Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com THE ARCHITECTURE OF DAVID LYNCH Senalda Road, Hollywood Hills Credit: Photograph by Yana Stoimenova i Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com ii www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com THE ARCHITECTURE OF DAVID LYNCH Richard Martin iii Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK 1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2014 © Richard Martin, 2014 Richard Martin has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: HB: 978–1–4725–0548–4 PB: 978–1–4725–0881–2 ePDF: 978–1–4725–8643–8 ePub: 978–1–4725–2023–4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Martin, Richard, 1969The architecture of David Lynch / Richard Martin pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978–1–4725–0548–4 (hardback) — ISBN 978–1–4725–0881–2 (paperback) Lynch, David, 1946 -Criticism and interpretation Architecture in motion pictures Motion pictures and architecture I Title PN1998.3.L96M37 2014 791.4302’33092—dc23 2014004676 Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk iv www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com To Alice Honor Gavin, and to Seba Davies v Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com vi www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com CONTENTS Prologue: Three Journeys viii Introduction: Mapping the Lost Highway Town and City Home Road 15 63 107 Stage 133 Room 163 Acknowledgments 187 Notes 189 List of Illustrations 209 Bibliography 213 Author Biography 223 Index 225 vii Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PROLOGUE: THREE JOURNEYS Łódź, on a gray winter’s day In December 2009, Frank Gehry unveiled designs for a new cultural center in the city of Łódź—a multi-purpose facility including Poland’s largest movie theater (Plate 1) Set alongside a rusting power station, Gehry’s cluster of spectacular interlocking forms in many ways exemplifies contemporary architectural trends: a decaying industrial landscape is transformed thanks to a global “starchitect.” Yet, one feature of the indicative images caught my attention: the projection onto the centers glass faỗade of a scene from David Lynch’s film Inland Empire (2006) Walking around the site of Gehry’s plans, I tried to imagine the connections between a Polish regeneration project and one of Hollywood’s most perplexing film-makers In what sense, I asked myself, Gehry’s designs reflect the architecture of David Lynch? Paris, in the spring Designed by Jean Nouvel and completed in 1994, the Fondation Cartier in Paris is a building with cinematic ambitions It features a series of enormous screens—an elongated faỗade and two glass frames positioned between the building and the Boulevard Raspail—which manipulate light and perception The intention, Nouvel claims, is to “blend the real image and the virtual image.”1 “I sometimes wonder,” the architect says, “if I’m seeing the building or the image of the building, if Cartier is about transparency or about reflection.”2 Between March and May 2007, the Fondation Cartier hosted The Air is on Fire, an exhibition of David Lynch’s paintings, photographs and sculptures Amid the drapes and platforms, I noticed a crude sketch, in marker pen, of a domestic interior (Plate 2) Facing the sketch was a three-dimensional manifestation of the viii www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com same space, the furnishings finished with a scribbled texture (Plate 3) Here, the real and the represented were again in conversation Walking through this eerie stage set, inside a building self-consciously exploring perception, I found myself wondering: is this the architecture of David Lynch? Los Angeles, in the sunshine I can’t drive, so getting around Los Angeles was a struggle One day, in the summer of 2009, I hired a local woman named Karen to drive me to various locations in the city Our first destination was Senalda Road, tucked beneath Mulholland Drive in the quiet curves of the Hollywood Hills Surrounded by rich vegetation, the street contains three stark concrete structures, built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and now owned by David Lynch As we drove along Senalda Road, I asked Karen to slow down The first building we met, an image of which adorns the cover of this book, was an unnerving distortion of domestic modernism, with a mottled faỗade broken only briey by narrow glass slots and a larger window wrapping around one corner It was instantly recognizable, despite slight remodeling, as the setting of Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997), and it now contains the director’s editing suite and a screening room As we drove by, I took as many photos as possible, trying to recreate the perspective Lynch’s camera held on the building What was I doing with this familiar sight (or site)? Was I, in Nouvel’s terms, seeing the building or the image of the building? Was I projecting, like Gehry, Lynch’s own images onto the exterior of the house? The next building on the street, a less distinguished structure with heavy discoloring on its once-white walls, serves as offices for Lynch’s company, Asymmetrical Productions As we approached the third building, Karen suddenly shouted, “He’s there! He’s on the street!” Sure enough, in front of his home, the Beverly Johnson House (Plate 4)—a hulking form with Mayan touches and a pinkish hue, designed by Lloyd Wright (son of Frank)—stood David Lynch He was impeccably dressed in a crisp white shirt, buttoned to the collar He looked just like David Lynch He was talking with a group of people spread across the street As we stared at them, they began to look at us Given our slow pace and my conspicuous camera, our presence started to seem rather creepy Excruciatingly, our car parted the group I sat embarrassed in the passenger seat as Lynch stared into the vehicle We parked around the PROLOGUE ix Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 35 Wild at Heart: Sailor, Lula and their Ford Thunderbird PLATE 36 Wild at Heart: a classic couple on the run PLATE 37 Wild at Heart: the epic traffic jam in El Paso www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 38 The Straight Story: man and nature perfectly balanced PLATE 39 The Straight Story: Lynch tracks a combine harvester PLATE 40 The Straight Story: Alvin passes the Grotto of the Redemption Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 41 Detail from Christian Tomaszewski, On Chapels, Caves and Erotic Misery (2006) Mixed media installation Credit: Copyright Christian Tomaszewski Photograph by Jason Mandella, Georg Tassev, Laszlo Toth www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 42 Detail from Christian Tomaszewski, On Chapels, Caves and Erotic Misery (2006) Mixed media installation Credit: Copyright Christian Tomaszewski Photograph by Jason Mandella, Georg Tassev, Laszlo Toth PLATE 43 Blue Velvet: Dorothy on stage at the Slow Club Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 44 Twin Peaks, episode fourteen: the giant on stage at the Roadhouse PLATE 45 Mulholland Drive: Rebekah del Rio collapses at Club Silencio www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 46 Mulholland Drive: auditions at Paramount Studios PLATE 47 Twin Peaks, episode two: the first appearance of the Red Room Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 48 Twin Peaks, episode twenty-nine: the corridor of the Red Room PLATE 49 Workers’ housing in the Ksie˛z˙ y Młyn district of Łódz´ Credit: Photograph by Richard Martin www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 50 Inland Empire: Nikki’s Hollywood mansion PLATE 51 Inland Empire: two men inside the Pałac Herbsta Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 52 The Pałac Herbsta in Łódz´ (right), with the refurbished Scheibler cotton mill behind it Credit: Photograph by Richard Martin www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 53 Inland Empire: a prostitute on Hollywood Boulevard PLATE 54 Inland Empire: prostitutes by Plac Zwycie˛stwa Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 55 Plac Zwycie˛stwa in Łódz´, with the Museum of Cinematography and former home of Karl Scheibler on the right Credit: Photograph by Richard Martin PLATE 56 Roman Polan´ski’s star on Ulica Piotrkowska Credit: Photograph by Richard Martin www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 57 The Hollywood and Vine intersection in Los Angeles Credit: Photograph by Yana Stoimenova PLATE 58 Inland Empire: Nikki enters the Orpheum Theater Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 59 The auditorium of the Orpheum Theater on Broadway Credit: Photograph by Yana Stoimenova www.ebook777.com Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 60 Hotel Grand on Ulica Piotrkowska Credit: Photograph by Richard Martin Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com PLATE 61 Inland Empire: the alley behind the marketplace PLATE 62 The site of Lynch’s proposed film studio in Łódz´ Credit: Photograph by Richard Martin www.ebook777.com ... disappearing urban forces.” The end of film noir at the end of the 1950s, Dimendberg states, coincided with ? ?the end of the metropolis of classical modernity, the centred city of immediately recognisable... we here, in the theater, or there, on the screen?—becomes a matter of uncertainty.40 The study of cinematic architecture reveals the wider geographical registers in which a “set of pictures”... production of a malfunctioning human form? ?the grotesque baby Henry fathers Given that images of industrial architecture smother the film, this deformed creature feels like the result of a problem on the