Mulholland Drive
An actress longing to be a star. A woman searching for herself. Both worlds will collide... on Mulholland Drive.
Country
Production
Budget
$15 000 000
Revenue
$20 117 339
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Alain Sarde, Mary Sweeney, Neal Edelstein, Michael Polaire, Tony Krantz, Pierre Edelman
Operator
Composer
Artist
Audition
Johanna Ray
Editing
Mary Sweeney, Julie M. Anderson
All team (87)
All team (87)
Short description
Betty Elms, an aspiring actress newly arrived in Los Angeles, settles into her aunt's apartment, where she finds a dark-haired woman who has lost her memory after a car crash on the winding road above the city. The woman takes the name Rita from a movie poster, and the two set out to discover who she is and what happened to her. Their search runs alongside the troubles of film director Adam Kesher, who faces pressure over the casting of his latest project.
David Lynch directed and wrote the film, the twelfth of the seventeen features he has directed, following The Straight Story and preceding Rabbits. Naomi Watts plays Betty, with Laura Harring as Rita, Justin Theroux as Adam, and Ann Miller, Mark Pellegrino and Robert Forster among the credited cast of seventy-three. The production was made for about 15 million dollars and returned roughly 20 million worldwide.
Released in 2001, the film has drawn an 8.2 rating from 265 reviews, while audiences rate it 7.9 on IMDb from more than 430,000 votes and 7.8 on TMDB from a much smaller base of around 7,300. The similar scores across professional and viewer ratings indicate broad agreement about the film's standing.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is dedicated to the young Jennifer Syme, whose life story is very similar to that of Betty. Sadly, she passed away during the filming, after a significant portion of it had already been shot.
- Lynch selected actresses from television series for many of the female roles in the film. Coincidentally, Naomi Watts, Melissa George, and Elizabeth Lackey had a shared experience working on the Australian series “Home and Away” (1988).
- The film was created in 1999 and consisted of several pilot television episodes (the first 120 minutes of the film), shot with a budget of $8 million, and new scenes (the last 26 minutes of the film), filmed a year later for $7 million. This money was provided by the French film studio Studio Canal to clarify the film's ending, which in the initial version remained unresolved, as it was planned to continue filming 'Mulholland Drive' as a television series.
- Naomi Watts’ character, Betty, is from Deep River, Ontario. The exact same apartment name appeared in David Lynch’s other film, “Blue Velvet” (1986).
- The limousine in which Rita/Camilla Rhodes was traveling had the license plate “2GAT123”. Cars with exactly the same California license plates appeared in films such as “Beverly Hills Cop 2” (1987), “L.A. Story” (1991), “Traffic” (2000), “Payback” (2000), and “Lovely & Amazing” (2001).
- On her way to audition for the role of Camilla Rhodes/Rita, actress Laura Harring was involved in a minor car accident.
- When Rita and Betty arrive at the Sierra Bonita apartment complex, the name L. J. DeRosa is written on the door next to apartment #17 – the name of Laura J. DeRosa, a member of the art department.
- Lynch chose Naomi Watts and Laura Harring based on their photographs. He then invited each of them for a half-hour interview, during which he told them that he had never seen their work before, either in film or on television. Watts came to the first interview in jeans straight from a flight from New York. Lynch asked her to return the next day looking more 'glamorous.' Two weeks later, she was offered the role. Justin Theroux also met with Lynch immediately after a flight. After a long flight with almost no sleep, Theroux arrived dressed entirely in black, with disheveled hair. Lynch liked this image, and therefore Adam in the film is dressed similarly and has the same hairstyle.
- Despite being mistakenly identified as a work by Johannes Vermeer, “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, the painting hanging in Aunt Betty’s apartment is actually Guido Reni’s “Beatrice Cenci”.
- Justin Theroux described the filming as follows: 'David willingly listened to questions, but refused to answer them… You work as if half-blind…' Justin noted that the only answer he managed to get from Lynch was that the image of Adam Kesher, the Hollywood director, is not autobiographical for Lynch.
- During the farm scene, the Cowboy character is missing eyebrows. This was done intentionally to make his on-screen appearance more sinister and intimidating.
- Naomi Watts stated that she tried to mislead Lynch by pretending she had figured out the plot.
- The role of the lady with blue hair was played by script editor Corey Glesser.
- The film's composer, Angelo Badalamenti, played the role of a Hollywood mogul and espresso enthusiast.
- Describing how Lynch moved from a pilot episode with an 'unfinished ending' to a full-fledged film, the director says: 'One night I sat down, and ideas started coming to me. It was something wonderful! The whole story appeared in a completely different light… Now, looking back, I see that the film always wanted to be exactly like this. It just took a strange beginning to eventually become what it is.' As a result, 18 additional pages of script appeared, describing the romantic relationship between Rita and Betty and the events that occurred after the discovery of the blue box.
- The scene where Adam Kesher smashes the windshield of the producer’s car with a golf club is, none other than, a reference to a real incident in 1994 in which Jack Nicholson, overcome with rage, lost control. Interestingly, Nicholson is known by the nickname “The Mulholland Man”.
- 10 clues from David Lynch on how to unravel this thriller: 1. Pay close attention to the beginning of the film: at least two clues appear before the credits. 2. Track the appearance of the red lampshade on screen. 3. Can you hear the name of the film that Adam Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned again? 4. The car accident is a terrible event… pay attention to where the accident occurred. 5. Who gives the key and why? 6. Pay attention to the robe, ashtray, and coffee cup. 7. What feelings, thoughts, and conclusions arise at the Silencio club. 8. Is only one talent helping Camille achieve success? 9. Note the events surrounding the man at the Winkies bar. 10. Where is Aunt Ruth?
- The DVD release of the film lacks chapter markers. As with 'Simple History,' this was insisted upon by David Lynch himself, who believed it encourages viewers to watch the film in one sitting. Director Robert Zemeckis used a similar tactic in the DVD release of his film 'Forrest Gump' (1994).
- Charles Crowell, the stunt coordinator, played the role of the man with the vacuum cleaner.
- Prints of the film arrived in cinemas along with a special address from David Lynch. In it, he asks projectionists not to center the image on the screen, but to shift it slightly higher so that the upper part of the frame is more visible than the lower part.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
