Director David Lynch‘s newest film Mulholland Drive is one weird trip. Just ask actress Laura Harring, who talked to Hollywood.com about the enigmatic director and about the movie’s very odd and meandering subject matter, which includes obsession and lesbianism.
Drive has had a strange history, first as a television pilot and now as a feature film. Harring plays Rita, a mysterious woman who loses her memory after surviving a car accident. Co-star Naomi Watts plays the young ingénue who tries to help Rita remember her past.
The topics addressed in Drive are a far cry from Harring’s showbiz origins as Miss USA in 1986. She’s steadily been building a career in film and television ever since, starting with her first film, The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory with Raul Julia. She has also appeared in the soap opera General Hospital and the TV series Sunset Beach. She’ll be seen next in the upcoming John Q with Denzel Washington and Anne Heche.
OK, so what was your take on the film?
Laura Harring: Every time I see it, I see something different. It’s about obsession, I think. The first part of the movie could be Betty’s dream–her unconscious is making up the whole scenario. But it could have very well been my [character Rita’s] unconscious, the craziness going on in my mind. With all the people I’ve talked to about this movie, including other press, it’s been a real 50/50 split on which main character they think is imagining which life scenario.
In my opinion, I think it’s Betty’s dream/reality, whatever it is.
Harring: But you don’t really know that for sure. Nobody knows that. That’s the beauty of it.
Seems like director David Lynch is back to his old tricks with Mulholland Drive. It’s very Twin Peaks-ish. His work is always up for discussion and can be interpreted in so many different ways.
Harring: It’s so true. And he never gives anything away. He’ll never tell you what he thinks about a movie he makes.
How was it working with Lynch? What was he like on the set?
Harring: He’s normal, actually. But he did say some pretty wild things like, “I’ll be ding-danged.” When have you have ever heard that one before?
I don’t think I’ve ever heard that.
Harring: But he was wonderful with direction. When I was playing Camilla [another character she plays in the movie], he told me to be like a kitty-cat, which was easy. I purred away. And when I was walking away from the car accident, he told me I was like a broken doll–which was perfect.
What’s your favorite Lynch film?
Harring: It would have to be The Elephant Man. I just bawled because of the human cruelty depicted. I also loved The Straight Story.
There’s been a history behind the making of this movie. How did you get the part?
Harring: I got a call from his publicist, saying he wanted to meet with me. I’d heard he casts from photos only and I didn’t know how [the publicist] got my picture. Anyway, the bottom line was, I couldn’t see him the day he wanted to see me, because it was the same day. I wasn’t playing hard to get; I just really wasn’t ready. I was in my workout clothes. So I went the following day to his house and I unfortunately got into a car accident before I got there.
Well, that’s a coincidence!
Harring: I know it! I go into the house and they explain to me that the character I would play gets into a car accident in the beginning of the film. I couldn’t believe it. I took that as an omen. So I go into meet Lynch. I had just been on an audition and was told that I had too much makeup on. So I decided not to wear any to meet David. He looks at me and simply says, “Good. [Long pause] Good. Good.” [Laughs] And I don’t know how many times he said it but I just started cracking up. It was hysterical.
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So, Mulholland Drive was shot as a TV pilot?
Harring: Yep. The network wanted to screen test us, which we did, and then we shot it for six weeks.
But then I guess the network passed on it.
Harring: Basically. Way too weird for them. Wonder why? [Laughs] But Canal Plus, who financed The Straight Story, wanted to see the pilot, and Lynch wouldn’t show it to them. They kept asking and he kept saying no. Finally, he succumbed and showed it to them, and they said they’d finance a feature film. He called Naomi [Watts, the lead actress] and me to his house and told us, “We are going to make an international feature film. There will be nudity.” [Imitating Lynch, Harring extends her hand as if to shake] I was like, what did I just agree to do? I tried to backpeddle, but it was like, I just shook his hand.
But when it’s David Lynch‘s hand you are shaking…
Harring: Exactly. I knew we were making art.
Would you consider this to be your most challenging role to date, especially with some of the lesbian-themed scenes?
Harring: Most definitely. I believe the [lesbian] scenes were needed in the film to show the obsession between the two characters, but I was terrified at first, a little watery eyed before doing the scene. David made it very comfortable. It wasn’t technical. He just let the cameras roll. There was a lot of respect on the set.
Mulholland Drive opens Oct. 12.
