Blue Velvet
Short description
Blue Velvet is set in Lumberton, a small North Carolina town whose tidy surface hides something darker. Jeffrey Beaumont, a college student who has come home while his father is ill, finds a severed human ear in a field and takes it to the police. His curiosity about the discovery draws him toward Dorothy Vallens, a nightclub singer, and toward Frank Booth, a criminal who has taken her husband and child. What begins as an amateur investigation pulls Jeffrey into a world of violence and exploitation, and the people around him, including the sheriff's daughter Sandy, become part of it.
David Lynch wrote and directed the film, his sixth feature in a career of seventeen, following Dune and preceding Wild at Heart. Kyle MacLachlan plays Jeffrey, Isabella Rossellini plays Dorothy, and Dennis Hopper plays Frank, with Laura Dern, Hope Lange and Dean Stockwell among the twenty-eight credited cast members. Fred C. Caruso produced.
The film was made for about six million dollars and took roughly nine million worldwide, a modest return. It has held up with audiences over time: on IMDb it sits at 7.7 from some 244,000 votes, and on TMDB at 7.6 from a much smaller group of around 4,000. A critics' rating of 8.4 from 141 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of Sandy was offered to Molly Ringwald, but her mother forbade her daughter from filming in the movie after reading the script.
- The knife scratch on Jeffrey's left cheek, inflicted by Dorothy while making him undress, was clearly visible as he descended the stairs from her. However, the next day his cheek was completely smooth.
- Frank's line, “Don`t you fucking look at me!” was ranked 74th on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 most famous movie quotes. The same magazine also named “Blue Velvet” among the 25 “most dangerous films.”
- In the original script, Frank was supposed to inhale helium, but Hopper suggested amyl nitrate instead, which he had heard enhanced sexual desire. Years later, Hopper admitted that Lynch's idea with helium would have looked much more interesting.
- The prop ear found by Kyle MacLachlan's character at the beginning of the film is now on display in a case at the “Movie Madness Video And More” video store in Portland, Oregon.
- The dog that appears at the beginning of the film previously played Sparky in Tim Burton's short film “Frankenweenie.”
- A remake of “Blue Velvet” performed by Bobby Vinton was specially made for the film. Lynch liked the remake, but he still insisted that the original old composition be included in the film.
- Hanna Schygulla and Helen Mirren were initially considered for the role of Dorothy.
- Roy Orbison, the author of “In Dreams,” which plays in the brothel scene, did not give his permission for the song to be used in the film. Lynch nevertheless included the song in the film and, as an “apology,” later made a music video for Orbison using footage from *Blue Velvet*.
- In June 2008, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the ten best mystery films.
- The film contains several references to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln: Jeffrey is warned not to travel on Lincoln Street; Frank Booth shares a surname with Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth; Don Vance's death is identical to Lincoln's death.
- In the scene where Dean Stockwell sings “In Dreams,” he was supposed to be holding a regular microphone according to the script. At the last moment, Lynch decided to replace the microphone with a flashlight.
- Dennis Hopper's character utters the word “fuck” in almost every sentence. Moreover, he is the only one who says it in the film (not counting the moment when he makes Dean Stockwell swear).
- The role of Jeffrey was offered to Chris Isaak, but he declined. Nevertheless, Lynch still used two songs from his 1985 debut album “Silvertone” in the film.
- In 1999, Entertainment Weekly named "Blue Velvet" one of the "greatest films of all time".
- According to the script, Dorothy's apartment is located on the seventh floor, although the building where the corresponding scenes were filmed (Carolina Apartments in Wilmington, North Carolina) only has six floors.
- The role of Jeffrey was originally offered to Val Kilmer, but he turned down the script.
- Before filming began, David Lynch wrote three scripts that were rejected.
- To sell the film, producer Dino De Laurentiis had to establish his own distribution company, D.E.G., as no one else wanted to be associated with it.
- Many actors who were offered the role of Frank Booth (including Steven Berkoff) found the character too repulsive and refused to play him. Dennis Hopper, on the other hand, declared immediately after reading the script: “I will play Frank, because I *am* Frank!”
- The original film ran for 4 hours, so Lynch ultimately “cut” it by almost half, and these excised pieces remained lost for a long time. They were released on Blu-ray only in 2011.
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