"I like to remember things my own way... the way I remember them... not necessarily the way they happened..."After Twin Peaks left the TV airwaves, director David Lynch helmed a prequel movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992, before vanishing from the movie scene in the mid-90s..
He came back in 1997 with Lost Highway, a psychological crime thriller that mixed film noir with surrealism, and proved to be indicative of his current film output, with Mulholland Dr. (2001) and INLAND EMPIRE (2006) both covering similar territory about personal identity...
Lost Highway concerns saxophonist Fred Madison (Bill Pullman), who is accused of murdering his wife Renee (Patricia Arquette) and sent to death row, whereupon he transforms into a mechanic called Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty) and leads a completely different life. However, Fred and Pete's separate lives between to intertwine, orchestrated by mysterious gangster Dick Laurent...
Lynch's film has many similarities to Detour (1945), which concerned a jazz pianist who similarly creates a different life. The film even opens with the same shot of a yellow road marking. Lynch himself says he was drawn to making Lost Highway after reading the title in a Barry Gifford book called Night People, and tried to pursue making a film with the author...
This collaboration didn't bare fruit, but during a late-night car journey with editor Mary Sweeney, after shooting Fire Walk With Me, Lynch told her about a new storyline he'd been mulling over, inspired by the recent O.J Simpson trial -- which would become act one of Lost Highway. Sweeney liked it, and Gifford was was similarly impressed... so Lynch set to work.
David Lynch made the film for $15 million and, after its release in January 2007, it bombed at the US box-office, making $3.7 million by April. It did slightly better overseas, but it was still considered a big flop -- although non-US fans are the only ones who've been treated to a decent DVD release in 10 years!
These days, its popularity has grown with a cult crowd, with many new fans of Lynch's work experiencing Lost Highway first on late-night TV, then playing catch-up. Following the more commercial success of Mulholland Dr. and INLAND EMPIRE, it's also become a handy touchstone to the later movies, blessed with some memorably weird imagery and frightening sounds... all adding to that indefinable Lynchian creepiness...
Trivia1. Lost Highway marks the final film appearances of Richard Pryor and Jack Nance. Robert Blake has also not appeared in a film since its release.
2. Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez appear in the film as porn stars.
3. Interior shots were filmed at the haunted Amargosa Hotel in Death Valley.
4. Fred Madison's house was designed and previously owned by David Lynch in real life.
5. Fred's phone number ends in '666'.
6. Robert Blake was later put on trial for killing his wife, echoing the film's plot. He was acquitted.
7. According to David Lynch, Lost Highway and Twin Peaks take place in the same world.
Links
Lost Highway & Mulholland Dr. Comparison
Lost Highway Explained
