Editing Mulholland Drive (film) (section)

==Production==
===Development===
Originally conceived as a television series, ''Mulholland Drive'' began as a 90-minute pilot produced for [[Touchstone Television]] and intended for the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] television network. [[Tony Krantz]], the agent who was responsible for the development of ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', was "fired up" about doing another television series. Lynch sold the idea to ABC executives based only on the story of Rita emerging from the car accident with her purse containing $125,000 in cash and the blue key, and Betty trying to help her figure out who she is. An ABC executive recalled, "I remember the creepiness of this woman in this horrible, horrible crash, and David teasing us with the notion that people are chasing her. She's not just 'in' trouble—she ''is'' trouble. Obviously, we asked, 'What happens next?' And David said, 'You have to buy the pitch for me to tell you.{{' "}} Lynch showed ABC a rough cut of the pilot. The person who saw it, according to Lynch, was watching it at six in the morning and was having coffee and standing up. He hated the pilot, and ABC immediately cancelled it. Pierre Edelman, Lynch's friend from Paris, came to visit and started talking to him about the film being a feature. Edelman went back to Paris. Canal+ wanted to give Lynch money to make it into a feature and it took a year to negotiate.{{sfn|Woods|2000|p=206}}<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGd6lnYTTY8&t=1905s | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211114/jGd6lnYTTY8| archive-date=2021-11-14 | url-status=live|title=David Lynch In Conversation |minutes=34:22–36:07 |work=Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art|date=June 15, 2015|via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Lynch described the attractiveness of the idea of a pilot, despite the knowledge that the medium of television would be constricting: "I'm a sucker for a continuing story&nbsp;... Theoretically, you can get a very deep story and you can go so deep and open the world so beautifully, but it takes time to do that."<ref name="divine">{{cite journal |last=Divine |first=Christine |date=November 2001 |title=David Lynch |journal=Creative Screenwriting |issue=8 |volume=6 |pages=8–12}}</ref> The story included [[surrealist cinema|surreal]] elements, much like Lynch's earlier series ''Twin Peaks''. Groundwork was laid for [[story arc]]s, such as the mystery of Rita's identity, Betty's career and Adam Kesher's film project.{{sfn|Woods|2000|pp=205–214}}

Actress [[Sherilyn Fenn]] stated in a 2014 interview that the original idea came during the filming of ''Twin Peaks'', as a [[spin-off (media)|spin-off]] film for her character of [[Audrey Horne]].<ref name="Sherilyn Fenn AV Club Interview">{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/article/sherilyn-fenn-talks-david-lynch-and-how-twin-peaks-200898 |title=Sherilyn Fenn talks David Lynch and how ''Twin Peaks'' should have ended |date=January 22, 2014 |first=Will |last=Harris |work=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=January 22, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122074412/http://www.avclub.com/article/sherilyn-fenn-talks-david-lynch-and-how-twin-peaks-200898 |archive-date=January 22, 2014}}</ref>

===Casting===
[[File:Mulholland drive(lynch)--.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Four people stand beside each other facing off-camera, from left to right: a blonde woman wearing a tan dress suit, a man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a blazer over white shirt and slacks, a brunette wearing red pants and a black top, and a dark-haired man wearing a black leather jacket over black clothes.|Naomi Watts, David Lynch, Laura Elena Harring and Justin Theroux at the [[2001 Cannes Film Festival]]]]
Lynch cast [[Naomi Watts]] and [[Laura Harring]] by their photographs. He called them in separately for half-hour interviews and told them that he had not seen any of their previous works in film or television.<ref name="david">{{cite journal |last=David |first=Anna |date=November 2001 |title=Twin Piques |journal=[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]] |issue=15 |volume=3 |pages=80–81 }}</ref> Harring considered it fateful that she was involved in a minor car accident on the way to the first interview, only to learn her character would also be involved in a car accident in the film.<ref>{{cite news |last=Newman |first=Bruce |date=October 10, 2001 |title=How pair got to intersection of Lynch and 'Mulholland' |newspaper=[[U-T San Diego]] |page=F-6}}</ref> Watts arrived wearing jeans for the first interview, direct from the airplane from New York City. Lynch asked her to return the next day "more glammed up". She was offered the part two weeks later. Lynch explained his selection of Watts, "I saw someone that I felt had a tremendous talent, and I saw someone who had a beautiful soul, an intelligence—possibilities for a lot of different roles, so it was a beautiful full package."<ref name="cheng">{{cite news |last=Cheng |first=Scarlet |date=October 12, 2001 |title=It's a Road She Knows Well; 'Mulholland Drive ' Star Naomi Watts Has Lived the Hollywood Metaphor Behind the Fabled Highway |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=F20}}</ref> [[Justin Theroux]] also met Lynch directly after his airplane flight. After a long flight with little sleep, Theroux arrived dressed all in black, with untidy hair. Lynch liked the look and decided to cast Adam wearing similar clothes and the same hairstyle.<ref name="neman">{{cite news |last=Neman |first=Daniel |date=October 19, 2001 |title=Indie Actor Theroux Puts in 'Drive' Time |newspaper=Richmond Times Dispatch |location=Virginia |page=C1A}}</ref>

===Filming===
Filming for the television pilot began on location in Los Angeles in February 1999 and took six weeks. Ultimately, the network was unhappy with the pilot and decided not to place it on its schedule.{{sfn|Woods|2000|pp=213–214}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Romney |first=Jonathan |title=Film: Lynch opens up his box of tricks; Mulholland Drive David Lynch |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=January 6, 2002 |page=11 }}</ref> Objections included the nonlinear storyline, the ages of Harring and Watts (whom they considered too old), cigarette smoking by Ann Miller's character and a close-frame shot of dog feces in one scene. Lynch remembered, "All I know is, I loved making it, ABC hated it, and I don't like the cut I turned in. I agreed with ABC that the longer cut was too slow, but I was forced to butcher it because we had a deadline, and there wasn't time to finesse anything. It lost texture, big scenes and storylines, and there are 300 tape copies of the bad version circulating around. Lots of people have seen it, which is embarrassing, because they're bad-quality tapes, too. I don't want to think about it."{{sfn|Woods|2000|p=214}}
{{quote box|width=30%|align=right|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|quote=One night, I sat down, the ideas came in, and it was a most beautiful experience. Everything was seen from a different angle&nbsp;... Now, looking back, I see that [the film] always wanted to be this way. It just took this strange beginning to cause it to be what it is.|source=David Lynch, 2001}}
The script was later rewritten and expanded when Lynch decided to transform it into a feature film. Lynch explained the process of developing an ending for the unfinished story: "The day came when I got the greenlight to turn it into a feature, and I had zero ideas. I just hadn’t been thinking about it. Then came the day I needed to get those ideas, and that night, I sat down during my [[meditation]] and in there, I say like a string of pearls, all the ideas came, all at once, and there it was."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bergeson |first1=Samantha |title=9 Things You Didn't Know About 'Mulholland Drive' |url=https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/david-lynch-mulholland-drive-things-you-didnt-know/paris-photo-2017-grand-palais-france-10-nov-2017/ |website=Indie Wire |date=October 3, 2021 |access-date=26 January 2025}}</ref> He added that, "Now, looking back, I see that [the film] always wanted to be this way. It just took this strange beginning to cause it to be what it is."<ref name="macaulay">{{cite journal |last=Macaulay |first=Scott |date=October 2001 |title=The dream factory |journal=[[Filmmaker (magazine)|FilmMaker]] |issue=10 |volume=1 |pages=64–67 }}</ref> The result was an extra eighteen pages of material that included the romantic relationship between Rita and Betty and the events that occurred after the blue box was opened. Watts was relieved that the pilot was dropped by ABC. She found Betty too one-dimensional without the darker portion of the film that was put together afterward.<ref name="fuller">{{cite journal |last=Fuller |first=Graham |date=November 2001 |title=Naomi Watts: Three Continents Later, An Outsider Actress Finds her Place |journal=[[Interview (magazine)|Interview]] |volume=11 |pages=132–137}}</ref> Most of the new scenes were filmed in October 2000, funded with $7&nbsp;million from French [[production company]] [[StudioCanal]].<ref name="david"/>

Theroux described approaching filming without entirely understanding the plot: "You get the whole script, but he might as well withhold the scenes you're not in, because the whole turns out to be more mystifying than the parts. David welcomes questions, but he won't answer any of them&nbsp;... You work kind of half-blindfolded. If he were a first-time director and hadn't demonstrated any command of this method, I'd probably have reservations. But it obviously works for him."<ref name="timestheroux">{{cite news |last=Arnold |first=Gary |title=Smoke and mirrors; Director Lynch keeps actor Theroux guessing |page=B5 |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] |date=October 12, 2001 }}</ref> Theroux noted that the only answer Lynch did provide was that he was certain that Theroux's character, a Hollywood director, was not meant to be Lynch. Watts stated that she tried to bluff Lynch by pretending she had the plot figured out, and that he delighted in the cast's frustration.<ref name="david" />

"I'm not going to lie: I felt very vulnerable," Laura Harring said of filming the sex scene between Harring and Watts' characters. "I was in my dressing room and was on the verge of tears. It's hard. There are a lot of people there ... Naomi and I were friends. It was pretty awkward."<ref>{{cite web |title="Walk Like a Kitty Cat, Laura": How David Lynch Directed 'Mulholland Drive' |work=www.hollywoodreporter.com |date=April 9, 2019 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/walk-like-a-kitty-cat-laura-how-david-lynch-directed-mulholland-drive-1200594/ |access-date=24 February 2022 |archive-date=February 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224165217/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/walk-like-a-kitty-cat-laura-how-david-lynch-directed-mulholland-drive-1200594/ |url-status=live }}</ref>