Table of Contents

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Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
lntroduction
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THE FIRST DIVE
SUFFOCATING RUBBER CLOWN SUIT
STARTING OUT
THE ART LIFE
A GARDEN AT NIGHT
CURTAINS UP
CINEMA
INTERPRETATION
THE CIRCLE
IDEAS
DESIRE
CONSCIOUSNESS
TRANSLATING THE IDEA
LOS ANGELES
ERASERHEAD
THE PACE OF LIFE
YOGIS
BOBâC¨S BIG BOY
THE ANGRIEST DOG IN THE WORLD
MUSIC
INTUITION
THE UNIFIED FIELD
THE FOURTH STATE
GETTING THERE
MODERN SCIENCE AND ANCIENT SCIENCE
ANYWHERE, ANYTIME
IDENTITY
FINAL CUT
THERAPY
DREAMS
ANGELO BADALAMENTI
SOUND
CASTING
REHEARSAL
FEAR
ALL TOGETHER NOW
TWIN PEAKS
THE CONTINUING STORY
THE RED ROOM
ASK THE IDEA
TEST AUDIENCE
GENERALIZATIONS
DARKNESS
SUFFERING
LIGHT OF THE SELF
A TOWER OF GOLD
RELIGION
DRUGS
TURN ON THE LIGHT
INDUSTRIAL SYMPHONY NO. 1
LOST HIGHWAY
RESTRICTIONS
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
THE BOX AND THE KEY
A SENSE OF PLACE
BEAUTY
TEXTURE
WORKING WITH WOOD
HAVING A SETUP
FIRE
LIGHT ON FILM
THE STRAIGHT STORY
HEROES OF FILM
FELLINI
KUBRICK
INLAND EMPIRE
THE NAME
A NEW WAY TO WORK
DIRECTORâC¨S COMMENTARY
THE DEATH OF FILM
DV FOR YOUNG FILMMAKERS
DV OUALITY
FUTURE OF CINEMA
COMMON SENSE
ADVICE
SLEEP
KEEP AT IT
SUCCESS AND FAILURE
GONE FISHING, AGAIN
COMPASSION
CONSCIOUSNESS - BASED EDUCATION
REAL PEACE
IN CLOSING
CODA: TRUE HAPPINESS LIES WITHIN
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5ELECT FlLMOCRAPHY
5OURCE5 OUOTED
A8OUT THE AUTHOR
|EREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN
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eISBN : 978-1-101-04330-1
1. Transcendentaí Medítatíon. 2. Creatíve abííítyâC"Reíígíous aspects.
3. Creatíon (Líterary, artístíc, etc.). I.Títíe.
BF637.T68L
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To His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
INTRODUCTION
Ideas are ííke físh.
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If you want to catch ííttíe físh, you can stay ín the shaííow water. But íf you
want to
catch the bíg físh, youâC¨ve got to go deeper.
Down deep, the físh are more powerfuí and more pure.TheyâC¨re
huge and
abstract. And theyâC¨re very beautífuí.
I íook for a certaín kínd of físh that ís ímportant to me, one that can transíate
to
cínema. But there are aíí kínds of físh swímmíng down there. There
are físh for
busíness, físh for sports.There are físh for everythíng.
Everythíng, anythíng that ís a thíng, comes up from the deepest
íeveí. Modern
physícs caíís that íeveí the Unífíed Fíeíd. The more your
conscíousnessâC"your
awarenessâC"ís expanded, the deeper you go toward thís source, and the bígger
the físh you can catch.
My thírty-three-year practíce of the Transcendentaí Medítatíon program has been
centraí to my work ín fíím and paíntíng and to aíí areas of my íífe. For me ít has
been the way to díve deeper ín search of the bíg físh. In thís book, I want to
share
some of those experíences wíth you.
THE FIRST DIVE
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He whose happiness is within, whose contentment is within, whose light is all
within, that yogi, being one with
8rahman, attains eternal freedom in divine consciousness.
8HACAVAD-ClTA
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When I fírst heard about medítatíon, I had zero ínterest ín ít. I
wasnâC¨t even
curíous. It sounded ííke a waste of tíme.
What got me ínterested, though, was the phrase âCotrue happíness ííes wíthín.âC!
At fírst I thought ít sounded kínd of mean, because ít doesnâC¨t teíí you where the
âCowíthínâC! ís, or how to get there. But stííí ít had a ríng of truth. And I began
to
thínk that maybe medítatíon was a way to go wíthín.
I íooked ínto medítatíon, asked some questíons, and started contempíatíng dífferent
forms. At that moment, my síster caííed and saíd she had been
doíng
Transcendentaí Medítatíon for síx months.There was somethíng ín her
voíce. A
change. A quaííty of happíness. And I thought, ThatâC¨s what l want.
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So ín |uíy 1973 I went to the TM center ín Los Angeíes and met an ínstructor, and I
ííked her. She íooked ííke Dorís Day. And she taught me thís techníque. She gave
me a mantra, whích ís a sound-víbratíon-thought. You donâC¨t medítate
on the
meaníng of ít, but ítâC¨s a very specífíc sound-víbratíon-thought.
She took me ínto a ííttíe room to have my fírst medítatíon. I sat down, cíosed my
eyes, started thís mantra, and ít was as íf I were ín an eíevator and the cabíe had
been cut. Boom! I feíí ínto bííssâC"pure bííss. And I was |ust in
there. Then the
teacher saíd, âCoItâC¨s tíme to come out; ítâC¨s been twenty mínutes.âC And I !
saíd,âCoITâC¨S ALREADY BEEN TWENTY MINUTES?!âC And she saíd, âCoShhhh! !
âC because other peopíe were medítatíng. It seemed so famíííar, but aíso so new !
and powerfuí. After that, I saíd the word âCouníqueâC shouíd ! be reserved for
thís
experíence.
It takes you to an ocean of pure conscíousness, pure knowíngness.
But ítâC¨s
famíííar; ítâC¨s you. And ríght away a sense of happíness
emergesâC"not a
goofbaíí happíness, but a thíck beauty.
I have never míssed a medítatíon ín thírty-three years. I medítate
once ín the
morníng and agaín ín the afternoon, for about twenty mínutes each tíme.Then I go
about the busíness of my day. And I fínd that the |oy of doíng íncreases. Intuítíon
íncreases. The píeasure of íífe grows. And negatívíty recedes.
SUFFOCATING RUBBER CLOWN SUIT
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lt would be easier to roll up the entire sky into a small cloth than it would be
to obtain true happiness without
knowing the 5elf.
À
UPANl5HAD5
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When I started medítatíng, I was fíííed wíth anxíetíes and fears. I feít a sense
of
depressíon and anger.
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I often took out thís anger on my fírst wífe. After I had been medítatíng for about
two weeks, she came to me and saíd, âCoWhatâC¨s goíng on?âC I was quíet for a !
moment. But fínaííy I saíd, âCoWhat do you mean?âC And she saíd,
âCoThís !
anger, where díd ít go?âC And I hadnâC¨t even reaíízed that ít had íífted. !
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I caíí that depressíon and anger the Suffocatíng Rubber Cíown Suít of Negatívíty.
ItâC¨s suffocating, and that rubber stinks. But once you start
medítatíng and
dívíng wíthín, the cíown suít starts to díssoíve. You fínaííy reaííze how putríd
was the
stínk when ít starts to go.Then, when ít díssoíves, you have freedom.
Anger and depressíon and sorrow are beautífuí thíngs ín a story, but theyâC¨re ííke
poíson to the fíímmaker or artíst. TheyâC¨re ííke a víse gríp on
creatívíty. If
youâC¨re ín that gríp, you can hardíy get out of bed, much íess experíence the fíow
of creatívíty and ídeas. You must have cíaríty to create. You have to
be abíe to
catch ídeas.
STARTING OUT
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I started out |ust as a reguíar person, growíng up ín the Northwest. My father was
a
research scíentíst for the Department of Agrícuíture, studyíng trees. So I was ín
the
woods a íot. And the woods for a chííd are magícaí. I ííved ín what peopíe caíí
smaíí
towns. My woríd was what wouíd be consídered about a cíty bíock,
maybe two
bíocks. Everythíng occurred ín that space. Aíí the dreamíng, aíí my fríends exísted
ín
that smaíí woríd. But to me ít seemed so huge and magícaí. There was píenty of
tíme avaííabíe to dream and be wíth fríends.
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I ííked to paínt and I ííked to draw. And I often thought, wrongíy, that when you
got
to be an aduít, you stopped paíntíng and drawíng and díd somethíng more seríous.
In the nínth grade, my famííy moved to Aíexandría,Vírgínía. On the front íawn of my
gírífríendâC¨s house one níght, I met a guy named Toby Keeíer. As we were taíkíng,
he saíd hís father was a paínter. I thought maybe he míght have been
a house
paínter, but further taíkíng got me around to the fact that he was a fíne artíst.
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Thís conversatíon changed my íífe. I had been somewhat ínterested ín scíence, but I
suddeníy knew that I wanted to be a paínter. And I wanted to ííve the art íífe.
THE ART LIFE
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In hígh schooí, I read Robert HenríâC¨s book The Art 5pirit, whích prompted the
ídea of the art íífe. For me, íívíng the art íífe meant a dedícatíon to
paíntíngâC"a
compíete dedícatíon to ít, makíng everythíng eíse secondary.
That, I thought, ís the oníy way youâC¨re goíng to get ín deep and díscover thíngs.
So anythíng that dístracts from that path of díscovery ís not part of the art íífe,
ín
that way of thínkíng. Reaííy, the art íífe means a freedom. And ít seems, I thínk,
a
haír seífísh. But ít doesnâC¨t have to be seífísh; ít |ust means that you need
tíme.
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Bushneíí Keeíer, the father of my fríend Toby, aíways had thís expressíon: âCoIf
you
want to get one hour of good paíntíng ín, you have to have
four hours of
unínterrupted tíme.âC!
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And thatâC¨s basícaííy true. You donâC¨t |ust start paíntíng. You have to sít for a
whííe and get some kínd of mentaí ídea ín order to go and make the ríght moves.
And you need a whoíe bunch of materíaís at the ready. For exampíe, you need to
buííd framework stretchers for the canvas. It can take a íong tíme |ust to prepare
somethíng to paínt on. And then you go to work. The ídea |ust needs to be enough
to get you started, because, for me, whatever foííows ís a process of actíon and
reactíon. ItâC¨s aíways a process of buíídíng and then destroyíng. And then, out of
thís destructíon, díscoveríng a thíng and buíídíng on ít. Nature píays a huge part
ín
ít. Puttíng díffícuít materíaís togetherâC"ííke bakíng somethíng ín sunííght, or
usíng
one materíaí that fíghts another materíaíâC"causes íts own organíc reactíon.Then
ítâC¨s a matter of síttíng back and studyíng ít and studyíng ít and studyíng ít;
and
suddeníy, you fínd youâC¨re íeapíng up out of your chaír and goíng ín and doíng
the next thíng.ThatâC¨s actíon and reactíon.
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But íf you know that youâC¨ve got to be somewhere ín haíf an hour, thereâC¨s no
way you can achíeve that. So the art íífe means a freedom to have tíme for the
good thíngs to happen.ThereâC¨s not aíways a íot of tíme for other thíngs.
A GARDEN AT NIGHT
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So I was a paínter. I paínted and I went to art schooí. I had no ínterest ín fíím.
I
wouíd go to a fíím sometímes, but I reaííy |ust wanted to paínt.
One day I was síttíng ín a bíg studío room at the Pennsyívanía Academy of the Fíne
Arts.The room was dívíded ínto ííttíe cubícíes. I was ín my cubícíe; ít was about
three
oâC¨cíock ín the afternoon. And I had a paíntíng goíng, whích was of a garden at
níght. It had a íot of bíack, wíth green píants emergíng out of the darkness. Aíí
of a
sudden, these píants started to move, and I heard a wínd. I wasnâC¨t takíng drugs!
I thought, Oh, how fantastic this is| And I began to wonder íf fíím couíd be a way
to
make paíntíngs move.
At the end of each year, there was an experímentaí paíntíng and scuípture contest.
The year before, I had buíít somethíng for the contest, and thís
tíme I thought:
lâC¨m going to do a moving painting. I buíít a scuíptured screenâC"síx feet by
eíght
feetâC"and pro|ected a pretty crudeíy anímated stop-motíon fíím on ít. It was
caííed
5ix Men Cetting 5ick. I thought that was goíng to be the extent of my fíím career,
because thís thíng actuaííy cost a fortune to makeâC"two hundred doííars. l simply
canâC¨t afford to go down this road, I thought. But an oíder student saw the pro|
ect
and commíssíoned me to buííd one for hís home. And that was what started the baíí
roíííng. After that, I |ust kept gettíng green ííghts.Then ííttíe by ííttíeâC"or
rather íeap
by íeapâC"I feíí ín íove wíth thís medíum.
CURTAINS UP
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lnow that all of Nature is but a magic theater, that the great Mother is the master
magician, and that this whole
world is peopled by her many parts.
UPANl5HAD5
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ItâC¨s so magícaíâC"I donâC¨t know whyâC"to go ínto a theater and have
the
ííghts go down. ItâC¨s very quíet, and then the curtaíns start to
open. Maybe
theyâC¨re red. And you go ínto a woríd.
ItâC¨s beautífuí when ítâC¨s a shared experíence. ItâC¨s stííí
beautífuí when
youâC¨re at home and your theater ís ín front of you, though ítâC¨s not quíte as
good. ItâC¨s best on a bíg screen. ThatâC¨s the way to go ínto a woríd.
ClNEMA
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Cínema ís a íanguage. It can say thíngsâC"bíg, abstract thíngs. And I íove that
about
ít.
IâC¨m not aíways good wíth words. Some peopíe are poets and have a beautífuí
way of sayíng thíngs wíth words. But cínema ís íts own íanguage. And wíth ít you
can say so many thíngs, because youâC¨ve got tíme and sequences. YouâC¨ve
got díaíogue. YouâC¨ve got musíc. YouâC¨ve got sound effects. You have so many
tooís. And so you can express a feeííng and a thought that canâC¨t be conveyed
any other way. ItâC¨s a magícaí medíum.
For me, ítâC¨s so beautífuí to thínk about these píctures and
sounds fíowíng
together ín tíme and ín sequence, makíng somethíng that can be done oníy through
cínema. ItâC¨s not |ust words or musícâC"ítâC¨s a whoíe range of
eíements
comíng together and makíng somethíng that dídnâC¨t exíst before. ItâC¨s teíííng
storíes. ItâC¨s devísíng a woríd, an experíence, that peopíe cannot
have uníess
they see that fíím.
When I catch an ídea for a fíím, I faíí ín íove wíth the way cínema can express ít.
I
ííke a story that hoíds abstractíons, and thatâC¨s what cínema can do.
INTERPRETATION
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A fíím shouíd stand on íts own. ItâC¨s absurd íf a fíímmaker needs to say what a
fíím means ín words.The woríd ín the fíím ís a created one, and peopíe sometímes
íove goíng ínto that woríd. For them that woríd ís reaí. And íf peopíe fínd out
certaín
thíngs about how somethíng was done, or how thís means thís or that means that,
the next tíme they see the fíím, these thíngs enter ínto the experíence. And then
the fíím becomes dífferent. I thínk ítâC¨s so precíous and ímportant to maíntaín
that woríd and not say certaín thíngs that couíd break the experíence.
A
You donâC¨t need anythíng outsíde of the work.There have been a íot of
great
books wrítten, and the authors are íong sínce dead, and you canâC¨t díg them up.
But youâC¨ve got that book, and a book can make you dream and make you thínk
about thíngs.
A
Peopíe sometímes say they have troubíe understandíng a fíím, but I
thínk they
understand much more than they reaííze. Because weâC¨re aíí
bíessed wíth
íntuítíonâC"we reaííy have the gíft of íntuítíng thíngs.
Someone míght say, I donâC¨t understand musíc; but most peopíe
experíence
musíc emotíonaííy and wouíd agree that musíc ís an abstractíon. You donâC¨t need
to put musíc ínto words ríght awayâC"you |ust íísten.
Cínema ís a íot ííke musíc. It can be very abstract, but peopíe have a yearníng to
make ínteííectuaí sense of ít, to put ít ríght ínto words. And when they canâC¨t do
that, ít feeís frustratíng. But they can come up wíth an expíanatíon from wíthín,
íf
they |ust aííow ít. If they started taíkíng to theír fríends, soon
they wouíd see
thíngsâC"what somethíng ís and what somethíng ísnâC¨t. And they míght agree
wíth theír fríends or argue wíth theír fríendsâC"but how couíd they agree or argue
íf
they donâC¨t aíready know? The ínterestíng thíng ís, they reaííy do
know more
than they thínk. And by voícíng what they know, ít becomes cíearer. And when they
see somethíng, they couíd try to cíarífy that a ííttíe more and, agaín, go back and
forth wíth a fríend. And they wouíd come to some concíusíon. And that wouíd be
vaííd.
THE CIRCLE
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I ííke the sayíng: âCoThe woríd ís as you are.âC And I thínk
fííms are as you !
are.ThatâC¨s why, aíthough the frames of a fíím are aíways the sameâC"the same
number, ín the same sequence, wíth the same soundsâC"every
screeníng ís
dífferent. The dífference ís sometímes subtíe but ítâC¨s there. It depends on the
audíence.There ís a círcíe that goes from the audíence to the fíím and back. Each
person ís íookíng and thínkíng and feeííng and comíng up wíth hís or her own sense
of thíngs. And ítâC¨s probabíy dífferent from what I feíí ín íove wíth.
A
So you donâC¨t know how ítâC¨s goíng to hít peopíe. But íf you thought about how
ítâC¨s goíng to hít peopíe, or íf ítâC¨s goíng to hurt someone, or íf ítâC¨s goíng
to
do thís or do that, then you wouíd have to stop makíng fííms. You |ust do these
thíngs that you faíí ín íove wíth, and you never know whatâC¨s goíng to happen.
IDEAS
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An ídea ís a thought. ItâC¨s a thought that hoíds more than you thínk ít does when
you receíve ít. But ín that fírst moment there ís a spark. In a comíc stríp, íf
someone
gets an ídea, a ííghtbuíb goes on. It happens ín an ínstant, |ust as ín íífe.
It wouíd be great íf the entíre fíím came aíí at once. But ít
comes, for me, ín
fragments. That fírst fragment ís ííke the Rosetta Stone. ItâC¨s the píece
of the
puzzíe that índícates the rest. ItâC¨s a hopefuí puzzíe píece.
In 8lue Velvet, ít was red ííps, green íawns, and the songâC"Bobby
VíntonâC¨s
versíon of âCoBíue Veívet.âC The next thíng was an ear íyíng ín a fíeíd. And that
!
was ít.
You faíí ín íove wíth the fírst ídea, that ííttíe tíny píece. And once youâC¨ve got
ít,
the rest wííí come ín tíme.
DESIRE
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Desíre for an ídea ís ííke baít.When youâC¨re físhíng, you have to have patíence.
You baít your hook, and then you waít.The desíre ís the baít that puíís those físh
ínâC"those ídeas.
The beautífuí thíng ís that when you catch one físh that you íove, even íf ítâC¨s a
ííttíe físhâC"a fragment of an ídeaâC"that físh wííí draw ín other físh, and
theyâC¨íí
hook onto ít.Then youâC¨re on your way. Soon there are more and more and more
fragments, and the whoíe thíng emerges. But ít starts wíth desíre.
CONSCIOUSNESS
A
A
A
Through meditation one realizes the unbounded.
That which is unbounded is happy.
There is no happiness in the small.
À
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
Líttíe físh swím on the surface, but the bíg ones swím down beíow.
If you can
expand the contaíner youâC¨re físhíng ínâC"your conscíousnessâC"you can catch
bígger físh.
HereâC¨s how ít works: Insíde every human beíng ís an ocean of pure,
víbrant
conscíousness. When you âCotranscendâC ín Transcendentaí Medítatíon, you díve !
down ínto that ocean of pure conscíousness. You spíash ínto ít. And ítâC¨s bííss.
You can víbrate wíth thís bííss. Experíencíng pure conscíousness
eníívens ít,
expands ít. It starts to unfoíd and grow.
If you have a goíf-baíí-sízed conscíousness, when you read a book, youâC¨íí have a
goíf-baíí-sízed understandíng; when you íook out a wíndow, a
goíf-baíí-sízed
awareness; when you wake up ín the morníng, a goíf-baíí-sízed wakefuíness; and as
you go about your day, a goíf-baíí-sízed ínner happíness.
A
But íf you can expand that conscíousness, make ít grow, then when you read that
book, youâC¨íí have more understandíng; when you íook out, more
awareness;
when you wake up, more wakefuíness; and as you go about your day, more ínner
happíness.
A
You can catch ídeas at a deeper íeveí. And creatívíty reaííy fíows. It makes íífe
more
ííke a fantastíc game.
TRANSLATING THE IDEA
A
A
A
To me, every fíím, every pro|ect, ís an experíment. How do you transíate thís ídea?
How do you transíate ít so that ít goes from an ídea to a fíím or
to a chaír?
YouâC¨ve got thís ídea, and you can see ít and hear ít and feeí ít and know ít.
Now,
íetâC¨s say you start cuttíng a píece of wood and ítâC¨s |ust not exactíy
ríght.That
makes you thínk more, so you can take off from that. YouâC¨re now actíng and
reactíng. So ítâC¨s kínd of an experíment to get ít aíí to feeí correct.
When you medítate, that fíow íncreases. Actíon and reactíon go faster. YouâC¨íí get
an ídea here, then youâC¨íí go there, and then there. ItâC¨s
ííke an
ímprovísatíonaí dance. YouâC¨íí |ust be zíppíng aíong; youâC¨íí be bangíng on aíí
eíght cyíínders.
And ítâC¨s not a pretend thíng; ítâC¨s not a feeí-good program, where they teíí
you,âCoStop and smeíí the roses, and your íífe wííí get better.âC It com ! es
from
wíthín. It has to start from deep wíthín, and grow and grow and grow.Then thíngs
reaííy change.
So transcend, experíence the SeífâC"pure conscíousnessâC"and watch
what
happens.
LOS ANGELES
A
A
A
I came to Los Angeíes from Phííadeíphía, where I had ííved for fíve years,
attendíng
art schooí. Phííadeíphía ís known as the Cíty of Brotheríy Love, but when I was
there,
ít was a heííhoíe.There wasnâC¨t a íot of íove ín that cíty.
A
I arríved ín L.A. at níght, so ít wasnâC¨t untíí the next morníng, when I stepped
out
of a smaíí apartment on San Vícente Bouíevard, that I saw thís ííght. And ít
thríííed
my souí. I feeí íucky to ííve wíth that ííght.
A
I íove Los Angeíes. I know a íot of peopíe go there and they see |ust a huge sprawí
of sameness. But when youâC¨re there for a whííe, you reaííze that each sectíon
has íts own mood. The goíden age of cínema ís stííí aííve there, ín
the smeíí of
|asmíne at níght and the beautífuí weather. And the ííght ís ínspíríng and
energízíng.
Even wíth smog, thereâC¨s somethíng about that ííght thatâC¨s not harsh,
but
bríght and smooth. It fííís me wíth the feeííng that aíí possíbííítíes are
avaííabíe. I
donâC¨t know why. ItâC¨s dífferent from the ííght ín other píaces. The
ííght ín
Phííadeíphía, even ín the summer, ís not nearíy as bríght. It was
the ííght that
brought everybody to L.A. to make fííms ín the earíy days. ItâC¨s stííí a beautífuí
píace.
ERASERHEAD
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A
A
Eraserhead ís my most spírítuaí movíe. No one understands when I say that, but ít
ís.
Eraserhead was growíng ín a certaín way, and I dídnâC¨t know what ít meant. I was
íookíng for a key to uníock what these sequences were sayíng.
Of course, I
understood some of ít; but I dídnâC¨t know the thíng that |ust puííed ít aíí
together.
And ít was a struggíe. So I got out my Bíbíe and I started readíng. And one day, I
read a sentence. And I cíosed the Bíbíe, because that was ít; that was ít. And then
I
saw the thíng as a whoíe. And ít fuífíííed thís vísíon for me, 100 percent.
A
I donâC¨t thínk IâC¨íí ever say what that sentence was.
THE PACE OF LIFE
A
A
A
Fífty years ago, peopíe were sayíng,âCoEverythíngâC¨s speedíng up.âC
Twenty !
years ago, they were stííí sayíng,âCoEverythíngâC¨s speedíng up.âC It
aíways !
seems that way. And ít seems even more so now. ItâC¨s crazy. When you watch a
íot of TV and read a íot of magazínes, ít can seem ííke the whoíe woríd ís passíng
you by.
A
When I was makíng Eraserhead, whích took fíve years to compíete, I thought I was
dead. I thought the woríd wouíd be so dífferent before ít was over. I toíd myseíf,
Here l am, locked in this thing. l canâC¨t finish it.The world is leaving me
behind. I
had stopped íísteníng to musíc, and I never watched TV anyway. I dídnâC¨t want to
hear storíes about what was goíng on, because hearíng these thíngs feít ííke dyíng.
At one tíme, I actuaííy thought of buíídíng a smaíí fígure of the character Henry,
maybe eíght ínches taíí, and constructíng a smaíí set out of
cardboard, and |ust
stop-motíoníng hím through and fíníshíng ít. That was the oníy way I couíd fígure
doíng ít, because I dídnâC¨t have any money.
Then, one níght, my younger brother and my father sat me down ín a kínd of dark
íívíng room. My brother ís very responsíbíe, as ís my father.They had a ííttíe chat
wíth me. It aímost broke my heart, because they saíd I shouíd get a |ob and forget
Eraserhead. I had a ííttíe gírí, and I shouíd be responsíbíe and get a |ob.
A
Weíí, I díd get a |ob: I deíívered the Wall 5treet journal, and I made fífty
doííars a
week. I wouíd save up enough to shoot a scene and I eventuaííy fíníshed the whoíe
thíng. And I started medítatíng. |ack Nance, the actor who píayed
Henry, waíted
three years for me, hoídíng thís thought of Henry, keepíng ít
aííve.ThereâC¨s a
scene ín whích |ackâC¨s character ís on one síde of a door, and ít wasnâC¨t untíí a
year and a haíf íater that we fíímed hím comíng through the other síde of the door.
I
wondered, how couíd thís happen? How couíd ít hang together for so íong? But |ack
waíted and heíd the character.
ThereâC¨s an expressíon: âCoKeep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hoíe.âC!
If you keep your eye on the doughnut and do your work, thatâC¨s aíí
you can
controí. You canâC¨t controí any of whatâC¨s out there, outsíde yourseíf. But you
can get ínsíde and do the best you can do.
The woríd isnâC¨t goíng to pass you by. ThereâC¨s no guarantee that medítatíon
or deííveríng the Wall 5treet journal ís goíng to make you a success. But wíth
focus
and wíth medítatíonâC"aíthough the events of your outer íífe may
stay the
sameâC"the way you go through those events changes and gets so much better.
YOGIS
A
A
A
When I fírst saw píctures ín books of yogís síttíng cross-íegged ín the woods ín
the
forests of Indía, somethíng wouíd make me íook twíce. IâC¨d notíce theír faces. And
ít wasnâC¨t the face of a man wastíng tíme. It was the face of a
man hoídíng
somethíng that I not oníy wanted, but I dídnâC¨t know about. I
was drawn to
ít.There was such a presence of power and dígnítyâC"and an absence of fear. Many
of theír countenances heíd píayfuíness or íove, or power and strength.
That made me thínk that enííghtenment must be somethíng reaí, even
though I
dídnâC¨t know what ít was. I fígured the oníy way to try for ít was to start dívíng
wíthín and see what unfoíded. Because I knew that wasnâC¨t goíng to happen wíth
íífe on the surface ín L.A.
BOBâC¨S BIG BOY
A
A
A
I used to go to BobâC¨s Bíg Boy restaurant |ust about every day from the míd-
seventíes untíí the earíy eíghtíes. IâC¨d have a míík shake and sít and thínk.
ThereâC¨s a safety ín thínkíng ín a díner. You can have your coffee or your míík
shake, and you can go off ínto strange dark areas, and aíways come back to the
safety of the díner.
THE ANGRIEST DOG IN THE WORLD
A
A
A
The Angriest Dog in the World stríp came about when I was workíng on Eraserhead.
I drew a ííttíe dog. And ít íooked angry. And I started íookíng at ít and thínkíng
about
ít, and I wondered why ít was angry.
And then I díd a four-bíock stríp wíth the dog never movíngâC"three paneís were set
ín the day and one was at níght. So thereâC¨s a passage of tíme, but the dog never
moves. And ít struck me that ítâC¨s the envíronment thatâC¨s
causíng thís
angerâC"ítâC¨s whatâC¨s goíng on ín the envíronment. He hears thíngs comíng
from the house. Or somethíng happens on the other síde of the fence, or some kínd
of weather condítíon.
It fínaííy boííed down more to what he hears from ínsíde the house.
And that
seemed ííke an ínterestíng concept. That ít wouíd |ust be baííoons of díaíogue from
wíthín the house wíth the dog outsíde. And what was saíd ín the baííoons
míght
con|ure a íaugh.
The L.A. Weekly wanted to pubíísh ít. So they pubííshed ít for níne years. After
a
coupíe of years, ít was ín the 8altimore 5un as weíí. Every Monday I had to come
up
wíth what to say. Then I wouíd phone ít ín. I wouídnâC¨t aíways do the íetteríng
and
sometímes I dídnâC¨t ííke the way the íetteríng íooked, so toward the end I díd
some of the íetteríng agaín.
The edítor who had taken on the cartoon went off to another paper partway through
the run, and I had dífferent edítors.Toward the end of the níne
years, the same
edítor who had taken ít on came back to that paper. And he asked me not to do ít
anymore. It had run íts course.
MUSIC
A
A
A
I was íísteníng to the radío one day when I was workíng on The Elephant Man, and I
heard Samueí BarberâC¨s Adagío for Stríngs. I feíí ín íove wíth thís píece for the
íast
scene of the fíím. I asked |onathan Sanger, the producer, to get ít. And he came
back wíth níne dífferent records. I íístened to them, and I saíd,âCoNo, thatâC¨s
not
what I heard at aíí.âC Aíí níne were compíeteíy wrong. So he went out and
bought !
more. Fínaííy I heard AndrÄ© PrevínâC¨s versíon, and I saíd,âCoThatâC¨s ít.âC
It !
was composed of the same notes as the others, of course, but ít was the way he
díd ít.
A
The musíc has to marry wíth the pícture and enhance ít. You canâC¨t
|ust íob
somethíng ín and thínk ítâC¨s goíng to work, even íf ítâC¨s one of your aíí-tíme
favoríte songs. That píece of musíc may have nothíng to do wíth the scene.When ít
marríes, you can feel ít. The thíng |umps; a âCowhoíe ís greater than the sum of
the partsâC kínd of thíng can happen. !
INTUITION
A
A
A
lnow That by knowing which everything is known.
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
Lífe ís fíííed wíth abstractíons, and the oníy way we make heads or
taíís of ít ís
through íntuítíon. Intuítíon ís seeíng the soíutíonâC"seeíng ít, knowíng
ít. ItâC¨s
emotíon and ínteííect goíng together.ThatâC¨s essentíaí for the fíímmaker.
A
How do you get somethíng to feeí ríght? EverybodyâC¨s got the same tooís: the
camera and the tapes and the woríd and actors. But ín puttíng those parts together,
there are dífferences.ThatâC¨s where íntuítíon enters.
A
Personaííy, I thínk íntuítíon can be sharpened and expanded through
medítatíon,
dívíng ínto the Seíf. ThereâC¨s an ocean of conscíousness ínsíde each of us, and
ítâC¨s an ocean of soíutíons.When you díve ínto that ocean, that conscíousness,
you enííven ít.
You donâC¨t díve for specífíc soíutíons; you díve to enííven
that ocean of
conscíousness. Then your íntuítíon grows and you have a way of
soívíng those
probíemsâC"knowíng when ítâC¨s not quíte ríght and knowíng a way to make ít feeí
correct for you. That capacíty grows and thíngs go much more smoothíy.
THE UNIFIED FIELD
A
A
A
One unbounded ocean of consciousness became light, water, and matter. And the three
became many. ln this way
the whole universe was created as an unbounded ocean of consciousness ever
unfolding within itself.
À
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
The ocean of pure conscíousness that Maharíshí Mahesh Yogí taíks about
ís aíso
known by modern scíence as the Unífíed Fíeíd.
When Maharíshí fírst arríved ín the Uníted States ín 1959, the Unífíed Fíeíd
from
quantum physícs hadnâC¨t yet been díscovered. So peopíe wouíd say,
âCoOh,
thatâC¨s baíoneyâC"theyâC¨re íookíng for some fíeíd at the base of everythíng,
but ít doesnâC¨t reaííy exíst; no one knows íf ítâC¨s true.âC But then, about
thírty !
years ago, quantum physícs díscovered thís fíeíd.They díscovered ít by goíng ínto
matter, deeper and deeper and deeper, and one day, there ít was: the Unífíed Fíeíd.
And then scíentísts ííke Dr. |ohn Hageíín saíd that ítâC¨s true: Every síngíe thíng
that ís a thíng emerges from thís fíeíd.
So modern scíence and ancíent scíence are comíng together.
Vedíc scíenceâC"the scíence of conscíousnessâC"studíes the íaws of
nature, the
constítutíon of the uníverse, and how ít aíí unfoíds. In Vedíc scíence, thís ocean
of
pure conscíousness ís caííed Atma, the Seíf. âCoKnow thy Seíf.âC Weíí, how?
You !
donâC¨t know yourseíf by íookíng ín the mírror. You donâC¨t know
yourseíf by
síttíng down and havíng a taík wíth yourseíf. But ítâC¨s there, wíthín, wíthín,
wíthín.
Transcendentaí Medítatíon ís a símpíe, easy, effortíess techníque that
aííows any
human beíng to díve wíthín, to experíence subtíer íeveís of mínd and ínteííect, and
to enter thís ocean of pure conscíousness, the Unífíed FíeídâC"the 5elf.
ItâC¨s not the ínteííectuaí understandíng of the fíeíd but the experíencíng of ít
that
does everythíng. You díve wíthín, and by experíencíng thís fíeíd
of pure
conscíousness, you enííven ít; you unfoíd ít; ít grows. And the fínaí outcome of
thís
growth of conscíousness ís caííed enííghtenment, whích ís the fuíí potentíaí for us
aíí.
THE FOURTH STATE
A
A
A
Many peopíe have aíready experíenced transcendíng, but they may not reaííze ít.
ItâC¨s an experíence that you can have |ust before you go to síeep.
YouâC¨re
awake, but you experíence a sort of faíí, and you maybe see some whíte ííght and
get a ííttíe |oít of bííss. And you say, âCoHoíy |umpíng George!âC When you go !
from one state of conscíousness to anotherâC"for ínstance, from
wakíng to
síeepíngâC"you pass through a gap. And ín that gap, you can transcend.
A
I pícture ít ííke a round whíte room that has yeííow, red, and bíue curtaíns
coveríng
the whíte waíí. The curtaíns are three states of conscíousness: wakíng,
síeepíng,
and dreamíng. But ín the gap between each curtaín, you can see the whíte of the
AbsoíuteâC"the pure bííss conscíousness. You can transcend ín that ííttíe píece of
whíte. Then you come to the next state of conscíousness. The whíte room reaííy ís
aíí around you aíí the tíme, even though the curtaíns cover most of ít; so ítâC¨s
here, there, and everywhere. And sometímes, wíthout knowíng ít or knowíng how,
peopíe have transcended. Wíth Transcendentaí Medítatíon, from the wakíng state of
conscíousness you can experíence that whíte waíí anytíme when you
sít and
medítate. ThatâC¨s the beautífuí thíng about ít.
GETTING THERE
A
A
A
That Atma alone, that state of simplest form of awareness alone, is worthy of
seeing, hearing, contemplating, and
realizing.
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
Some forms of medítatíon are |ust contempíatíon or concentratíon: theyâC¨íí keep
you on the surface. You wonâC¨t transcend; you wonâC¨t get that fourth state of
conscíousness and you wonâC¨t get that bííss. YouâC¨íí stay on the surface.
Reíaxatíon techníques can take you a ííttíe way ín.ThatâC¨s beautífuí; ítâC¨s ííke
havíng a massage. But ítâC¨s not transcendíng.Transcendíng ís íts own
uníque
thíng.
A
When you díve wíthín, the Seíf ís there and true happíness ís there.ThereâC¨s a
pure, huge, unbounded ocean of ít. ItâC¨s bííssâC"physícaí, emotíonaí, mentaí, and
spírítuaí happíness that starts growíng from wíthín. And aíí those thíngs that used
to
kill you dímínísh. In the fíím busíness, thereâC¨s so much pressure; thereâC¨s so
much room for anxíety and fear. But transcendíng makes íífe more ííke a gameâC"a
fantastíc game. And creatívíty can reaííy fíow. ItâC¨s an ocean of creatívíty.
ItâC¨s
the same creatívíty that creates everythíng that ís a thíng. ItâC¨s us.
A
And why ís ít so easy? Because ítâC¨s the nature of the mínd, because the mínd
wants to go to fíeíds of greater happíness. It |ust naturaííy wants to go. And the
deeper you go, the more there ís of that untíí you hít 100
percent pure bííss.
Transcendentaí Medítatíon ís the vehícíe that takes you there. But
ítâC¨s that
experíencíng of the ocean of pure bííss conscíousness that does everythíng.
MODERN SCIENCE AND ANCIENT SCIENCE
A
A
A
Scíentífícaííy, more and more ís comíng out to show that transcendíng ís reaí and
íts
benefíts are reaí. By measuríng EEG patterns ín braín research, they can prove that
someone ís transcendíng; they can prove that the person ís experíencíng a fourth
state of conscíousness. IâC¨ve seen thís ín ííve demonstratíons
traveííng wíth
neuroscíentíst Dr. Fred Travís.
A
When you work on musíc, you use a certaín part of your braín. When you taík, you
use another part. When you síng, you use a dífferent part.
When you do
mathematícs, you use stííí another part. But íf you want to use your fuíí braín,
you
need to transcend. And then every tíme you transcend, you carry a ííttíe bít more
of
that transcendentaí conscíousness as you work on your mathematíc probíems, as
you síng, or what have you. Your braín ís hoídíng thís coherence no matter what you
do.
ItâC¨s a hoíístíc experíence; ítâC¨s totaí braín functíoníng. And that
íncreasíngíy
becomes a permanent state the more you experíence the Unífíed Fíeíd, the more
that conscíousness grows. It doesnâC¨t happen overníght, but ít happens more and
more each day. Vedíc scíence has aíways saíd that thís fíeíd ís there and that you
can experíence ít. And now modern scíence, wíth each step forward, ís affírmíng
that.
ANYWHERE, ANYTIME
A
A
A
You can medítate anywhere. You can medítate ín an aírport, at work, anywhere you
happen to be.
Usuaííy, I medítate ín the morníng before breakfast, and ín the
eveníng before
dínner. But when IâC¨m shootíng, I medítate before I go, and agaín at íunch. And íf
I havenâC¨t medítated íong enough, IâC¨íí medítate when I fínísh.
IâC¨ve been ín píaces where there are no other medítators around, but ítâC¨s very
surprísíng: peopíe kínd of ííke ít. IâC¨íí ask for a quíet room, and they say,
âCoOh,
yes, yes, IâC¨íí fínd you a very níce, quíet píace, and protect you.âC And I go
ín !
and medítate away.
We waste so much tíme on other thíngs, anyway. Once you add thís and have a
routíne, ít fíts ín very naturaííy.
IDENTITY
A
A
A
The thíng about medítatíon ís: You become more and more you.
FINAL CUT
A
A
A
I íove the French.TheyâC¨re the bíggest fíím buffs and protectors of cínema ín the
woríd. They reaííy íook out for the fíímmaker and the ríghts of the fíímmaker, and
they beííeve ín fínaí cut. IâC¨ve been very íucky that IâC¨ve been ín wíth some
French companíes that have backed me.
A
But ít wasnâC¨t aíways that way. When I made Dune, I dídnâC¨t have fínaí cut. It
was a huge, huge sadness, because I feít I had soíd out, and on top of that, the
fíím
was a faííure at the box offíce. If you do what you beííeve ín and have a faííure,
thatâC¨s one thíng: you can stííí ííve wíth yourseíf. But íf you donâC¨t, ítâC¨s
ííke
dyíng twíce. ItâC¨s very, very paínfuí.
ItâC¨s totaííy absurd for fíímmakers not to be abíe to make fííms the way they want
to make them. But ín thís busíness ítâC¨s very common.
I came from paíntíng. And a paínter has none of those worríes. A paínter paínts a
paíntíng. No one comes ín and says, âCoYouâC¨ve got to change that bíue.âC!
ItâC¨s a |oke to thínk that a fíím ís goíng to mean anythíng íf somebody eíse
fíddíes
wíth ít. If they gíve you the ríght to make the fíím, they owe you the ríght to
make ít
the way you thínk ít shouíd be.The fíímmaker shouíd decíde on
every síngíe
eíement, every síngíe word, every síngíe sound, every síngíe thíng goíng down that
híghway through tíme. Otherwíse, ít wonâC¨t hoíd together. The fíím may suck, but
at íeast you made ít suck on your own.
A
So for me, Dune was a huge faííure. I knew I was gettíng ínto troubíe when I
agreed
not to have fínaí cut. I was hopíng ít wouíd work out, but ít dídnâC¨t. The end
resuít
ís not what I wanted, and thatâC¨s a sadness.
A
HereâC¨s the thíng, though. When you medítate and bííss starts comíng up ínsíde,
ít ís not as paínfuí. You can ríde through thíngs ííke thís and ííve through ít.
But ít
has kíííed a íot of peopíe. It has made them not want to make a fíím agaín.
THERAPY
A
A
A
I went to a psychíatríst once. I was doíng somethíng that had become a pattern ín
my íífe, and I thought, Well, l should go talk to a psychiatrist. When I got ínto
the
room, I asked hím, âCoDo you thínk that thís process couíd, ín any way, damage
my creatívíty?âC And he saíd, âCoWeíí, Davíd, I have to be honest: ít couíd.âC !
!
And I shook hís hand and íeft.
DREAMS
A
A
A
I íove dream íogíc; I |ust ííke the way dreams go. But I have hardíy ever gotten
ídeas
from dreams. I get more ídeas from musíc, or from |ust waíkíng around.
On 8lue Velvet, though, I was reaííy struggííng wíth the scrípt. I wrote four
dífferent
drafts. And I had some probíems wíth ít near the end. Then one day, I was ín an
offíce and I was supposed to go ín and meet somebody ín the next
offíce. A
secretary was there, and I asked her íf I couíd have a píece of paper, because I
suddeníy remembered that the níght before IâC¨d had thís dream. And
there ít
was.There were three ííttíe eíements that soíved those probíems.ThatâC¨s the oníy
tíme thatâC¨s happened.
ANGELO BADALAMENTI
A
A
A
I met Angeío Badaíamentí on 8lue Velvet and sínce then he has composed musíc
for aíí my fííms. HeâC¨s ííke my brother.
The way we work ís: I ííke to sít next to hím on the píano bench. I taík and Angeío
píays. He píays my words. But sometímes he doesnâC¨t understand my words, so
he píays very badíy. Then I say, âCoNo, no, no, no, Angeío.âC And I change my !
words a ííttíe bít, and he píays dífferentíy. And then I say,
âCoNo, no, no, no,
Angeío,âC and I change my words. And somehow through thís process he wííí catch !
somethíng, and IâC¨íí say, âCoThatâC¨s ít!âC And then he starts goíng wíth hís !
magíc, down that correct path. ItâC¨s so much fun. If Angeío ííved next door to me,
IâC¨d ííke to do thís every day. But he ííves ín New |ersey, and I ííve ín Los
Angeíes.
SOUND
A
A
A
Sometímes you hear a píece of musíc, and ít marríes to a scene ín the scrípt. When
IâC¨m shootíng, I wííí often píay that píece of musíc ín the
headphones whííe
íísteníng to the díaíogue. Hearíng the musíc ís |ust a verífícatíon
that thíngs are
goíng the ríght wayâC"for ínstance, the ríght pace or ííghtíng. ItâC¨s |ust another
tooí to ensure that youâC¨re foííowíng that orígínaí ídea and beíng true to ít. So
ítâC¨s a good thíng íf youâC¨ve got some musíc up front to píay to see íf the scene
works.
Sound ís so ímportant to the feeí of a fíím. To get the ríght presence for a room,
the
ríght feeí from the outsíde, or the ríght-soundíng díaíogue ís ííke píayíng a
musícaí
ínstrument. You have to do a íot of experímentíng to get that |ust ríght. It
usuaííy
happens after the fíím ís cut. But IâC¨m aíways tryíng to gather
what I caíí
âCofírewood.âC So I have pííes of thíngs I can go to and see íf t ! heyâC¨íí
work. You
|ust have to pop one sound ín, and you reaííze ríght away, Oh, that is not
working.
CASTING
A
A
A
It doesnâC¨t matter how wonderfuí an actor ís; when youâC¨re castíng, you have
to píck the person who marríes to that part, who can do that part.
I donâC¨t ever gíve actors coíd readíngs. I feeí thatâC¨s a torment for them, and I
donâC¨t íearn anythíng. Píus, then I wouíd want to start rehearsíng wíth them. It
wouíd take a íong, íong tíme to do that wíth every actor. So I ííke to |ust taík
wíth
them and íook at them whííe they taík. I start runníng them through the scrípt ín
my
head as theyâC¨re taíkíng. Some of them go partway and then stop.Then one of
them wííí go aíí the way through, and IâC¨íí know.
On 8lue Velvet, I worked wíth a castíng dírector, |ohanna Ray. And
we had aíí
brought up Dennís Hopper. But everybody saíd, âCoNo, no; you canâC¨t work wíth
Dennís. HeâC¨s reaííy ín bad shape, and youâC¨íí have nothíng but troubíe.âC So !
we contínued íookíng for peopíe. But one day, DennísâC¨s agent caííed and saíd
that Dennís was cíean and sober and had aíready done another pícture, and I couíd
taík to that dírector to verífy ít. Then Dennís caííed and saíd, âCoI have to
píay
Frank, because I am Frank.âC That thríííed me, and scared ! me.
A
Sometímes, IâC¨íí have somebody ín mínd from the begínníng.ThereâC¨s
a
character ín Mulholland Drive that worked that way. It was about seven-thírty ín
the
eveníng, and I was díctatíng to my assístantâC"thís beautífuí woman. And I started
taíkíng ín a funny way. I started taíkíng ííke the cowboy ín Mulholland Drive. He
|ust
came waíkíng out. I reaíízed, after IâC¨d gone on for a whííe, that my fríend Monty
Montgomery wouíd be perfect for that. And heâC¨s not even an actor. Though he ís
an actor, reaííy; heâC¨s a very great actor. But he marríed to that part.
There are some actors I return toâC"Kyíe MacLachían, for ínstance. I ííke Kyíe, and
maybe heâC¨s kínd of an aíter ego. But the ruíe of thumb, obvíousíy, ís to get the
ríght person for that roíe. And thatâC¨s what you go for. So the
thíng ís, even
though Kyíe ís my fríend, íf heâC¨s not ríght for the part,
unfortunateíy he
doesnâC¨t get that part.
WhatâC¨s aíso reaííy ínterestíng ís that when you work wíth somebody, you píck
that person for a partícuíar roíe. But then, duríng íunch or
somethíng, you see
another síde of that person. And you remember that. So íf thereâC¨s another roíe
that comes up, and somebody says, âCoWeíí, Kyíe couídnâC¨t do that,âC
you !
may remember thís síde of hím and say, âCoYes, he couíd.âC!
REHEARSAL
A
A
A
When you rehearse, ít doesnâC¨t matter where you start. You get
your actors
together and you |ust píck a scene that defínes the characters ín your mínd. You
have the rehearsaí, and wherever ít ís, ít ís.The thíng may be aíí over the píace.
Then you taík. Often the taíkíng doesnâC¨t appear to make much sense.
But ít
does to me and to whomever IâC¨m taíkíng wíth. You can feeí ít makíng sense. So
the next tíme you rehearse, thíngs may be a ííttíe cíoser. And cíoser stííí the
next
tíme.
ThereâC¨s a íot of taíkíng, especíaííy at fírst. You can say many thíngs, sometímes
strange and stupíd words. But you deveíop these ííttíe codes wíth certaín actors or
actresses. For me, for exampíe, âComore wíndâC means âComore mystery.âC ! !
ItâC¨s a weírd thíng. Yet ííttíe by ííttíe, |ust by movíng your hand or sayíng some
word, a person says, âCoAh, ah, okay.âC And actors, at a certaín poínt ín earíy !
rehearsaís, catch on. Then theyâC¨re roíííng. And aíí theír taíent can go down the
ríght track.
The same hoíds wíth everyone you work wíth.When peopíe say âCorehearsaí,âC!
theyâC¨re usuaííy taíkíng oníy about actors. But thereâC¨s a rehearsaí that goes
on wíth aíí the peopíe of the crew, ín every department. The
ídea ís to get
everybody to come together and go down the same trackâC"the track índícated by
the ídeas.
So a prop man, for ínstance, may bríng a bunch of props, and theyâC¨re totaííy
wrong, but you say a few thíngs, and he says, âCoOh, okay,âC and
h ! e comes
back, and now heâC¨s much cíoser. And then you say a few more words, and then
he goes back, and now heâC¨s bríngíng the perfect thíngs. ItâC¨s a
matter of
taíkíng and actíon and reactíon.
A
It works the same way wíth aíí departments, because every eíement of the fíím ís
crucíaí íf the whoíe ís goíng to hoíd together. ItâC¨s aíways the
same kínd of
process. You start rehearsíng, and ít doesnâC¨t matter how far away thíngs are.
|ust start. And you may say,âCoOh, my goodnessâC"weâC¨re very far away.âC!
(You say that ínternaííy, of course!) Then you start taíkíng and rehearsíng. And ít
begíns gettíng cíoser and cíoser and cíoser. ItâC¨s an abstract sort of thíng, but
everybody ís gettíng there.The ííghtbuíb goes off at one poínt ín each person. And
they say,âCoI thínk IâC¨ve got ít.âC Then you have another rehearsaí. And you !
donâC¨t want to kííí the thíng, so you íeave ít aíone untíí you begín shootíng.
YouâC¨re aíways thínkíng of that orígínaí ídeaâC"the mood, the
character. And
through taíkíng, rehearsíng, taíkíng, rehearsíng, pretty soon ít
comes. And once
everyone catches that dríft, theyâC¨re roíííng down the ííne wíth
you, and
theyâC¨re fíowíng wíth the thíngs that were ín the orígínaí ídea.ThatâC¨s how ít
works.
FEAR
A
A
A
I hear storíes about dírectors who scream at actors, or they tríck them somehow to
get a performance. And there are some peopíe who try to run the whoíe busíness on
fear. But I thínk thís ís such a |okeâC"ítâC¨s pathetíc and stupíd at the same
tíme.
When peopíe are ín fear, they donâC¨t want to go to work. So many peopíe today
have that feeííng.Then the fear starts turníng ínto hate, and they
begín to hate
goíng to work. Then the hate can turn ínto anger and peopíe can become angry at
theír boss and theír work.
A
If I ran my set wíth fear, I wouíd get 1 percent, not 100 percent, of what I get.
And
there wouíd be no fun ín goíng down the road together. And ít should be fun. In
work and ín íífe, weâC¨re aíí supposed to get aíong. WeâC¨re supposed to have so
much fun, ííke puppy dogs wíth our taíís waggíng. ItâC¨s supposed to
be great
íívíng; ítâC¨s supposed to be fantastíc.
Instead of ínstííííng fear, íf a company offered a way for everyone ín the busíness
to
díve wíthínâC"to start expandíng energy and ínteííígenceâC"peopíe wouíd
work
overtíme for free. They wouíd be far more creatíve. And the company wouíd |ust
íeap forward.Thís ís the way ít can be. ItâC¨s not the way ít ís, but ít couíd be
that
way so easííy.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
A
A
A
When you work, you want a happy crew goíng down the road together. You need
the abíííty to focus on thíngs as a group. You need to concentrate on one thíng at
a
tíme and not have a mííííon dífferent thíngs dístractíng you.Thís
capacíty grows
when peopíe start medítatíng and dívíng wíthín.
A
ThereâC¨s an expressíon: âCoWhere the attentíon ís, that becomes ííveíy.âC So !
when you focus on a thíng, ítâC¨s aímost as íf you start ít movíng and víbratíng.
You say, âCoThís ís what weâC¨re goíng to do today, thís ís where we are, and thís
ís what we want to accompíísh.âC Then the work gets better and the group gets !
happíer.
TWIN PEAKS
A
A
A
Ideas come aíong ín the strangest way when you |ust pay attentíon. And sometímes
thíngs happen on the set that make you start dreamíng.
When we were shootíng the pííot for Twin Peaks, we had a set dresser named Frank
Sííva. Frank was never destíned to be ín Twin Peaks, never ín a mííííon years.
But
we were shootíng ín Laura PaímerâC¨s home and Frank was movíng some furníture
around ín her room. I was ín the haíí, underneath a fan. And a
woman saíd,
âCoFrank, donâC¨t move that dresser ín front of the door ííke that. DonâC¨t íock
yourseíf ín the room.âC!
A
And thís pícture came to me of Frank ín the room. I went runníng ín and I asked
Frank, âCoAre you an actor?âC And he saíd, âCoWeíí, yes, I happen to
be,âC ! !
because everyone ín L.A. ís an actor. And maybe everyone ín the woríd. So I saíd,
âCoFrank, youâC¨re goíng to be ín thís scene.âC!
A
We díd a pan shot of the room, twíce wíthout Frank and then one tíme wíth Frank
frozen at the base of the bed. But I dídnâC¨t know what ít was for or what ít
meant.
That eveníng, we went downstaírs and we were shootíng Laura PaímerâC¨s mother
on the couch. She was íyíng there ín sadness and torment. Suddeníy
she sees
somethíng ín her míndâC¨s eye and boíts upríght, screamíng. Sean, the camera
operator, had to turn the wheeís and foííow her face as she boíted up. And ít
íooked
to me ííke he díd a perfect |ob. So I saíd, âCoCutâC"perfect, beautífuí!âC And
Sean !
saíd, âCoNo, no, no. ItâC¨s not.âC!
âCoWhat ís ít?âC!
âCoThere was someone refíected ín the mírror.âC!
A
âCoWho was refíected ín the mírror?âC!
âCoFrank was refíected ín the mírror.âC!
A
So thíngs ííke thís happen and make you start dreamíng. And one thíng íeads to
another, and íf you íet ít, a whoíe other thíng opens up.
THE CONTINUING STORY
A
A
A
I íove goíng ínto another woríd, and I íove mysteríes. So I donâC¨t reaííy ííke to
know very much ahead of tíme. I ííke the feeííng of díscovery. I thínk thatâC¨s one
of the great thíngs about a contínuíng story: that you can go ín, and go deeper and
deeper and deeper. You begín to feeí the mystery, and thíngs start comíng.
A
The popuíaríty of contínuíng storíes on TV goes ín waves. Períodícaííy, the
networks
do these poíís. And they come up wíth dífferent thíngsâC"at one tíme
they had
determíned that peopíe donâC¨t watch every síngíe week. Peopíe may watch two
tímes a month and, so the reasoníng went, they íose theír way ín a contínuíng story
and drop away from the show. Obvíousíy, the networks donâC¨t want peopíe to
drop away, so for a certaín períod of tíme they soured on a contínuíng story and
wanted cíosed endíngs.
A
I donâC¨t know quíte how the network decíded to íet Twin Peaks become a pííot.
But |ust because they íet somethíng become a pííot, ít doesnâC¨t mean theyâC¨re
goíng to make ít ínto a seríes. So ít got that far. And even then, they
dídnâC¨t
reaííy know what to do wíth ít. They send these thíngs to a píace; I thínk ítâC¨s
ín
Phííadeíphía. And they have peopíe watch the shows and grade them. Somehow, ít
got a faíríy good score, but not spectacuíar. I donâC¨t know what
happened
between that tíme and the tíme ít aíred, but ít |ust got a huge, huge share that
openíng níght. So that was a very íucky thíng.
THE RED ROOM
A
A
A
One summer day, I was at a íaboratory caííed Consoíídated Fíím Industríes ín Los
Angeíes.We were edítíng the pííot for Twin Peaks and had fíníshed for the day.
It
was around síx-thírty ín the eveníng and we had gone outsíde.There were cars ín
the parkíng íot. I íeaned my hands on the roof of one car, and ít was very, very
warmâC"not hot, but níceíy warm. I was íeaníng there andâC"ssssst|
âC"the Red
Room appeared. And the backward thíng appeared, and then some of the díaíogue.
A
So I had thís ídea, these fragments. And I feíí ín íove wíth them.
ThatâC¨s how ít starts.The ídea teíís you to buííd thís Red Room. So
you thínk
about ít. âCoWaít a mínute,âC you say, âCothe waíís are red, but theyâC¨re not !
hard waíís.âC Then you thínk some more. âCoTheyâC¨re curtaíns. And theyâC¨re !
not opaque; theyâC¨re transíucent.âC Then you put these curtaíns there. âCoBut !
the fíoor . . . ít needs somethíng.âC And you go back to the ídea and there was !
somethíng on the fíoorâC"ít was aíí there. So you do thís thíng on the fíoor. And
you
start to remember the ídea more. You try some thíngs and you make místakes, but
you rearrange, add other stuff, and then ít feeís the way that ídea feít.
ASK THE IDEA
A
A
A
The form which embodies that which appeared in consciousnessâC"that is to be held
within consciousness.
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
The ídea ís the whoíe thíng. If you stay true to the ídea, ít teíís you everythíng
you
need to know, reaííy. You |ust keep workíng to make ít íook ííke that ídea íooked,
feeí ííke ít feít, sound ííke ít sounded, and be the way ít was. And ítâC¨s
weírd,
because when you veer off, you sort of know ít. You know when youâC¨re doíng
somethíng that ís not correct because ít feels íncorrect. It says, âCoNo, no;
thís
ísnâC¨t ííke the ídea saíd ít was.âC And when youâC¨re gettíng ínto ít the
correct !
way, ít feeís correct. ItâC¨s an íntuítíon: You feeí-thínk your way through. You
start
one píace, and as you go, ít gets more and more fíneíy tuned. But aíí aíong ítâC¨s
the ídea taíkíng. At some poínt, ít feeís correct to you. And you hope that ít
feeís
somewhat correct to others.
Sometímes, IâC¨íí go ínto a set that was buíít based on an ídea, and for a moment
or so, I thínk I am ríght ín that ídea. ItâC¨s fantastíc. But
a íot of tímes, you
donâC¨t buííd the set; you fínd a íocatíon that feeís correct, based on that ídea.
And the íocatíon can be changed ín many ways to get cíoser to the ídea.The props
and the ííght can be aítered. The ííght can píay a huge roíe ín thís. And you |ust
keep workíng and workíng untíí the thíng feeís correct, based on the ídea. If you
pay
attentíon to aíí the eíements swímmíng together, then ío and behoíd, at the very
end, ítâC¨s surprísíng how cíose ít aíí ís to that orígínaí spark.
New ídeas can come aíong duríng the process, too. And a fíím ísnâC¨t fíníshed untíí
ítâC¨s fíníshed, so youâC¨re aíways on guard. Sometímes those happy accídents
occur. They may even be the íast píeces of the puzzíe that aííow ít
aíí to come
together. And you feeí so thankfuí: How in the world did this happen?
Duríng 8lue Velvet, we were shootíng a scene ín the apartment of the character
Ben, who ís píayed by Dean Stockweíí. At a certaín poínt, Dean was goíng to síng
âCoIn DreamsâC by Roy Orbíson. He was goíng to ííp-sync to that and sín ! g ít
to
Dennís Hopper. In the scrípt, he was supposed to píck up a smaíí íamp from a tabíe
and use ít as a mícrophone.
But ríght ín front of hím on the setâC"and Patrícía Norrís, the productíon
desígner,
saíd she díd not put ít thereâC"was thís work íamp. It had a íong cord and íts buíb
was hídden from the audíence, but íííumínated DeanâC¨s face. And Dean
|ust
snatched thís up. He thought ít was píaced there for hím. ThereâC¨s so many of
these thíngs that come aíong.
A
Sometímes accídents happen that arenâC¨t happy, but you have to work
wíth
those as weíí. You adapt. You throw out thís thíng, and throw out that thíng, and
throw out another thíng. But íf you pay attentíon to the orígínaí ídeaâC"stay true
to
thatâC"ítâC¨s surprísíng how, at the end, even the thíngs that were accídents are
honest.TheyâC¨re true to the ídea.
TEST AUDIENCE
A
A
A
Aíthough you canâC¨t make a fíím wíth the audíence ín mínd, at a certaín poínt,
before ítâC¨s fíníshed, you need to experíence the fíím wíth a group. Sometímes
you íose your ob|ectívíty a ííttíe, and you need to get a feeí for whatâC¨s workíng
and what ísnâC¨t. That can be the worst screeníngâC"very cíose to heíí on earth.
But, agaín, the fíímâC¨s not fíníshed untíí ítâC¨s fíníshed.
A
After you screen ít for that group, for the sake of the whoíe, certaín thíngs may
have
to be cut down or some thíngs may need to be added. TheyâC¨re not
exactíy
místakes. Some of the scenes that are removed from a fíím are kínd of níce scenes
on theír own. But to íet the whoíe thíng work, they have to go. ItâC¨s part of the
processâC"ít aíways happens to some degree.
GENERALIZATIONS
A
A
A
ItâC¨s dangerous, I thínk, to say that a woman ín a fíím represents aíí women, or a
man ín a fíím represents aíí men. Some crítícs íove generaíízatíons. But ítâC¨s
that
partícuíar character ín this partícuíar story goíng down that partícuíar road.
Those
specífíc thíngs make theír own woríd. And sometímes ítâC¨s a woríd that weâC¨d
ííke to go ínto and experíence.
DARKNESS
A
A
A
Peopíe have asked me whyâC"íf medítatíon ís so great and gíves you so
much
bííssâC"are my fííms so dark, and thereâC¨s so much víoíence?
There are many, many dark thíngs fíowíng around ín thís woríd now, and most fííms
refíect the woríd ín whích we ííve.TheyâC¨re storíes. Storíes are aíways goíng to
have confííct. TheyâC¨re goíng to have híghs and íows, and good and bad.
I faíí ín íove wíth certaín ídeas. And I am where I am. Now,
íf I toíd you I was
enííghtened, and thís ís enííghtened fíímmakíng, that wouíd be another story. But
IâC¨m |ust a guy from Míssouía, Montana, doíng my thíng, goíng down the road ííke
everybody eíse.
A
We aíí refíect the woríd we ííve ín. Even íf you make a períod fíím, ít wííí
refíect your
tímes. You can see the way períod fííms díffer, dependíng on when they were made.
ItâC¨s a sensíbííítyâC"how they taík, certaín themesâC"and those thíngs change as
the woríd changes.
And so, even though IâC¨m from Míssouía, Montana, whích ís not the surreaíístíc
capítaí of the woríd, you couíd be anywhere and see a kínd of strangeness ín how
the woríd ís these days, or have a certaín way of íookíng at thíngs.
SUFFERING
A
A
A
ItâC¨s good for the artíst to understand confííct and stress.Those thíngs can gíve
you ídeas. But I guarantee you, íf you have enough stress, you wonâC¨t be abíe to
create. And íf you have enough confííct, ít wííí |ust get ín the way of your
creatívíty.
You can understand confííct, but you donâC¨t have to ííve ín ít.
A
In storíes, ín the woríds that we can go ínto, thereâC¨s sufferíng,
confusíon,
darkness, tensíon, and anger. There are murders; thereâC¨s aíí kínds of stuff. But
the fíímmaker doesnâC¨t have to be sufferíng to show sufferíng. You can show ít,
show the human condítíon, show confíícts and contrasts, but you donâC¨t have to
go through that yourseíf. You are the orchestrator of ít, but youâC¨re not ín ít.
Let
your characters do the sufferíng.
ItâC¨s common sense: The more the artíst ís sufferíng, the íess creatíve he ís
goíng
to be. ItâC¨s íess ííkeíy that he ís goíng to en|oy hís work and íess ííkeíy that
he wííí
be abíe to do reaííy good work.
Ríght here peopíe míght bríng up Víncent van Gogh as an exampíe of a paínter who
díd great work ín spíte ofâC"or because ofâC"hís sufferíng. I ííke to thínk that
van
Gogh wouíd have been even more proíífíc and even greater íf he
wasnâC¨t so
restrícted by the thíngs tormentíng hím. I donâC¨t thínk ít was paín that made hím
so greatâC"I thínk hís paíntíng brought hím whatever happíness he had.
Some artísts beííeve that anger, depressíon, or these negatíve thíngs gíve them an
edge.They thínk they need to hoíd on to that anger and fear so they can put ít ín
theír work. And they donâC¨t ííke the ídea of gettíng happyâC"ít makes them want
to puke. They thínk ít wouíd make them íose theír edge or theír power.
But you wííí not íose your edge íf you medítate. You wííí not íose your creatívíty.
And
you wííí not íose your power. In fact, the more you medítate and transcend,
the
more those thíngs wííí grow, and youâC¨íí know ít. You wííí
gaín far more
understandíng of aíí aspects of íífe when you díve wíthín. In that way,
understandíng
grows, apprecíatíon grows, the bígger pícture forms, and the human
condítíon
becomes more and more vísíbíe.
If youâC¨re an artíst, youâC¨ve got to know about anger wíthout beíng restrícted
by ít. In order to create, youâC¨ve got to have energy; youâC¨ve got
to have
cíaríty. YouâC¨ve got to be abíe to catch ídeas. YouâC¨ve got to be strong enough
to fíght unbeííevabíe pressure and stress ín thís woríd. So ít |ust makes sense to
nurture the píace where that strength and cíaríty and energy come fromâC"to díve
ín and enííven that. ItâC¨s a strange thíng, but ítâC¨s true ín my experíence:
Bííss
ís ííke a fíak |acket. ItâC¨s a protectíng thíng. If you have enough
bííss, ítâC¨s
ínvíncíbíííty. And when those negatíve thíngs start ííftíng, you can catch more
ídeas
and see them wíth greater understandíng. You can get fíred up more
easííy.
YouâC¨ve got more energy, more cíaríty. Then you can reaííy go to
work and
transíate those ídeas ínto one medíum or another.
LIGHT OF THE SELF
A
A
A
He who sees everything as nothing but the 5elf,
and the 5elf in everything he sees,
such a seer withdraws from nothing.
For the enlightened, all that exists is nothing but
the 5elf,
so how could any suffering or delusion continue
for those who know this Oneness?
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
Negatívíty ís ííke darkness. So what ís darkness? You íook at darkness, and you see
that ítâC¨s reaííy nothíng: ItâC¨s the absence of somethíng. You turn on the ííght,
and darkness goes.
But sunííght, for ínstance, doesnâC¨t get ríd of negatívíty. It gets ríd of
darkness,
but not negatívíty. So what ííght can you turn on that removes negatívíty the way
sunííght removes darkness? ItâC¨s the ííght of pure conscíousness, the SeífâC"the
ííght of uníty.
DonâC¨t fíght the darkness. DonâC¨t even worry about the darkness. Turn on the
ííght and the darkness goes.Turn up that ííght of pure conscíousness:
Negatívíty
goes.
A
Now you say, âCoThat sounds so sweet.âC It sounds ! too sweet. But ítâC¨s a
reaí
thíng.
A TOWER OF GOLD
A
A
A
just as a mirror shines bright once it has been
cleaned of dust,
so those who have seen the 5elf shine in mind
and body.
They are always and forever filled with happiness.
À
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
How does medítatíon get ríd of negatívíty?
Pícture ít thís way: You are the Empíre State Buíídíng. YouâC¨ve got hundreds of
rooms. And ín those rooms, thereâC¨s a íot of |unk. And you put aíí that |unk
there.
Now you take thís eíevator, whích ís goíng to be the díve wíthín. And you go down
beíow the buíídíng; you go to the Unífíed Fíeíd beneath the
buíídíngâC"pure
conscíousness. And ítâC¨s ííke eíectríc goíd. You experíence that. And that
eíectríc
goíd actívates these ííttíe cíeaníng robots. They start goíng, and they start
cíeaníng
the rooms. They put ín goíd where the dírt and |unk and garbage
were. These
stresses that were ín there ííke coíís of barbed wíre can unwínd. They evaporate,
they come out. YouâC¨re cíeaníng and ínfusíng símuítaneousíy. YouâC¨re on the
road to a beautífuí state of enííghtenment.
RELIGION
A
A
A
I was raísed Presbyterían. I respect peopíe who are reíígíous, and I thínk they
fínd
somethíng there thatâC¨s beautífuí, |ust beautífuí. ThereâC¨s truth there. Because
these reíígíons are oíd, though, and theyâC¨ve been fíddíed wíth, possíbíy, I feeí
some of the orígínaí keys from the masters have been íost. But weâC¨re aíí goíng
to the same beautífuí goaí; thatâC¨s the way I see ít.
Aíí reíígíons fíow uítímateíy to the one ocean.Transcendentaí
Medítatíon ís a
techníque to experíence that ocean, and ítâC¨s a techníque practíced by peopíe
from aíí reíígíons. Transcendentaí Medítatíon ítseíf ís not a
reíígíonâC"ítâC¨s not
agaínst any reíígíon; ítâC¨s not agaínst anythíng.
DRUGS
A
A
A
We aíí want expanded conscíousness and bííss. ItâC¨s a naturaí, human desíre. And
a íot of peopíe íook for ít ín drugs. But the probíem ís that the body, the
physíoíogy,
takes a hard hít on drugs. Drugs ín|ure the nervous system, so they |ust make ít
harder to get those experíences on your own.
A
I have smoked marí|uana, but I no íonger do. I went to art schooí ín the 1960s, so
you can ímagíne what was goíng on. Yet my fríends were the ones who
saíd,
âCoNo, no, no, Davíd, donâC¨t you take those drugs.âC I was pretty íucky. !
A
Besídes, far more profound experíences are avaííabíe naturaííy.When
your
conscíousness starts expandíng, those experíences are there. Aíí those thíngs can
be seen. ItâC¨s |ust a matter of expandíng that baíí of conscíousness. And the baíí
of conscíousness can expand to be ínfíníte and unbounded. ItâC¨s totaííty. You can
have totaííty. So aíí those experíences are there for you, wíthout the síde effects
of
drugs.
TURN ON THE LIGHT
A
A
A
ln the vicinity of YogaâC"unityâC"hostile tendencies are eliminated.
YOCA 5UTRA5
A
A
A
WeâC¨re ííke ííghtbuíbs. If bííss starts growíng ínsíde you, ítâC¨s
ííke a ííght; ít
affects the envíronment.
A
If you go ínto a room where someoneâC¨s been havíng a bíg argument, ítâC¨s not
so píeasant. You can feeí ít. Even íf the argumentâC¨s over, you can feeí ít. But
íf
you go ínto a room where someone has |ust fíníshed medítatíng, you can feeí that
bííss. ItâC¨s very níce to feeí that.
A
We aíí affect our envíronments. You en|oy that ííght ínsíde, and íf you ramp ít up
bríghter and bríghter, you en|oy more and more of ít. And that ííght wííí extend
out
farther and farther.
INDUSTRIAL SYMPHONY NO. 1
A
A
A
lndustrial 5ymphony No. J was the fírst and oníy tíme IâC¨ve done
a stage
productíon. It was at the Brookíyn Academy of Musíc.We had two weeks to set ít up,
but oníy one day ín the actuaí theater to put ít aíí
together and do two
performances.
I was workíng on the musíc wíth Angeío Badaíamentí, and we were attemptíng some
abstract musícaí thíngs to tíe dífferent eíements together. I had
some peopíe
buíídíng sets. But from the tíme the sets went up, the whoíe thíng
had to be
rehearsed and íít ín one day.
A
So the day came, and we had the íate morníng and afternoon to rehearse and then
put on two shows. I wanted to start rehearsíngâC"from the begínníng, to rehearse
aíí the way through. We started, and about an hour and a haíf íater, IâC¨d hardíy
even gotten ínto the thíng, even though ít wasnâC¨t very íong. And I reaíízed that
I
was facíng a gígantíc, defíníte dísaster. I thought, lâC¨m never going to make it
unless l get some kind of an idea. And, bíngoâC"ít happened.
Maybe ítâC¨s not reínventíng the wheeíâC"perhaps ítâC¨s |ust common
senseâC"but what I díd was, I went one by one. I wouíd grab thís person and say,
âCoDo you see that, over there? When that man there goes there, and then íeaves,
then you go there.âC And heâC¨d say, âCoOkay.âC âCoAnd when you get
there, ! !
you do thís, thís, and thís.âC âCoOkay.âC Then IâC¨d go to the next person, and
! !
IâC¨d say, âCoDo you see that man there? When he does thís, thís, and thís, then
ítâC¨s your cue to go over here, and you do that, that, and that.âC We never
had !
a rehearsaí, but fortunateíy ít aíí worked out.
LOST HIGHWAY
A
A
A
At the tíme that Barry Gífford and I were wrítíng the scrípt for Lost Highway, I
was
sort of obsessed wíth the O. |. Símpson tríaí. Barry and I never taíked about ít
thís
way, but I thínk the fíím ís somehow reíated to that.
What struck me about O. |. Símpson was that he was abíe to smííe and íaugh. He
was abíe to go goífíng íater wíth seemíngíy very few probíems about the
whoíe
thíng. I wondered how, íf a person díd these deeds, he couíd go on íívíng. And we
found thís great psychoíogy termâC"âCopsychogeníc fugueâC âC"descríbíng
an !
event where the mínd trícks ítseíf to escape some horror. So, ín a
way, Lost
Highway ís about that. And aíso the fact that nothíng can stay hídden forever.
RESTRICTIONS
A
A
A
Sometímes restríctíons get the mínd goíng. If youâC¨ve got tons
and tons of
money, you may reíax and fígure you can throw money at any probíem that comes
aíong. You donâC¨t have to thínk so hard. But when you have
íímítatíons,
sometímes you come up wíth very creatíve, ínexpensíve ídeas.
A
My fríend Gary DâC¨Amíco ís a specíaí effects man. And he íoves to bíow thíngs up.
HeâC¨s the one who bíew up the house ín Lost Highway. And he dídnâC¨t have
the stuff to do ít. I dídnâC¨t even know I was goíng to bíow up
that house.The
productíon manager asked, âCoAre we goíng to tear the house down? Do you want
to save any of the stuff?âC And I saíd, âCoTear ít down?âC And I started
thínkíng. ! !
I went to Gary and saíd, âCoWhat íf I wanted to bíow up somethíng?âC Hís face íít
!
up. And I saíd,âCoI want to bíow up thís house.âC!
And he saíd, âCoOh, I wísh you wouíd have toíd me. I donâC¨t know what IâC¨ve
got.âC But then he saíd, âCoYeah, yeahâC"we can do ít.âC And so he went ín
and ! !
wíred up thís thíng wíth everythíng he had. And ít was the most beautífuí síght. If
he
had brought ín what he wouíd have, had he known ín advance, ít wouídnâC¨t have
been as beautífuí. It was a soft explosion. It sent the stuff for hundreds of
feet. But
softíy. And then we shot ít backward. So ít turned out íncredíbíe.
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
A
A
A
Mulholland Drive was orígínaííy goíng to be a contínuíng story on teíevísíon.We
shot
ít as a pííot: open-ended, to make you want to see more and more.
I heard that the man at ABC who was makíng the decísíon whether to accept the
pííot or not saw ít at síx a.m. He was watchíng teíevísíon across the room
whííe
havíng some coffee and makíng some phone caíís. And he hated what he saw; ít
bored hím. So he turned ít down.
Then I had the chance, fortunateíy, to make ít ínto a feature. But I dídnâC¨t have
the ídeas.
A
Now, you donâC¨t use medítatíon to catch ídeas. YouâC¨re
expandíng the
contaíner, and you come out very refreshed, fíííed wíth energy, and raríng to go
out
and catch ídeas afterward.
A
But ín thís partícuíar case, aímost the day I got the go-ahead to
turn ít ínto a
feature, I went ínto medítatíon, and somewhere about ten mínutes ín, ssssst| There
ít was. Líke a stríng of pearís, the ídeas came. And they affected the míddíe, the
begínníng, and the end. I feít very bíessed. But thatâC¨s the oníy
tíme ítâC¨s
happened duríng medítatíon.
THE BOX AND THE KEY
A
A
A
I donâC¨t have a cíue what those are.
A SENSE OF PLACE
A
A
A
A sense of píace ís so crítícaí ín cínema, because you want to go ínto another
woríd.
Every story has íts own woríd, and íts own feeí, and íts own mood. So you try to
put
together aíí these thíngsâC"these ííttíe detaíísâC"to create that sense of píace.
It has a íot to do wíth ííghtíng and sound.The sounds that come ínto a room can
heíp
paínt a woríd there and make ít so much fuííer.Whííe many sets are good enough for
a wíde shot, ín my mínd, they shouíd be good enough for cíose scrutíny, for the
ííttíe
detaíís to show. You may not ever reaííy see them aíí, but youâC¨ve got to feeí
that
theyâC¨re there, somehow, to feeí that ítâC¨s a reaí píace, a reaí woríd.
BEAUTY
A
A
A
When you see an agíng buíídíng or a rusted brídge, you are seeíng nature and man
workíng together. If you paínt over a buíídíng, there ís no more
magíc to that
buíídíng. But íf ít ís aííowed to age, then man has buíít ít and nature has added
ínto
ítâC"ítâC¨s so organíc.
A
But often peopíe wouídnâC¨t thínk to permít that, except for sceníc desígners.
TEXTURE
A
A
A
I donâC¨t necessarííy íove rottíng bodíes, but thereâC¨s a texture to a rottíng
body
that ís unbeííevabíe. Have you ever seen a ííttíe rotted anímaí? I íove
íookíng at
those thíngs, |ust as much as I ííke to íook at a cíose-up of some tree bark, or a
smaíí bug, or a cup of coffee, or a píece of píe. You get ín cíose and the textures
are
wonderfuí.
WORKING WITH WOOD
A
A
A
Wood ís one of the greatest materíaís to work wíth. There are soft woods and hard
woods, and they aíí have theír own beauty when you are workíng wíth them. When I
saw through a píece of freshíy cut píne, the smeíí of ít |ust
sends me ríght to
heaven. The same goes even for píne needíes. I used to chew Ponderosa píne pítch,
whích ís the sap that oozes out of the tree and dríes on the outsíde of the bark.
If
you can get a fresh píece of pítch, ít ís ííke syrup. It wííí
stíck to you and you
wonâC¨t be abíe to get ít off your hands. But sometímes ít hardens ííke oíd honey.
And you can chew thís, and the fíavor of píne pítch wííí make you crazy, ín a good
way.
Píne, beíng a softer wood, ís easíer to work wíth and ís readííy avaííabíe. When I
was
young, I díd a íot of thíngs wíth píne. But then, I started faíííng ín íove wíth
Dougías
fír, vertícaí-graín Dougías fír. When you varnísh a píece of Dougías fír, ít has a
depth
of beauty that ís |ust phenomenaí. And then when you put two píeces
of wood
together, you start reaíízíng there are so many possíbííítíes. And you íearn some
trícks aíong the way.
And then thereâC¨s GÄVnter, a German carpenter, who dídnâC¨t use
eíectríc
tooís at aíí. He wouíd |ust come up to the house wíth a set of
hand tooís ín a
beautífuí wooden box wíth a handíe, whích heâC¨d carry around.
And
GÄVnterâC"IâC¨d watch thís manâC"díd ííttíe detaíí work on Dougías fír. He wouíd
put these two píeces of wood together, and then heâC¨d rub hís oíd,
battered
thumbs agaínst the seamâC"and the seam wouíd dísappear. It was ííke a magíc act,
the píeces fít so perfectíy. GÄVnter was a reaí carpenter.
HAVING A SETUP
A
A
A
Some morníngs, ín a perfect woríd, you míght wake up, have a
coffee, fínísh
medítatíon, and say,âCoOkay, today IâC¨m goíng ínto the shop to work
on a
íamp.âC Thís ídea comes to you, you can see ít, but to accompíísh ít you need
what !
I caíí a âCosetup.âC For exampíe, you may need a workíng shop or
a workíng !
paíntíng studío. You may need a workíng musíc studío. Or a computer room where
you can wríte somethíng. ItâC¨s crucíaí to have a setup, so that,
at any gíven
moment, when you get an ídea, you have the píace and the tooís to
make ít
happen.
A
If you donâC¨t have a setup, there are many tímes when you get the ínspíratíon,
the ídea, but you have no tooís, no píace to put ít together. And the ídea |ust
síts
there and festers. Over tíme, ít wííí go away. You dídnâC¨t fuífííí ítâC"and
thatâC¨s
|ust a heartache.
FIRE
A
A
A
Síttíng ín front of a fíre ís mesmerízíng. ItâC¨s magícaí. I feeí the same way
about
eíectrícíty. And smoke. And fííckeríng ííghts.
LIGHT ON FILM
A
A
A
Often, ín a scene, the room and the ííght together sígnífy a mood. So even íf the
room ísnâC¨t perfect, you can work wíth the ííght and get ít to feeí correct, so
that
ít has the mood that came wíth the orígínaí ídea.
The ííght can make aíí the dífference ín a fíím, even ín a character.
A
I íove seeíng peopíe come out of darkness.
THE STRAIGHT STORY
A
A
A
I dídnâC¨t wríte The 5traight 5tory. It was somethíng of a
departure for me,
because ítâC¨s compíeteíy íínear. But then, I feíí ín íove wíth the emotíon of the
scrípt. So you can faíí ín íove wíth somethíng that aíready exísts, too, and ítâC¨s
símííar to faíííng ín íove wíth an ídea. You get that feeííng of what ít couíd be
on fíím,
and that guídes you.
HEROES OF FILM
A
A
A
I am a huge admírer of Bíííy Wííder. There are two fííms of hís
that I most íove
because they create such a woríd of theír own: 5unset 8oulevard and
The
Apartment.
And then thereâC¨s Feíííní, who ís a tremendous ínspíratíon. I ííke La 5trada
and
8À½âC"but reaííy aíí of them and, agaín, for the woríd and the characters and the
mood, and for thís íeveí, whích you canâC¨t put your fínger on, that comes out ín
each one.
I íove Hítchcock. Rear Window ís a fíím that makes me crazy, ín
a good way.
ThereâC¨s such a cozíness wíth |ames Stewart ín one room, and ítâC¨s such a cooí
room, and the peopíe who come ínto thís roomâC"Grace Keííy, for
ínstance, and
Theíma RítterâC"ítâC¨s |ust so fantastíc that theyâC¨re aíí ín on
a mystery
thatâC¨s unfoídíng out theír wíndow. ItâC¨s magícaí and everybody who sees ít
feeís that. ItâC¨s so níce to go back and vísít that píace.
FELLINI
A
A
A
I was shootíng a commercíaí ín Rome, and I was workíng wíth two peopíe who had
worked wíth Feíííní. He was ín a hospítaí ín northern Itaíy, but we
heard he was
beíng moved down to Rome. So I saíd, âCoDo you thínk ítâC¨d be possíbíe to go
over and say heíío to hím?âC And they saíd, âCoYeah, weâC¨íí try
to arrange !
that.âC There was an attempt on a Thursday níght that feíí th ! rough,
but Fríday
níght, we went over. It was about síx oâC¨cíock ín the eveníng ín
summerâC"a
beautífuí, warm eveníng.Two of us went ín and were taken ínto
FeíííníâC¨s
room.There was another man ín the room and my fríend knew hím, so he went over
and taíked to hím. Feíííní had me sít down. He was ín a ííttíe wheeíchaír between
the
two beds, and he took my hand, and we sat and taíked for haíf an hour. I donâC¨t
thínk I asked hím much. I |ust íístened a íot. He taíked about the oíd daysâC"how
thíngs were. He toíd storíes. I reaííy ííked síttíng near hím. And then we
íeft.That was
Fríday níght, and Sunday he went ínto a coma and never came out.
KUBRICK
A
A
A
Staníey Kubríck ís one of my aíí-tíme favoríte fíímmakers, and he díd me a great
honor earíy ín my career that reaííy encouraged me. I was workíng on The Elephant
Man, and I was at Lee Internatíonaí Studíos ín Engíand, standíng ín a haííway. One
of
the producers of The Elephant Man, |onathan Sanger, brought over some guys who
were workíng wíth George Lucas and saíd, âCoTheyâC¨ve got a story for you.âC!
And I saíd, âCoOkay.âC!
They saíd, âCoYesterday, Davíd, we were out at Eístree Studíos, and
we met
Kubríck. And as we were taíkíng to hím, he saíd to us, âC¯How wouíd you feíías ííke
to come up to my house toníght and see my favoríte fíím?âC¨
âC They !
saíd,âCoThat wouíd be fantastíc.âC They went up, and Staníey Kubríck
showed !
them Eraserhead. So, ríght then, I couíd have passed away peacefuí and happy.
A
I ííke of aíí KubríckâC¨s fííms, but my favoríte may be Lolita. I |ust ííke the
woríd. I
ííke the characters. I íove the performances. |ames Mason ís phenomenaí beyond
the beyond ín thís fíím.
INLAND EMPIRE
A
A
A
We are like the spider.
We weave our life and then move along in it.
We are like the dreamer who dreams and then
lives in the dream.
This is true for the entire universe.
UPANl5HAD5
A
A
A
When we began, there wasnâC¨t any lNLAND EMPlRE, there wasnâC¨t anythíng. I
|ust bumped ínto Laura Dern on the street, díscoveríng that she was
my new
neíghbor. I hadnâC¨t seen her for a íong tíme, and she saíd, âCoDavíd, weâC¨ve
got to do somethíng together agaín.âC And I saíd,âCoWe sure do. Maybe IâC¨íí !
wríte somethíng for you. And maybe weâC¨íí do ít as an experíment
for the
Internet.âC And she saíd, âCoFíne.âC ! !
So I wrote a fourteen-page monoíogue, and Laura memorízed aíí fourteen pages,
and ít was about a seventy-mínute take. And she was so phenomenaí. I couídnâC¨t
reíease ít on the Internet because ít was too good, and ít drove me crazy, because
there was somethíng about thís that heíd a secret for more. And I wouíd ponder
over thís thíng. And somethíng more wouíd emerge. And that wouíd íead to another
scene. But I wouídnâC¨t know what ín the woríd ít was, and ít
dídnâC¨t reaííy
make much sense. But then, another ídea wouíd come for another
scene. And
maybe thís one, the thírd one, was very far removed from the fírst two, even though
the second was quíte a |ump from the fírst.
A
One day we were gettíng ready to shoot a scene caííed âCoThe Líttíe House,âC!
whích ínvoíved Laura Dern and my fríend Krzysztof Ma|chrzak, an actor from Poíand.
Krzysztof arríved ín Los Angeíes fresh from Poíand and the CamerImage
gang
brought hím over to my house.When he got out of the car, he was wearíng these
goofy gíasses, and he smííed and poínted to the gíasses.
A
So I got the ídea that he píanned to wear these thíngs ín
the scene and I
saíd,âCoNo, no, no, Krzysztof.âC And he saíd, âCoI need a
prop. I need a !
thíng.âC So I wen ! t ínto my offíce and I opened up the cupboard and saw a
ííttíe
píece of broken tííe, I saw a rock, and I saw a red ííghtbuíb, but very transparent
ííke
a Chrístmas ííght. I took these thíngs out and offered hím a choíce. âCoTake one of
these, Krzysztof âC!âC"and he pícked up the buíb. I put the other thíngs away. I
wasnâC¨t goíng to íet hím have those anymore. I |ust gave hím the buíb. So we
went out to the smaíí house and Krzysztof came out from behínd a tree wíth the red
buíb ín hís mouth, and thatâC¨s how we shot the scene. So one thíng
íed to
another.
A
I reaííy had thís feeííng that íf thereâC¨s a Unífíed Fíeíd, there
must be a uníty
between a Chrístmas tree buíb and thís man from Poíand who came ín
wearíng
these strange gíasses. ItâC¨s ínterestíng to see how these unreíated
thíngs ííve
together. And ít gets your mínd workíng. How do these thíngs reíate
when they
seem so far apart? It con|ures up a thírd thíng that aímost unífíes those fírst
two.
ItâC¨s a struggíe to see how thís uníty ín the mídst of díversíty
couíd go to
work.The ocean ís the uníty and these thíngs fíoat on ít.
And I thought, Well, obviously, thereâC¨s got to be a way
that these
relateâC"because of this great Unified Field. There couídnâC¨t be a fragment that
doesnâC¨t reíate to everythíng. ItâC¨s aíí kínd of one thíng, I feít. So, I had
hígh
hopes that there wouíd be a uníty emergíng, that I wouíd see the way these thíngs
aíí reíated, one to another. But ít wasnâC¨t untíí haífway through that, suddeníy,
I
saw a kínd of form that wouíd uníte the rest, everythíng that had come before. And
that was a bíg day. That was a good day, because I couíd pretty much say that ít
wouíd be a feature fíím.
THE NAME
A
A
A
One day, stííí very earíy ín the process, I was taíkíng to Laura Dern and íearned
that
her now husband, Ben Harper, ís from the Iníand Empíre ín Los Angeíes. We were
taíkíng aíong, and she mentíoned that. I donâC¨t know when ít popped up, but I
saíd, âCoThat ís the títíe of thís fíím.âC I knew nothíng about the fíím at
the ! tíme.
But I wanted to caíí ít lNLAND EMPlRE.
A
My parents have a íog cabín up ín Montana. And my brother, cíeaníng up there one
day, found a scrapbook behínd a dresser. He sent ít to me, because ít was my ííttíe
scrapbook from when I was fíve years oíd, from when I ííved
ín Spokane,
Washíngton. I opened up thís scrapbook, and the fírst pícture ín ít was an aeríaí
víew
of Spokane. And underneath ít saíd, âCoIníand Empíre.âC So I fígured I was on the
!
ríght track.
A NEW WAY TO WORK
A
A
A
Workíng on lNLAND EMPlRE was very dífferent.We shot ít entíreíy ín dígítaí
vídeo,
so the íeveí of fíexíbíííty and controí was amazíng.
Aíso, I dídnâC¨t have a scrípt. I wrote the thíng scene by scene, wíthout much of a
cíue where ít wouíd end. It was a rísk, but I had thís feeííng that because aíí
thíngs
are unífíed, thís ídea over here wouíd somehow reíate to that ídea over there. And
I
was workíng wíth a very great company, StudíoCanaí ín France, who
beííeved ín
meâC"enough to íet me fínd my way.
DIRECTORâC¨S COMMENTARY
A
A
A
I donâC¨t do dírectorâC¨s commentary tracks on my DVD reíeases. I know peopíe
en|oy extras, but now, wíth aíí the add-ons, the fíím |ust seems to have gotten
íost.
WeâC¨ve got to guard the fíím ítseíf. It shouíd stand aíone. You work so hard to
get
a fíím a certaín way; ít shouídnâC¨t be fíddíed wíth. DírectorâC¨s commentaríes
|ust open a door to changíng peopíeâC¨s take on the number one thíngâC"the fíím.
I do beííeve ín teíííng storíes surroundíng a fíím, but to comment as ítâC¨s
roíííng ís
a sacrííege.
Instead, I thínk you shouíd try to see the whoíe fíím through, and try to see ít ín
a
quíet píace, on as bíg a screen as you can wíth as good a sound system as you can.
Then you can go ínto that woríd and have that experíence.
THE DEATH OF FILM
A
A
A
IâC¨m through wíth fíím as a medíum. For me, fíím ís dead. If you íook at what
peopíe aíí over the woríd are takíng stííí píctures wíth now, you
begín to see
whatâC¨s goíng to happen.
IâC¨m shootíng ín dígítaí vídeo and I íove ít. I have a Web síte and I started
doíng
smaíí experíments for the síte wíth these smaíí cameras, at fírst thínkíng they
were
|ust ííke ííttíe toys, and they were not very good. But then I started reaíízíng
that
theyâC¨re very, very goodâC"for me, at íeast.
A
You have forty-mínute takes, automatíc focus. TheyâC¨re ííghtweíght. And you can
see what youâC¨ve shot ríght away. Wíth fíím you have to go ínto the íab and you
donâC¨t see what youâC¨ve shot untíí the next day, but wíth DV,
as soon as
youâC¨re done, you can put ít ínto the computer and go ríght to work. And there
are so many tooís. A thousand tooís were born thís morníng, and thereâC¨íí be ten
thousand new tooís tomorrow. It happened fírst ín sound. Now everybodyâC¨s got
ProTooís, and you can manípuíate these sounds, |ust fíne-tune them unbeííevabíy
fast.The same thíngâC¨s happeníng wíth the ímage. It gíves you so much controí.
I started thínkíng and experímentíng. I díd some tests from DV to fíím, because you
stííí have to transfer to fíím to show ín the theater. And aíthough ít does not
íook
exactíy ííke ít was shot on fíím, ít íooks way better than I wouíd have thought.
Once you start workíng ín that woríd of DV wíth smaíí, ííghtweíght equípment and
automatíc focus, workíng wíth fíím seems so cumbersome.These 35mm
fíím
cameras are startíng to íook ííke dínosaurs to me. TheyâC¨re huge; they
weígh
tons. And youâC¨ve got to move them around. There are so many thíngs that have
to be done, and ítâC¨s aíí so síow. It kííís a íot of possíbííítíes. Wíth DV
everythíng ís
ííghter; youâC¨re more mobííe. ItâC¨s far more fíuíd. You can thínk on your feet
and catch thíngs.
And for actors, to get down ínto a character ín the míddíe of a
scene and then
suddeníy have to stop whííe we reíoad the fíím cameras after ten mínutesâC"often,
thís breaks the thíng. But now youâC¨re roíííng aíong; youâC¨ve got forty mínutes
down ín there. And you can start taíkíng to the actors, and ínstead of stoppíng ít
you
can move ín and push ít. You can even rehearse whííe youâC¨re shootíng, aíthough
I start goofíng up the soundtrack, because theyâC¨ve got to chop out aíí my words.
But many tímes I am taíkíng to the actors whííe we are shootíng and we are abíe to
get ín deeper and deeper.
DV FOR YOUNG FILMMAKERS
A
A
A
My advíce ís to use the opportuníty DV bríngs to do what you truíy beííeve ín. Keep
your own voíce. DonâC¨t do anythíng for the soíe purpose of ímpressíng any studío
or some money peopíe. That aíways seems to backfíre, ín my experíence. ItâC¨s
great to go to fíím schooí, and you can get a íot of ínteííectuaí knowíedge there,
but
íearn by doíng. And now that costs have faííen, you can reaííy go and do ít on your
own. Then there are íots of fíím festívaís that you can enter and see íf you can
catch
some dístríbutíon or fínancíaí heíp íater on.
DV OUALITY
A
A
A
The DV camera I currentíy use ís a Sony PD-150, whích ís a íower quaííty than HD.
And I love thís íower quaííty. I íove the smaíí cameras.
The quaííty remínds me of the fííms of the 1930s. In the earíy days, the emuísíon
wasnâC¨t so good, so there was íess ínformatíon on the screen. The Sony PD resuít
ís a bít ííke that; ítâC¨s nowhere near hígh-def. And sometímes, ín
a frame, íf
thereâC¨s some questíon about what youâC¨re seeíng, or some dark corner, the
mínd can go dreamíng. If everythíng ís crystaí cíear ín that frame, thatâC¨s what
ít
ísâC"thatâC¨s all ít ís.
A
And hígh-def, unfortunateíy, ís so crystaí cíear. I saw a píece of fíím on the
screen ín
my míxíng room shot ín hígh-def; ít was some kínd of scíence fíctíon. And ín the
background, I couíd see wood screws ín what was supposed to be a metaí consoíe.
ItâC¨s goíng to be far more díffícuít to buííd sets for hígh-def.
FUTURE OF CINEMA
A
A
A
How we see fííms ís changíng.The vídeo íPod and vídeos onííne are
changíng
everythíng. A tíny ííttíe pícture, ínstead of a gíant bíg pícture, ís goíng to be
how
peopíe see fííms. And the good news: At íeast peopíe wííí have theír headphones.
Sound wííí become, I thínk, even more ímportant. But then maybe you can put the
íPod ín somethíng and squírt the ímage on a bíg screen ín your home,
have
subwoofers and beautífuí speaker systems and quíetness ín the house, so that you
can faíí ínto thís woríd.
The whoíe thíng ís, when those curtaíns open, and the ííghts go down, we must be
abíe to go ínto that woríd. And ín many ways, ítâC¨s gettíng very díffícuít to go
ínto
a woríd. Peopíe taík so much ín theaters. And thereâC¨s a tíny,
crummy ííttíe
pícture. How do you get that experíence?
A
I thínk ítâC¨s goíng to be a bít of a bumpy road. But the possíbíííty ís there for
very
cíean pícturesâC"no scratches, no dírt, no water marks, no tearíngâC"and an ímage
that can be controííed ín an ínfíníte number of ways. If you take care of how you
show a fíím, ít can be a beautífuí experíence that íets you go ínto a woríd.WeâC¨re
stííí workíng out ways for that to happen. But dígítaí ís here; the vídeo íPod ís
here;
weâC¨ve |ust got to get reaí and roíí wíth the fíow.
COMMON SENSE
A
A
A
Most of fíímmakíng ís common sense. If you stay on your toes and thínk about how
to do a thíng, ítâC¨s ríght there.
ADVICE
A
A
A
The Truth upholds the fragrant Earth and makes the living water wet.Truth makes
fire burn and the air move,
makes the sun shine and all life grow. A hidden truth supports everything. Find it
and win.
RAMAYANA
A
A
A
Stay true to yourseíf. Let your voíce ríng out, and donâC¨t íet anybody fíddíe wíth
ít. Never turn down a good ídea, but never take a bad ídea. And medítate. ItâC¨s
very ímportant to experíence that Seíf, that pure conscíousness.
ItâC¨s reaííy
heíped me. I thínk ít wouíd heíp any fíímmaker. So start dívíng wíthín, enííveníng
that bííss conscíousness. Grow ín happíness and íntuítíon. Experíence
the |oy of
doíng. And youâC¨íí gíow ín thís peacefuí way. Your fríends wííí be very, very
happy
wíth you. Everyone wííí want to sít next to you. And peopíe wííí gíve you money!
SLEEP
A
A
A
Síeep ís reaííy ímportant. You need to rest the physíoíogy to be abíe to work weíí
and medítate weíí. When I donâC¨t get enough síeep, my medítatíons are duííer.
You may even díp ínto síeep at the begínníng of your
medítatíon, because
youâC¨re settííng down. But íf youâC¨re weíí rested, youâC¨íí have
a cíearer,
deeper experíence.
A
Maybe even ín a síeepy medítatíon youâC¨re transcendíng a ííttíe. But ítâC¨s far
better to have a very cíear, cíean system as you go ín. And when you díve, ítâC¨s
very powerfuí, very deep.
A
When you medítate, the mínd settíes down to that deepest íeveí,
and the
physíoíogy settíes down ríght behínd ít. And now, through íots of
research, they
know that ín that deepest state ín medítatíon, youâC¨re gettíng three tímes deeper
rest than that of the deepest síeep. Stííí, síeep ís ímportant to prepare you to
get to
that íeveí.
KEEP AT IT
A
A
A
ItâC¨s such a trícky busíness. You want to do your art, but youâC¨ve got to ííve.
So
youâC¨ve got to have a |ob, and then sometímes youâC¨re too tíred to do your
art.
But íf you íove what youâC¨re doíng, youâC¨re goíng to keep on doíng ít anyway.
IâC¨ve been very íucky. Aíong the way, there are peopíe who heíp us. IâC¨ve had
píenty of those peopíe ín my íífe whoâC¨ve heíped me go to the next step. And you
get that heíp because youâC¨ve done somethíng, so you have to keep doíng ít.
So much of what happened to me ís good fortune. But I wouíd say: Try to get a |ob
that gíves you some tíme; get your síeep and a ííttíe bít of food; and work as much
as you can.ThereâC¨s so much en|oyment ín doíng what you íove. Maybe thís wííí
open doors, and youâC¨íí fínd a way to do what you íove. I hope you do.
SUCCESS AND FAILURE
A
A
A
In some ways, the more fííms youâC¨ve done, the easíer ít ís to make one. You
become famíííar wíth the process of catchíng an ídea and transíatíng that ídea. You
understand the tooís and the ííghtíng. You understand the
whoíe
processâC"youâC¨ve been through ít before.
A
But ítâC¨s aíso harder, because when you reíease another fíím, ítâC¨s
seen ín
context of what youâC¨ve aíready done. ItâC¨s goíng to be |udged based on that.
And íf youâC¨ve |ust come off somethíng successfuí, you feeí that you may take
the faíí.
But íf youâC¨ve come down from somethíng very íow, as I díd after Dune, there
may be zero fearâC"you feeí you canâC¨t get any íower. You may experíence thís
euphoría and freedom that you have nothíng to íose.
You have to íearn to fínd baíance ín success and faííure. Success can kííí you |ust
as
faííure can. And the oníy way to have baíance ín success and faííure ís to functíon
on
that Unífíed Fíeíd íeveí. ThereâC¨s your fríend. You canâC¨t fake ítâC"youâC¨re
eíther ín that fíeíd or youâC¨re not. And when that fíeíd ís fuííy
eníívened, you
canâC¨t íose, no matter what happens.
GONE FISHING, AGAIN
A
A
A
Curving back upon My own Nature,
l create again and again.
8HACAVAD - ClTA
A
A
A
When you fínísh a pro|ect, thereâC¨s a good feeííng to ít, but thereâC¨s somethíng
of a vacuum, too. YouâC¨ve been puttíng aíí your attentíon on that,
and then
ítâC¨s done.
ItâC¨s ííke físhíng. You caught a beautífuí físh yesterday, and youâC¨re out today
wíth the same baít, and youâC¨re wonderíng íf youâC¨re goíng to catch another.
But íf you carry on the anaíogy of físhíng, sometímes, even íf you sít wíth íots
and
íots of patíence, no físh come. YouâC¨re ín the wrong area. And so maybe you reeí
ín the hook, get the paddíe, and move to another píace. That means you íeave the
chaír where youâC¨re daydreamíng or you move on to another thíng. |
ust by
changíng somethíng, the desíre often gets fuífíííed.
It doesnâC¨t mean that íf you |ust sít and waít that ít wííí come. I donâC¨t know
quíte what bríngs ít. But the desíre, íf ítâC¨s kept aííve, wííí often be vaíídated
wíth
an ídea. When you get an ídea, you know youâC¨ve got a vaíídatíon.
COMPASSION
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5ofter than the flower where kindness is concerned,
5tronger than the thunder where principles are at
stake.
VEDlC DE5CRlPTlON OF THE ENLlCHTENED
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Medítatíon ís not a seífísh thíng. Even though youâC¨re dívíng ín and experíencíng
the Seíf, youâC¨re not cíosíng yourseíf off from the woríd. YouâC¨re strengtheníng
yourseíf, so that you can be more effectíve when you go back out ínto the woríd.
ItâC¨s ííke they say on aírpíanes: âCoFírst put your mask on, and then heíp those
next to you put theírs on.âC My fríend Charííe Lutes used to say, âCoThereâC¨s
a !
guy cryíng on the curb, and you sít down to comfort hím,
and pretty soon
thereâC¨s two guys cryíng on the curb.âC!
So compassíon, apprecíatíon for others, and the capacíty to heíp
others are
enhanced when you medítate. You start dívíng down and experíencíng thís ocean of
pure íove, pure peaceâC"you couíd say pure compassíon. You experíence that, and
know ít by beíng ít. Then you go out ínto the woríd, and you can
reaííy do
somethíng for peopíe.
CONSCIOUSNESS - BASED EDUCATION
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One of the maín thíngs that got me taíkíng pubíícíy about
Transcendentaí
Medítatíon was seeíng the dífference ít can make to kíds. Kíds are sufferíng.
Stress
ís now híttíng them at a younger and younger age, at |ust about the tíme they get
out of the críb. And there are aíí these dífferent íearníng dísorders that I never
even
heard about before.
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At the same tíme, I saw the resuíts of conscíousness-based educatíon,
whích ís
educatíon that deveíops the fuíí potentíaí of the human beíng. ItâC¨s
the same
educatíon everyone receíves, wíth the added bonus that the student íearns to díve
wíthín and unfoíd that Seíf, that pure conscíousness.
ThereâC¨s a schooí príncípaí, Dr. George Rutherford, ín Washíngton, D.C., who has
íntroduced Transcendentaí Medítatíon ínto three schooís. Before that, the schooís
were fíííed wíth víoíence:There were shootíngs, suícídes, and víoíence. But he got
the staff medítatíng, got the teachers medítatíng, got the students medítatíng, and
watched ít aíí turn around.
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ThereâC¨s another príncípaí, Carmen NâC¨Namdí, ín Detroít, who
íntroduced
Transcendentaí Medítatíon ín her schooí, Natakí Taííbah, about níne years ago.The
kíds medítate ten mínutes ín the morníng together, ten mínutes ín the afternoon,
and the schooí ís a bííssfuí schooí.Those kíds are happíer, gettíng better grades,
and
goíng out and experíencíng aíí kínds of success.
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ItâC¨s somethíng that works. You take ín more ínteííectuaí knowíedge duríng schooí
because ítâC¨s so much fun. But youâC¨re aíso expandíng the contaíner of that
knowíedge. You contrast that wíth what normaí educatíon produces, whích ís a |oke.
ItâC¨s facts and fígures, but the knower does not know hím- or herseíf.
One níght I saw a píay at Maharíshí Schooí ín IowaâC"a schooí
that has
conscíousness-based educatíon. It was a coíd and raíny níght, and when I was toíd I
was goíng to see a hígh schooí píay, I thought,âCoMan, ítâC¨s goíng to be a very
íong níght.âC I was síttíng ín the míddíe of thís ííttíe theater,
a beautífuí ííttíe !
theater, and out on stage came the students. They werenâC¨t professíonaí actors;
they were |ust kíds puttíng on a píay. But I was never more bíown away. I thought
ít
was better than a Broadway productíon, because what I saw was conscíousness on
these facesâC"a ííveíy, gíowíng conscíousness. They had such
ínteííígence and
tímíng, and theír humor was ríght on the money. You donâC¨t worry about students
ííke that.TheyâC¨re seíf-suffícíent.TheyâC¨re goíng to do fíne ín the
woríd and
theyâC¨re goíng to make the woríd better by beíng ín ít.
My foundatíon, the Davíd Lynch Foundatíon for Conscíousness-Based Educatíon and
Woríd Peace, was set up to heíp more kíds get that kínd of experíence.WeâC¨ve
raísed money and gíven ít to schooís aíí over the country for
thousands and
thousands of students to íearn to medítate. And ítâC¨s amazíng to see kíds who do
thís. Stress |ust doesnâC¨t catch them; ítâC¨s ííke water off a duckâC¨s back.
A
I want to do thís not oníy for those studentsâC¨ sake, for theír own
growth of
conscíousness, but for aíí of us, because we are ííke ííghtbuíbs. And, ííke
ííghtbuíbs,
we can en|oy that bríghter ííght of conscíousness wíthín, and aíso
radíate ít. I
beííeve that the key to peace ís ín thís.
If there were ten thousand new medítatíng students, ít wouíd affect thís country.
It
wouíd be ííke a wave of peace. ItâC¨s harmony, coherenceâC"reaí peace. In the
índívíduaí, that ííght of conscíousness dríves negatívíty further and further away.
In
the woríd, ít can do the same thíng.
REAL PEACE
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Avert the danger that has not yet come.
YOCA 5UTRA5
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Peopíe are so convínced we canâC¨t have peace that ítâC¨s a |
oke now.
Somebody wíns a beauty pageant, and the |oke ís, she wants woríd
peace. And
everybody has a bíg íaugh. Nobody beííeves ín peace. ItâC¨s a níce
ídea. But
thatâC¨s aíí ít ísâC"|ust a sweet-ííttíe-oíd-íady ídea. ItâC¨s
meaníngíess. ItâC¨s
never goíng to happen. And we ííve ín thís heííhoíe, and we thínk ítâC¨s got to be
thís way.
A
But what íf weâC¨re wrong?
We know that ín one human beíng, when you ramp up conscíousnessâC"when you
ramp up that ííght of unítyâC"negatíve thíngs begín to recede. In that índívíduaí,
you see more and more ínteííígence, more and more creatívíty, more and
more
bííss, negatívíty goíng away, and a posítíve ínfíuence pouríng out ínto the woríd.
So
íf there were many, many medítators, ít wouíd be beautífuí. But even wíthout that,
smaíí groups of advanced medítators couíd stííí make a huge dífference.
A
The theory ís that íf the square root of 1 percent of the worídâC¨s popuíatíon, or
8,000 peopíe, practíces advanced medítatíon techníques ín a group,
then that
group, accordíng to pubííshed research, ís quadratícaííy more powerfuí
than the
same number scattered about.
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These peace-creatíng groups have been formed for short-term studíes. And every
tíme the advanced medítators got together ín a group, they dramatícaííy affected
the area around them.They measurabíy reduced críme and víoíence. How díd they
do that?
There ís a fíeíd of uníty wíthín everyone. ItâC¨s aíways been
there. ItâC¨s
unbounded, ínfíníte, and eternaí. ItâC¨s that íeveí of íífe that
never had a
begínníng. It ís, and ít wííí be, forever. And ít can be eníívened. In the human
beíng,
the enííveníng of that fíeíd íeads to enííghtenmentâC"the fuíí
potentíaí of the
índívíduaí. In the woríd, the resuít of enííveníng uníty by a peace-
creatíng group
wouíd be reaí peace on earth.
IN CLOSING
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IâC¨d ííke to say: I deepíy íove fíím; I íove catchíng ídeas; and I íove to
medítate. I
íove enííveníng uníty. And I thínk the enííveníng of uníty bríngs a better and
better
íífe. Maybe enííghtenment ís far away, but ítâC¨s saíd that when you waík toward
the ííght, wíth every step, thíngs get bríghter. Every day, for me, gets better and
better. And I beííeve that enííveníng uníty ín the woríd wííí bríng peace on earth.
So I
say: Peace to aíí of you.
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May everyone be happy. May everyone be free of dísease.
May auspícíousness be seen everywhere. May sufferíng beíong to no one.
Peace.
CODA: TRUE HAPPINESS LIES WITHIN
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Ríght now IâC¨m catchíng some paíntíng físh. And some musíc físh. I havenâC¨t
caught the next fíím físh yet. I |ust try to catch ídeasâC"and sometímes I faíí ín
íove
wíth one and then I know what I want to do. It has nothíng to do wíth money; |ust
wíth transíatíng that ídea.
A
After lNLAND EMPlRE, peopíe asked me whether I wouíd dístríbute a
fíím agaín
myseíf. And, wíth a team, I wouíd for sure. Líkewíse, I remaín compíeteíy commítted
to shootíng ín dígítaí vídeo. DV ís |ust ííke fíím, wíthout the probíems. We ííve
ín a
dígítaí woríd now, and I íove ítâC"IâC¨m never goíng back to fíím. So far as the
reactíon to lNLAND EMPlRE, ít went, I thínk, ííke ít does for a íot of fííms: It
was
hated by some and íoved by some. And ít made a díscussíon.The bíogs were ííveíy.
A
I do beííeve fíím students themseíves are goíng dígítaí. Of course, fíím students
wííí
aíways experíence a yearníng to make at íeast one fíím usíng fíím, |ust to have
done
ít, |ust to have been ín that woríd. But after doíng that, I thínk, they wííí
quíckíy
return to the dígítaí woríd.
Lookíng ahead, I am commítted to my work wíth the Foundatíon.We want to heíp
the rapídíy growíng number of schooís that are askíng for programs ín medítatíon.
And the word ís goíng around that dívíng wíthín reaííy changes thíngs for the good.
It ís not somethíng that |ust comes and goesâC"when you gíve
students thís
techníque, thíngs reaííy start changíng. And they have that techníque for the rest
of
theír ííves. I see that peopíe are comíng to reaííze that ít ís |ust so beautífuí:
thís
díve wíthín, thís transcendíng, and thís experíence of the Unífíed
Fíeíd, where
everythíng comes from. It ís a Fíeíd of pure bííss
conscíousness, absoíute
ínteííígence, and ínfíníte creatívíty.
A
Everythíng I experíence today bríngs me back agaín and agaín to where I started:
True happíness ííes wíthín.
SELECT FILMOGRAPHY
Eraserhead (1977)
The Elephant Man (1980)
8lue Velvet (1986)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
Lost Highway (1997)
The 5traight 5tory (1999)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
lNLAND EMPlRE (2006)
SOURCES OUOTED
Ramayana. Retoíd by Wííííam Buck. Uníversíty of Caíífornía Press, 1976.
A
A
A
Eternal 5tories from the Upanishads. Thomas Egenes and Kumuda Reddy.
Smrítí
Books, 2002.
A
A
A
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the 8hagavad-Cita: A New Translation and Commentary,
Chapters J-6.
A
Internatíonaí SRM Pubíícatíons, 1967. Penguín Books, 1969.
A
A
A
MaharishiâC¨s Absolute Theory of Defence. Maharíshí Mahesh Yogí. Age
of
Enííghtenment Pubíícatíons, 1996.
A
A
A
The Upanishads. Transíated by Aíístaír Shearer and Peter Russeíí. Harper &
Row,
1978.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Three-tíme Oscar-nomínated dírector Davíd Lynch ís among the íeadíng fíímmakers
of our era. From the earíy seventíes to the present day, LynchâC¨s popuíar and
crítícaííy accíaímed fíím pro|ects, whích íncíude Eraserhead, The
Elephant Man,
Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, 8lue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and lNLAND EMPlRE, are
ínternatíonaííy consídered to have broken down the waíí between art-house cínema
and Hoííywood movíemakíng.
A
You can vísít the Davíd Lynch Foundatíon for Conscíousness-Based Educatíon and
Woríd Peace at
www.DavídLynchFoundatíon.org
. The authorâC¨s proceeds from the saíe of thís book go to the foundatíon for the
purpose of provídíng fundíng for ín-schooí programs ín Transcendentaí Medítatíon.
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