MulhollandDr.-TheMakingOf (reviewed by blu)
Overview | Shortcut Scene | Dinner Scene | Winkie's Scene | Image Gallery
Dinner Party
Talking about this scene, Naomi tells us,
"This is a very important scene I've been asked to come to with
Laura's character, but it's difficult for me to be here because I can
tell she's going to give me some bad news. There's some things going on
in our friendship-slash-relationship that are confusing me, and it's
very unsettling; like something's going to happen".
These are interesting words from Naomi, because she doesn't tell us who Laura's character is and she struggles herself to define the relationship between the two women. Maybe this is a classic case of Lynch telling his actors only what he thinks that they need to know, and even Naomi (when shooting) is not fully aware of the meaning/significance of the scene.
When we get the shot of Badalamenti looking over at Diane and catching her eye, we find that Lynch is sat in the chair immediately to his right, directing the scene from there. We see that with Lynch what is overwhelmingly important to him is timing. I get the sense that the timing is actually more important than the performance itself. Seems if he's gets a bad take from an actor but it's timed perfectly, he is more likely to go with that than a great take that is badly timed...
Also here we see the second Cowboy, who is not credited as far as I can see. It sounds like Lynch calls him "Church" at one point. I'm sure the Cowboy = God theorists will like that one!
For the final part where it seems that Kesher is to announce an engagement, I get the impression that Lynch has been egging Justin Theroux on for a few takes to get the perfect obnoxious vibe he is looking for. When they do the take we see, a huge grin spreads across Lynch's face and everybody starts whooping and clapping. Lynch says "That's the best one yet. That's a beautiful thing" though his big stupid grin.
These guys are really enjoying themselves... ►