Wild at Heart (film): Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Wildheartonset.jpg|right|thumb|260 px|[[David Lynch]] and [[Willem Dafoe]] on the set of ''Wild at Heart'' in 1990]] |
[[Image:Wildheartonset.jpg|right|thumb|260 px|[[David Lynch]] and [[Willem Dafoe]] on the set of ''Wild at Heart'' in 1990]] |
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In the summer of 1989, Lynch had finished up the Pilot episode for the successful ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' television series and tried to rescue two of his projects — ''[[Ronnie Rocket]]'' and ''One Saliva Bubble'' — |
In the summer of 1989, Lynch had finished up the Pilot episode for the successful ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' television series and tried to rescue two of his projects — ''[[Ronnie Rocket]]'' and ''One Saliva Bubble'' — both involved in contractual complications as a result of [[Dino De Laurentiis]]'s bankruptcy, which had been bought by Carolco Productions.<ref name= "Rodley, Chris">{{cite news |
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| ⚫ | | accessdate = }}</ref> Independent production company [[Propaganda Films]] commissioned Lynch to develop an updated noir screenplay based on a [[1940]]s [[crime]] [[novel]] while Monty Montgomery, a friend of Lynch's and an associate producer on ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' asked novelist Barry Gifford what he was working on.<ref name= "Rodley, Chris"/> Gifford happened to working on the manuscript for ''Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula'' but still had two more chapters to write.<ref name= "Klinghoffer">{{cite news |
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| ⚫ | | accessdate = }}</ref> Lynch stated: "I've had a bad time with obstacles", he continues "It wasn't Dino's fault, but when his compnay went down the tubes, I got swallowed up in that".<ref name="Woods, Paul" /> Independent production company [[Propaganda Films]] commissioned Lynch to develop an updated noir screenplay based on a [[1940]]s [[crime]] [[novel]] while Monty Montgomery, a friend of Lynch's and an associate producer on ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' asked novelist Barry Gifford what he was working on.<ref name= "Rodley, Chris"/> Gifford happened to working on the manuscript for ''Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula'' but still had two more chapters to write.<ref name= "Klinghoffer">{{cite news |
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| accessdate = 2007-06-22 }}</ref> Originally, the film featured more explicit erotic scenes between Sailor and Lula. In one, she has an [[orgasm]] while relating to Sailor a dream she had of being ripped open by a wild animal. Another deleted scene had Lula lowering herself onto Sailor's face saying, "Take a bite out of Lula".<ref name= "Campbell, Virginia"/> |
| accessdate = 2007-06-22 }}</ref> Propoganda provided a relativley modest budget of $10 million, and ''Wild at Heart'' began filming in and around [[Los Angeles, California]] (including the industrial area of the [[San Fernando Valley]] and [[New Orleans]]) almost immediatley.<ref name="Woods, Paul" /> Originally, the film featured more explicit erotic scenes between Sailor and Lula. In one, she has an [[orgasm]] while relating to Sailor a dream she had of being ripped open by a wild animal. Another deleted scene had Lula lowering herself onto Sailor's face saying, "Take a bite out of Lula".<ref name= "Campbell, Virginia"/> |
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==Soundtrack== |
==Soundtrack== |
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Revision as of 14:04, 26 January 2008
| Wild at Heart | |
|---|---|
| File:CoraçãoSelvagem.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | David Lynch |
| Written by | Barry Gifford (novel) David Lynch (screenplay) |
| Produced by | Steve Golin Monty Montgomery Sigurjon Sighvatsson |
| Starring | Nicolas Cage Laura Dern |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Edited by | Duwayne Dunham |
| Music by | Angelo Badalamenti |
| Distributed by | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
Release dates |  May 1990 (premiere at Cannes) August 17, 1990 |
Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $14,560,247 (USA) (sub-total) |
Wild at Heart is a 1990 American film written and directed by David Lynch, based on Barry Gifford's pulp novel Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula (1990) that revolves around Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) and Lula Pace Fortune (Laura Dern), a young couple from Cape Fear, North Carolina who, after his return from prison, decide to go on the run from her overbearing mother (Diane Ladd) and, as a result of her mothers plans, the mob becomes involved.
The film is a road movie and includes bizarre, almost supernatural events and off-kilter violence with sometimes overtly heavy allusions to The Wizard of Oz (1939) and strong references to Elvis Presley and his movies. Wild at Heart recieved mixed to negative critical reviews in and was a moderate success at the United States box office, grossing $14 million. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.[1][2]
Synopsis
Lovers Lula (Dern) and Sailor (Cage) are separated after he is jailed for killing – in self-defense – a man who attacked him with a knife who was hired by her psychopathic mother Marietta Fortune (Ladd). Upon Sailor's release, Lula picks him up at the prison where she hands him his snakeskin jacket and he happily accepts. They go to a hotel where she reserved a room, they make love and go see a hard metal band by the name of Powermad. While they are at the club and dancing, an anonymous slam dancer bumps into Lula and begins to dance and grind into her. Sailor gets the band to stop and tells the man to apologize. The man tells him that he looks "like a clown in that stupid jacket". They fight and Sailor wins. He tells the man to apologize. Sailor gets the band to immediately launch into "Love Me" by Elvis as he sings lead vocal. Later, back in the room, after making love, Sailor and Lula finally decide to run away to California, breaking Sailor's parole. Lula's mother arranges for a private detective, Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton) to find them and bring them back. He agrees because he is in love with her. Unbeknownst to Johnnie, however, Marietta also hires evil gangster Marcelles Santos (J.E. Freeman) to track them, and eliminate Sailor.
Unaware of all of the events happening back in South Carolina, the two are on their way until – according to Lula – they witness a bad omen: the aftermath of a two-car accident, and the only survivor, a young woman (Sherilyn Fenn), dies in front of them. With little money left, Sailor heads for Big Tuna, Texas, where he contacts "an old friend" who might be able to help them. Inevitably, while Sailor agrees to join up with Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe) in a bank robbery, Lula waits for him in the hotel room, being sick and pining for the better times. Bobby is let into the room by Lula while Sailor is out and tries to seduce Lula, but at the last second laughs it off and walks out. The day of the robbery arrives. It goes spectacularly wrong when Peru unnecessarily shoots two clerks, and as they leave the bank, Sailor realized he has been given an unloaded pistol. Bobby then admits to Sailor he's been hired to kill him, but just as he is about to do so he is shot by sheriff's deputies and as he falls he accidentally blows his own head off with the shotgun he was carrying. Sailor is arrested and given five years in jail.
While in jail, Lula has his child, her mother "vanishes," and upon his release she decides to pick him up with their son. As they pick him up in the car, he reveals he's leaving them both, deciding while in prison that he isn't good enough for them. While he is walking a short distance away, he encounters a gang of mostly Asian men who surround him. He thinks his bravado will carry him through, but gets jumped, beaten and is knocked out. While he is unconscious, he sees a revelation in the form of an "angelic vision" which looks a lot like Glinda, the Good Witch of The North from The Wizard of Oz. She tells him, "Don't turn away from love, Sailor". When he awakes, he apologizes to the men and tells them he realizes a great many things, then screams her name and runs away. As there is a traffic jam on the road, he begins to run over the roofs and hoods of the cars to get back to Lula and their child in the car, with the film ending as Sailor sings "Love Me Tender" to Lula on the hood of their car as the credits roll.
Cast and characters
- Nicolas Cage as Sailor Ripley: The actor described his character as "a kind of romantic Southern outlaw."[3] Cage said in an interview that he was "always attracted to those passionate, almost unbridled romantic characters, and Sailor had that more than any other role I'd played".[3] Previous to being cast in the film, he had met Lynch several times at Hollywood eatery Musso & Frank Grill that they both frequented. When Lynch read Gifford's novel, he immediately wanted Cage to play Sailor.[4]
- Laura Dern as Lula Pace Fortune: Dern had previously starred in a supporting role in Lynch's previous Blue Velvet (1986), a huge commercial and critical success. For the Dern, this was the first opportunity she had "to play not only a very sexual person, but also someone who also was, in her own way, incredibly comfortable with herself".[3] When Lynch read Gifford's novel, he immediately thought of Dern to play Lula.[5]
- Diane Ladd as Marietta Fortune: Lula's overbearing, protective but loving mother that forbids Lula and Sailor's relationship, mainly because of her contempt for Sailor.
Supporting cast
- Harry Dean Stanton as Johnnie Farragut: a private detective and Marietta's boyfriend.
- J.E. Freeman as Marcellus Santos: a gangster and Marietta's other boyfriend.
- William Morgan Sheppard as Mr. Reindeer: a mysterious crime boss in league with Santos.
- Willem Dafoe as Bobby Peru: a criminal hired by Mr. Reindeer to kill Sailor.
- Crispin Glover as Cousin Dell: Lula's crazy cousin.
- Grace Zabriskie as Juana Durango: a criminal who works with Mr. Reindeer.
- Isabella Rossellini as Perdita Durango: a criminal who once worked with Sailor and is now partners with Bobby Peru.
- Sherilyn Fenn as Girl in car accident
- Sheryl Lee as The Good Witch: who appears to Sailor in a vision, telling him not to give up on love.
- Jack Nance as 00 Spool: a crazy rocket scientist.
- John Lurie as Sparky: one of Bobby Peru's associates.
Production
In the summer of 1989, Lynch had finished up the Pilot episode for the successful Twin Peaks television series and tried to rescue two of his projects — Ronnie Rocket and One Saliva Bubble — both involved in contractual complications as a result of Dino De Laurentiis's bankruptcy, which had been bought by Carolco Productions.[6][7] Lynch stated: "I've had a bad time with obstacles", he continues "It wasn't Dino's fault, but when his compnay went down the tubes, I got swallowed up in that".[7] Independent production company Propaganda Films commissioned Lynch to develop an updated noir screenplay based on a 1940s crime novel while Monty Montgomery, a friend of Lynch's and an associate producer on Twin Peaks asked novelist Barry Gifford what he was working on.[6] Gifford happened to working on the manuscript for Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula but still had two more chapters to write.[8] He let Montgomery read it while the producer was working on the Pilot episode for Twin Peaks in pre-published galley form. Montgomery read it and two days later called Gifford and told him that he wanted to make a film of it.[8] Two days afterwards, Montgomery gave Lynch Gifford’s book while he was editing the Pilot, asking him if he would executive produce a film adaptation that he would direct.[9] Lynch remembers telling him, "That’s great Monty, but what if I read it and fall in love with it and want to do it myself?"[6] Montgomery did not think that Lynch would like the book because he did not think it was his "kind of thing".[9] Lynch loved the book and called Gifford soon afterwards, asking him if he could make a film of it.[8] Lynch remembers, "It was just exactly the right thing at the right time. The book and the violence in America merged in my mind and many different things happened".[6] Lynch was drawn to what he saw as "a really modern romance in a violent world – a picture about finding love in hell", and was also attracted to "a certain amount of fear in the picture, as well as things to dream about. So it seems truthful in some way".[6]
Once Lynch got approval from Propaganda to switch projects, he wrote a draft in a week.[7][9] Before doing this, he had Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern read Gifford's book.[3] Within four months, Lynch began filming on August 9, 1989 in both Los Angeles and New Orleans with a budget of $10 million.[7] Lynch did not like the ending in Gifford’s book where Sailor and Lula split up for good. For Lynch, "it honestly didn’t seem real, considering the way they felt about each other. It didn’t seem one bit real! It had a certain coolness, but I couldn’t see it".[6] Samuel Goldwyn read an early draft of the screenplay and didn’t like Gifford’s ending either so Lynch changed it. However, the director was worried that this change made the film too commercial, "much more commercial to make a happy ending yet, if I had not changed it, so that people wouldn’t say I was trying to be commercial, I would have been untrue to what the material was saying".[6] Lynch also added new characters, like Cousin Dell,[8] Mr. Reindeer, and Sherilyn Fenn as the victim of a car accident.[10] Before filming started, Dern suggested that she and Cage go on a weekend road trip to Las Vegas in order to bond and get a handle on their characters.[9] Dern remembers, "We agreed that Sailor and Lula needed to be one person, one character, and we would each share it. I got the sexual, wild, Marilyn, gum-chewing fantasy, female side; Nick’s got the snakeskin, Elvis, raw, combustible, masculine side".[11] Cage performed his own singing.[12] Propoganda provided a relativley modest budget of $10 million, and Wild at Heart began filming in and around Los Angeles, California (including the industrial area of the San Fernando Valley and New Orleans) almost immediatley.[7] Originally, the film featured more explicit erotic scenes between Sailor and Lula. In one, she has an orgasm while relating to Sailor a dream she had of being ripped open by a wild animal. Another deleted scene had Lula lowering herself onto Sailor's face saying, "Take a bite out of Lula".[5]
Soundtrack
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Track listing
- Gewandhausorchester Leizpig — "Im Abendrot" (Excerpt)
- Powermad — "Slaughterhouse"
- Angelo Badalamenti — "Cool Cat Walk"
- Nicolas Cage — "Love Me"
- Them — "Baby Please Don't Go"
- Koko Taylor — "Up in Flames"
- Chris Isaak — "Wicked Game"
- Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps — "Be-Bop-A-Lula"
- Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra — "Smoke Rings"
- Rubber City — "Perdita"
- Chris Isaak — "Blue Spanish Sky"
- Angelo Badalamenti — "Dark Spanish Symphony" (Edited - String Version)
- Rubber City — "Dark Spanish Symphony" (50's Version)
- Angelo Badalamenti — "Dark Lolita"
- Nicolas Cage — "Love Me Tender"
Reception
Early test screenings for Wild at Heart did not go well with the strong violence in some scenes being too much and Lynch estimated that between 100-120 people walked out.[6] The scene in question was the torture and killing of Johnny Farragut. "I didn’t think I’d pushed it to the point where people would turn on the picture. But, looking back, I think it was pretty close. But that was part of what Wild at Heart was about: really insane and sick and twisted stuff going on".[6]
The film was completed one day before it debuted at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival in the 2,400-seat Grand Auditorium. After the screening, it received "wild cheering" from the audience.[13] When Jury President Bernardo Bertolucci announced Wild at Heart as the Palme d'Or winner at the awards ceremony, the boos almost drowned out the cheers with film critic Roger Ebert leading the vocal detractors.[13][14] Barry Gifford remembers that there was a prevailing mood that the media was hoping Lynch would fail. "All kinds of journalists were trying to cause controversy and have me say something like ‘This is nothing like the book’ or ‘He ruined my book.’ I think everybody from Time magazine to What’s On In London was disappointed when I said ‘This is fantastic. This is wonderful. It’s like a big, dark, musical comedy.’"[6] The MPAA told Lynch that the version of Wild at Heart screened at Cannes would receive an X rating in North America unless cuts were made, as the NC-17 was not in effect in 1990, at the time of the films release.[13] The director was contractually obligated to deliver an R-rated film.[13] He made one change in the scene where a character shoots his own head off with a shotgun. Gun smoke was added to tone down the blood and hide the removal of the character's head from his body. Foreign prints were not affected.[13] The Region 1 DVD from MGM contains this altered take of the shotgun scene.
Wild at Heart opened in the United States on August 17, 1990 in a limited release of only 532 theaters, grossing USD $2.9 million in its opening weekend.[15] It went into wider release on August 31 with 618 theaters and grossing an additional $1.8 million. The film ultimately grossed $14.5 million in North America, well above its estimated budget. Wild at Heart has a rating of 64% on Rotten Tomatoes and received mixed to negative reviews upon its initial theatrical release. Ebert wrote in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, "He is a good director, yes. If he ever goes ahead and makes a film about what's really on his mind, instead of hiding behind sophomoric humor and the cop-out of "parody," he may realize the early promise of his Eraserhead. But he likes the box office prizes that go along with his pop satires, so he makes dishonest movies like this one".[16] USA Today gave the film one and half stars out of four and said, "This attempt at a one-up also trumpets its weirdness, but this time the agenda seems forced".[17] In his review for Sight & Sound magazine, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote, "Perhaps the major problem is that despite Cage and Dern's best efforts, Lynch is ultimately interested only in iconography, not characters at all. When it comes to images of evil, corruption, derangement, raw passion and mutilation (roughly in that order), Wild at Heart is a veritable cornucopia".[18] However, Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone magazine, "Starting with the outrageous and building from there, he ignites a slight love-on-the-run novel, creating a bonfire of a movie that confirms his reputation as the most exciting and innovative filmmaker of his generation".[19] Richard Combs in his review for Time wrote, "The result is a pile-up, of innocence, of evil, even of actual road accidents, without a context to give significance to the casualties or survivors".[20] Christopher Sharrett in Cineaste magazine wrote, "Lynch’s characters are now so cartoony one is prone to address him more as a theorist than director, except he is not that challenging . . . One is never sure what Lynch likes or dislikes, and his often striking images are too often lacking in compassion for us to accept him as a chronicler of a moribund landscape a la Fellini".[21]
Diane Ladd was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 1990 Academy Awards.
Related films
Barry Gifford's character Perdita Durango (played by Isabella Rossellini in Wild at Heart) also appears in Alex de la Iglesia's movie Perdita Durango (1997), where she is played by Rosie Perez.
References
- ^ Wild at Heart at Rotten Tomatoes; accessed January 26, 2008.
- ^ Wild at Heart business information at Internet Movie Database; accessed January 26, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Van Gelder, Lawrence (August 17, 1990). "At the Movies". New York Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Rowland, Mark (June 1990). "The Beasts Within". American Film.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Campbell, Virginia (1990). "Something Really Wild". Movieline.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rodley, Chris (1997). "Lynch on Lynch". Faber and Faber.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d e Woods (2000). Wierdsville, USA: The Obsessive Universe of David Lynch. Plexus, London.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Text "first Paul, A." ignored (help); Text "langauge" ignored (help) Cite error: The named reference "Woods, Paul" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ a b c d Klinghoffer, David (August 16, 1990). "Heart Set in Motion by Perfect Pair". Washington Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d Salem, Rob (August 25, 1990). "The Art of Darkness". Toronto Star.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Rohter, Larry (August 12, 1990). "David Lynch Pushes America to the Edge". New York Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Hoffman, Jan (August 21, 1990). "Wild Child". Village Voice.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ von Busack, Richard (June 26, 1997). "Cage Match". Metroactive Movies. Retrieved 2007-06-22.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d e Ansen, David (June 4, 1990). "David Lynch's New Peak". Newsweek.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Mathieson, Kenny (1990). "Wild at Heart". Empire. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Wild at Heart". Box Office Mojo. June 15, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Ebert, Roger (August 17, 1990). "Wild at Heart". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Clark, Mike (August 17, 1990). "Wild, A Bad Joke from Lynch". USA Today.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (Autumn 1990). "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly". Sight & Sound. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Travers, Peter (September 6, 1990). "Wild at Heart". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Combs, Richard (August 20, 1990). "Wild at Heart". Time.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Sharrett, Christopher (1990). "Wild at Heart". Cineaste.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help)
