Laura Harring about the director’s genius, how nervous she was
before kissing Naomi Watts and why she turned down the new Twin Peaks
In 1999, ABC shot a two-hour TV pilot called Mulholland Drive. It was to be David Lynch’s
weird, wonderful comeback to the small screen. Laura Harring and Naomi
Watts were the stars. A car crash survivor stumbles into Hollywood with a
blue key, a bag of money, and a blank memory. Among the mysteries are a
clumsy assassin, Billy Ray as a pool cleaner, and some kind of garbage
monster. Who wouldn’t watch 20 more episodes at least?
Not the executives at ABC who cancelled the project, blaming the
unusual tempo, the incomprehensible storylines and everything else they
should have expected from Lynch. Much of that discarded footage remains
in the Mulholland Drive we know today; a studio stepped in and, thankfully, it was expanded into a standalone feature. The BBC named
it the best film of the 21st century so far, and it’s returning to
cinemas in a 4K resolution restoration overseen by Lynch himself. That’s
quite a ride for a rejected TV show. Mulholland Drive, for the uninitiated, is a bit of a
mindfuck, and that doesn’t alter after multiple viewings. On a purely
aesthetic level it’s unbeatable, and the deeper meanings one unravels is
a bonus. In one elusive package, it collates Lynch’s pet themes (dreams
within dreams, shifting personalities) and recurring images (burning
fires, miming with a microphone). It’s a fairytale and nightmare
colliding amidst a puff of smoke.
Rita is introduced as a question mark. She’s rescued, physically and
emotionally, by wannabe actress Betty, as played by Naomi Watts, and the
pair form a detective duo. Along with the Vertigo riff, a
subplot features Justin Theroux as a tortured filmmaker. In what’s more a
threat than a recommendation, he’s handed a photograph and repeatedly
told: “This is the girl…”
In a way, that’s how Harring was cast for Mulholland Drive,
except Lynch called all the shots. He saw an image and knew straight
away. “I did a black-and-white photoshoot,” Harring recalls. “I was in
jeans. Very casual. But I think there was a look in my eyes that was
very mysterious, maybe a touch melancholic.” The casting director,
Johanna Ray, passed the pictures to Lynch. “He put a finger on it and
said, ‘I want to see her right now.’”
“I did a black-and-white photoshoot. I was in jeans. Very casual. But
I think there was a look in my eyes that was very mysterious, maybe a
touch melancholic” – Laura Harring
It was January 1999 when
Harring received a phone call: “David Lynch wants to meet you, and he
wants to meet you now. Can you go by his office?” Stunned by the short
notice, Harring drove to the audition with a distracted mind and, like
Rita, was involved in a car accident. “I thought that was the strangest
thing,” she says of the parallel. “It’s a great induction to the David
Lynch world. Everything’s synchronistic, the way it’s supposed to be in a
magical world of peace, love and art.”
The audition wasn’t really an audition. “He just kept looking at me
and saying to himself, ‘Good. Good. Good. Good.’” It was like he was
imagining me in the movie.” They bonded over Transcendental Meditation,
and that was that. “He never saw another person. He never opened that
role up.”
Nevertheless, Harring didn’t hear back for a while, and in the meantime she fell in love with the script. “I imagined everything.
I got goosebumps. I had teary eyes. It was so beautiful.” Eventually,
the truth came out: Lynch assumed her silence signaled a lack of
interest. “It was so cute he thought I’d call,” she laughs. “I wanted to
jump up and down.”
Now, here’s what I’m dying to know: if the Mulholland Drive pilot was picked up, what would be the series arc? “The reason Twin Peaks became
a phenomenon,” she explains, “is because of the question of who killed
Laura Palmer. So throughout the season or two, everyone would be
wondering: who is this character who has amnesia? That’s why there’s the
red phone, the mail, ‘Find her’ and all these people looking for her.
So it’s a whole mystery about my character’s past. But that’s about as
far as I know.”
“Even though I was nervous, he does everything with class. He knows
how to get people to react – and without any special effects. That’s
true artistry” – Laura Harring
When ABC turned down Mulholland Drive, Harring received a
phone call from Lynch. The pilot was, as he put it, “dead in the water”.
Months later, Lynch announced it would be an international feature
film. Harring remembers the moment. “He quickly said, ‘And there’s gonna
be nudity.’ He took out his hand to shake, and I shook his hand. I was
like, ‘Oh no!’” It wasn’t an issue, she’s quick to add. “You trust a
master filmmaker like David. Even though I was nervous, he does
everything with class. He knows how to get people to react – and without
any special effects. That’s true artistry.”
The new material included a
sex sequence between Harring and Watts. Lynch likely knew it would never
make it past TV censors, but for cinema release, anything goes. “The
love scene wasn’t easy,” Harring admits. “Naomi was wonderful and we
were comfortable with each other. But it was the vulnerability of being
undressed. I wasn’t coming out of my dressing room. I was so worried.”
To calm her nerves, Lynch promised Harring the bedroom would be dark.
“He showed me how it would be lit, and I really relaxed. And then on
the last take, he said, ‘Pump it up, Pete!’ referring to the light.
Still, David kept his word. When I enter and disrobe, it’s still in
silhouette, which is what he promised.”
As you’d imagine, Lynch’s on-set guidelines are poetic. His command
to Harring following the car accident: “Walk like a broken doll, Laura.”
When she’s in a daze: “You don’t remember anything, but there’s always a
dark cloud hovering around, and it’s very eerie.” When she’s Camilla:
“Walk like a kitty cat, Laura.”
“Naomi was wonderful and we were comfortable with each other. But it
was the vulnerability of being undressed. I wasn’t coming out of my
dressing room. I was so worried” – Laura Harring
The Club Silencio scene formed part of the reshoots. Betty and Rita visit a theatre reminiscent of the Red Room from Twin Peaks.
A Spanish singer mimes to Roy Orbison. The crowd are mesmerised. But
look closer. Sat to the pair’s left is Laura Palmer, or an intended
doppelganger. So, Laura’s still trapped in the Black Lodge? Harring is
unsure if it’s even her. “People have started to ask me that. They never
did before. I have to check it out. It’s a whole new conspiracy
theory.” OK, even if it’s not Laura Palmer, other clues connect Mulholland Drive to the world of Twin Peaks. In fact, Sherilyn Fenn confirmed on Twitter that in 1990, between seasons one and two, Lynch pitched her Mulholland Drive as an Audrey Horne spinoff.
While fellow cast members Naomi Watts, Patrick Fischler, Robert
Forster, Brent Briscoe and Bonnie Aarons (the terrifying hobo) are in
the upcoming season of Twin Peaks, Harring’s name is noticeably
absent. “My agent didn’t want me to be one of the 200 cameos,” she
explains. Instead, her agent held out for a more substantial role that
didn’t materialise. She’ll still be watching, though. “Whether there’s
300, 400, 500 cameos, anything David touches is cinematic. The original Twin Peaks ending, with the old man, was hysterical.”
So, why has Mulholland Drive
endured over these years? It’s the multiple meanings, Harring believes.
After all, dummies like me after still speculating over an extra with a
vague resemblance to Laura Palmer. “I saw it five or six times when we
were travelling to festivals,” she says. “I kept having different
interpretations. It could be Rita’s dream or it could be Betty’s dream.
And it’s about the disillusionment of Hollywood. It touches the core of
what it is to be human, and the truth about love. And maybe we’re not
sure what reality is. Maybe we’re dreaming, and that’s reality.” Ultimately, the images, the music, the ideas, it all buries its way
into your brain, into your subconscious, and leaves you wondering: “What
the hell just happened? And why can’t I shake it off?” A monstrous
hobo’s mouldy face can’t be forgotten, and neither can Harring’s
transformation into Rita, then Camilla. The film was plunged into
development hell, even before it was a film, and it somehow survived,
perhaps due to the collective positivity of a set hypnotised by Lynch’s
aura. Could that faith in a director be the secret ingredient? “There was a lot of camaraderie,” Harring concludes. “It was a
creative community. Just a lot of love flowing, from all the actors and
crew. A platonic, beautiful, pure love. No hanky panky. No one got
frisky. It was just pure love. And that’s what made the movie so
magical.”
