From: jgp@zodmate.Rational.COM (Jim Pellmann)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks,rec.arts.tv,rec.arts.movies
Subject: TP: 2 more films possible! 2nd season video?
Date: 12 Aug 92 22:13:46 GMT
Followup-To: alt.tv.twin-peaks

From the August Pulse! magazine (Tower Records/Video freebie):

Nothing too new in most of the article, but see ^^^^^ markings below for three
newsworthy items.

                                PIE AND COFFEE
                          
                          Chris Isaak on "Twin Peaks"
                          
                            by Anthony C. Ferrante
                            
In 1986 David Lynch was searching for moody, atmospheric music to pepper "Blue
Velvet," his surreal ode to middle-America.  He decided Bay Area-based ethereal
rocker Chris Isaak could provide the goods.

"At first I didn't know anything about him," recalls Isaak.  "They just said
David Lynch wants to use some of your music in his movie.  When he came by, we
were all pretty scared.  Here's a Hollywood filmmaker who probably was going to
come by with four pages of music and say, 'This is what I want you to play,'
and none of us can read music.  But he just walked in and started to make all
these noises of what he wanted.  I looked at the guys and everybody just
smiled, because that's exactly the way we work anyway."

This similar working thread eventually paid off for Isaak, but "Blue Velvet"
didn't put him on the map.  "It didn't give me much exposure, but it gave me
something to talk about with girls," he says.  Instead, Lynch's 1990 "Wild at
Heart" sent Isaak's musical career spiraling sky-high with its use of "Wicked
Game" off his "Heart Shaped World" album.  And with a little help from a
Lynch-directed video in heavy rotation on MTV, Isaak went from modest club
pauper to top 10 prince virtually overnight.

So now that the ever-growing enigma called David Lynch has made Isaak a
household singing sensation, what could he possibly have in store next for his
favorite song contributor?  

How about casting Isaak in a major role in his new film "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk
With Me," a theatrical prequel to the short-lived cult TV series that follows
the last seven days of Laura Palmer?  Isaak plays FBI agent Chet Desmond, who
investigates one of the first murders linked to the same killer later
responsible for Palmer's death.

"Imagine if Twin Peaks were Mayberry," says Isaak.  "I'm the straight guy.  I'm
Andy Griffith and everybody around me is Floyd or Barney Fife.  I'm the FBI and
I do what you expect an FBI guy to do.  I carry my badge, flash my badge, ask
questions and get the hell out.  As long as I didn't bump into any scenery I
think everything was OK."

Though it may seem like Isaak is stepping on Kyle MacLachlan's big FBI shoes,
die-hard "Peaks" fans shouldn't worry.  MacLachlan returns as the forever-wise
Agent Cooper, and in addition to Isaak's Agent Desmond, two other secret agent
men join the fray as well--Kiefer Sutherland as Agent Stanley and former glam
rocker David Bowie as metaphysically screwed-up agent Jeffries.

With so many newcomers, one would think that "Fire Walk With Me" would not have
much room for any of the series regulars, and that's partially true.  Since the
movie follows the events leading up to Laura Palmer's untimely death, only key
series regulars play an integral part this time out.

Thus Sheryl Lee returns as Laura Palmer, and Grace Zabriskie and Ray Wise are
back as her parents.  However, the entire Horne family, including Sherilyn
Fenn as the prankish Audrey and Richard Beymer as patriarch Benjamin are
absent, though they were key ingredients to the series.  Additionally, Lara
Flynn Boyle, who played Laura's best friend Donna, has been replaced by Moira
Kelly (who appeared early this year in the ice-skating romance "The Cutting
Edge").

Even though "Fire Walk With Me" is picking up the Peaks puzzle pieces before
the series events, co-screenwriter Bob Engels promises that the movie should
fit perfectly alongside the show.  As for story details, this $10 million
production is a closely guarded secret (cast, crew and press releases have been
about as cryptic as later Peaks episodes).  A few things are definite though:
Laura Palmer will die; there's an evil in the woods responsible for her death
(conveniently named Bob); and the quiet little lumbertown of Twin Peaks will
never be the same.

Despite the television series failing in America, "Twin Peaks" has become an
overwhelming phenomenon in the European market.  In Japan, the new film has
already opened to record-breaking box office numbers.  This type of foreign
fan-base was an important factor behind continuing the show in a theatrical
incarnation (if "Fire Walk With Me" hits abroad, two other big-screen
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
follow-ups are tentatively in the works).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"We came very close to continuing the series for Europe, but we just couldn't
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
put that kind of deal together," reveals Engels.  "We needed a million or so to
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
do it and they couldn't come up with that money to do it week to week."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

As for being a Peaks-newcomer, Isaak--who also is coming soon to a record store
near you with his follow-up to "Heart Shaped World"--admits that even though he
took this particular walk on the acting side, he's far more at home with his
music than movies.

"I read the script and didn't really get a lot of the stuff," he admits.  "I
thought I only have to really understand what my character does.  I was also
nervous, thinking I'm going in there being this singer and they're going to go,
'Oh no, the singer doesn't know his lines.'  So I rehearsed them over and over
with my sax player Johnny Reno, and once we were shooting, everybody else was
like, 'Give me the script, where are you?' 'Page 7, third line.' I knew it by
heart when I got there."

SIDEBAR
-------
                              Watch Video With Me
                              
If "Fire Walk With Me" fans the Twin Peaks flames, brew some coffee and burn
through a stack of TV episodes on video.  Warner Home Video offers the European
theatrical version of the Season Premiere (****), a two-hour pilot that pushed
the boundaries of television, took well-worn cliches, wrapped them in plastic
and turned out innovation at its finest.

The remaining first season episodes (#2-7 [sic]) are available from Worldvision
($14.95 each); the second season may be on the way soon.  The two best episodes
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
of season one are Episode #2 (***), which finds Agent Cooper sitting in a
red-draped room talking with an odd-sounding dwarf (Michael Anderson), who rubs
his hands togehter and dances backwards; and Episode #7 (****), the season's
cliffhanger, complete with burning building, the gunshot to the chest, and the
suicide.
                                   #   #   #

--
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"I lived in my head mostly."                | Jim Pellmann (jgp@rational.com)
"That's not a bad neighborhood."            | RATIONAL
"There were some pretty strange neighbors." | Santa Clara, California