David Lynch: Room to Dream

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Lynch's memoir, Room to Dream, is published on 18th June. This is obviously pretty big news for fans of the man.

I'm wading through a review copy at the moment, and it's absolutely fascinating.

As you might expect from Lynch, it's not a straightforward piece of work. Although he does write at length about his life and career in typical autobiography fashion, the book is co-written by the journalist and author Kristine McKenna, who contributes well-researched biographical chapters teeming with quotes from Lynch's friends, family and co-workers.

Each of these chapters is followed by Lynch reflecting upon the period of his life he's just read about. It's an interesting and productive approach, as McKenna's work evidently inspires him to dig into his thoughts and memories in a way he might not have done without her research and the contributions from her interviewees.

Anyway, I just wanted to flag this up in case any of you didn't know about it.

[Wet Blanket]

I didn't know about this but by God I've got it pre-ordered now. Just in time for my birthday too. Thanks for the heads up.

[QDRPHNC]

Yep, thanks for posting this, had no idea this was coming out.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

My pleasure, it's a must-read for serious Lynch-heads. The publishers are more than welcome to stick that quote on the front of future editions.

[colacentral]

Same as above - didn't know about it so thanks. Will be more fuel for the Twin Peaks analysis fire I'm sure.

[VelourSpirit]

That's really exciting. Nice to find out about something just weeks before it comes out. I liked The Art Life - I've read reviews saying there wasn't really much detail on his life but I came away feeling like it showed plenty. Over 500 pages of this should be nice. Not even read Lynch on Lynch though.

[BlodwynPig]

Very nice surprise. Summer reading. Thanks Ballad.

[Wet Blanket]

That's really exciting. Nice to find out about something just weeks before it comes out. I liked The Art Life - I've read reviews saying there wasn't really much detail on his life but I came away feeling like it showed plenty. Over 500 pages of this should be nice. Not even read Lynch on Lynch though.

Lynch on Lynch is great. For someone with the reputation of never explaining himself he makes a great interviewee. I'd love to see it updated to include his thoughts on Inland Empire and Twin Peaks: The Return

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Lynch on Lynch is great. For someone with the reputation of never explaining himself he makes a great interviewee. I'd love to see it updated to include his thoughts on Inland Empire and Twin Peaks: The Return

Yes, Lynch actually does explain himself in interviews. He's an abstract artist, so he's never going to prosaically explain what this or that piece of symbolism in his work represents - who wants that from him anyway? It would ruin the magic - but his whole philosophy and the things which interest, bewitch, trouble and inspire him are all there in his interviews.

This book is no different, he never explicitly tells you what he was trying to say with Eraserhead or Muholland Drive etc., but you still get vivid and telling insights into the mind of their creator. 

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Everybody knows that Lynch wasn't happy with the way the first two seasons of Twin Peaks developed, but in this book he states that the only episode that fully represented his vision for the show was his self-directed pilot.

He doesn't say anything derogatory about the other writers and directors who worked on those first two seasons, but he quite heavily implies that, as far as he's concerned, the whole thing was crap and nothing to do with what he had in mind. Interesting.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

There are lots of noticeable differences between the pilot and the series that followed, the one that most easily springs to mind is MacLachlan's performance is slightly more unhinged in the pilot. The grimace he flashes during Bobby's interrogation scene is really unsettling. I think Lynch had somewhere else he was going with that.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I think it's fair to assume that, if he'd directed and co-written every episode of season one, it would've been a torrential, darkly comic, harrowing mind-fuck in the vein of Fire Walk With Me and season three. That would've been great, but the network would never have allowed it.

Lynch is complimentary towards ABC in his book, they gave him quite a lot of creative freedom, but there's just no way that an unadulterated version of Twin Peaks, as Lynch envisioned it, would've flown on network television in the early '90s.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I've only just discovered this, it's ace - David Lynch takes the Ice Bucket Challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvkqr-S-1Ac

[hedgehog90]

There's a few interviews with McKenna floating around. I've listened to a coupl and Lynch is surprisingly open with her.
As soon as I found out she was working on this book I knew it'd be good.

[VelourSpirit]

MacLachlan's performance is slightly more unhinged in the pilot. The grimace he flashes during Bobby's interrogation scene is really unsettling. I think Lynch had somewhere else he was going with that.

I found him quite sinister on a rewatch, which is odd because I remember finishing the pilot the first time thinking 'what a lovely wholesome man'.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Right, I finally finished this epic tome. It's great.

As you'd expect, Lynch barely touches upon his private life, presumably out of a sense of decorum and the fact that it's nobody's damn business. However, he does write at length about each of his films, which is all anyone wants from him anyway.

He doesn't attempt to "explain" them, of course, but nobody wants that either. Instead he provides a strong sense of what it was like making them, while hinting at some of the things that inspired his CRAZY IDEAS.

The chapter on Dune - a film I still haven't seen - is particularly interesting. He's quite hard on himself for "selling out" and getting involved with the project in the first place, but it was a valuable experience in the sense that it taught him to never accept any kind of compromise in his work from then on.

He's a man of integrity, no doubt about that. A stubborn fucker too, and quite selfish when it comes to balancing his all-consuming devotion to art with his family relationships.

All in all, though, he's clearly a great bunch of lads. Swears a lot too.

Anyway, I could drone on and on about this excellent book, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone. It's out soon.

[Wet Blanket]

Can't wait to read this. His occasionally cantankerous and single-mined attitude on display in the backstage footage from Twin Peaks displays the sense of steeliness that has got him where he is (and ever so slightly belies his aw-shucks persona)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Yes, this book proves once and for all that Lynch's public persona is a partial affectation.

I mean, we always knew that, you couldn't become one of the most successful and uncompromising art-house directors in the world if you were a genuinely eccentric naif, but I like how, as he gets older, Lynch seems quite eager to dismantle the whole "Jimmy Stewart from Mars" shtick he's built around himself.

He obviously is quite eccentric and a lovely fella to boot, no doubt about that, but he's also a canny negotiator who won't tolerate any interference while pursuing his vision. 

[VelourSpirit]

I've just started reading Lynch on Lynch so I might get this in a few months. Although, maybe I won't mind reading two Lynch books in a row considering I'm always thinking about him and his films anyway. Does he talk about the new Twin Peaks much in Room to Dream?

[mothman]

Is it a reasonably straightforward text format, so it'll be OK to get in ebook format?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Is it a reasonably straightforward text format, so it'll be OK to get in ebook format?

Yep, it's formatted in a straightforward way. You shouldn't have any problems reading it via Ebook.

Does he talk about the new Twin Peaks much in Room to Dream?

Yes, and the whole experience sounds like it was exhausting for him, both physically and psychologically. He stuck to his guns, though, he did it.

[hedgehog90]

It sounds like another edition Lynch on Lynch.
I briefly looked online for the expanded edition (includes upto Mulholland Dr) but turned up nowt.
Is there much point pursuing this or should I just get this new book?

[VelourSpirit]

The one on Amazon that I've got is the expanded edition. Or are you looking for an ebook?

[hedgehog90]

Either would do.
I kept coming across the original version when I looked, or it wasn't specified.

[mothman]

Yep, it's formatted in a straightforward way. You shouldn't have any problems reading it via Ebook.

Thanks BBB.

[VelourSpirit]

Either would do.
I kept coming across the original version when I looked, or it wasn't specified.

Ah then yeah it's just the top result on Amazon for 'Lynch on Lynch'. I didn't realise it was the revised edition (or that there even was one) since it doesn't specify on the page except for the publishing date.

Yes, and the whole experience sounds like it was exhausting for him, both physically and psychologically. He stuck to his guns, though, he did it.

Ahh great, thanks. Nice thinking back to 2015 when we were desperate to know what the new Twin Peaks could possibly be like, knowing now we can read about all the behind the scenes stuff.

[BJBMK2]

This is meant to be out next week right? I pre ordered it last week at Waterstones, and it's already here, it arrived. Does that make me the first person in the country to own it?

Please no one come in and contradict this, as this is what I want to keep telling myself/friends/people in the street.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I received my copy last month because I'm a pretty big deal in the cutthroat world of non-fiction book reviewing. BEAT THAT.

On a serious note, it's an impressive-looking tome, isn't it? There are so many beautiful black and white photographs peppered throughout.

[BJBMK2]

Oh aye, it's a doorstopper all right, always a lovely sight, makes you feel like you've got your money's worth. Won't be able to get properly stuck in till tonight, but yeah, the photographs are lovely.

Nice back cover too. Lovely head of hair, that man has.

[Captain Crunch]

I've only just discovered this, it's ace - David Lynch takes the Ice Bucket Challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvkqr-S-1Ac

That is very funny thank you.

How are you lot getting on with this?  I've read about a third so far and it's enjoyable but I feel like Lynch's bits read more like transcripts and maybe could have done with tightening up a bit?  Still I suppose it's worth it if you end up with snippets like:

He said "Okay hotshot, whaddya got?" I said "I have this film called Ronnie Rocket" and he said "what's it about?" I said "It's about a man who's three and a half feet tall, with a red pompadour, who runs on sixty-cycle alternating current electricity."  He said " Get out of my office".