Wild at Heart (film) based on Wild at Heart : The Story of Sailor and Lula
Wild at Heart is a 1990 American black comedy romantic crime film written and directed by David Lynch and starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Willem Dafoe, Harry Dean Stanton, and Isabella Rossellini. Based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Barry Gifford, it tells the story of Sailor Ripley (Cage) and Lula Pace Fortune (Dern), a young couple from Cape Fear, North Carolina, who go on the run from Lula's domineering mother and the gangsters she hires to kill Sailor.
Lynch was going to produce, but after reading Gifford's book, he decided to write and direct as well. He did not like the ending of the novel and thus decided to change it to fit his vision of the main characters. Wild at Heart is a road movie which includes allusions to The Wizard of Oz and Elvis Presley and his movies.Early test screenings for Wild at Heart had a poor reception; Lynch estimated that 300 people walked out of an early screening. On release, the film had mixed critical reviews and grossed $14 million against its $10 million budget. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, which at the time was considered a controversial decision. Diane Ladd was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. It has since been positively re-evaluated by critics.
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