"BLUE VELVET"

Set in a small American town, "Blue Velvet" is a dark, sensuous mystery involving the intcrtwining lives of four-very . different individuals: Jeffrey, the naive college student with a penchant for mysteries; Dorothy, the haunting cabaret singer with a dark and deadly secret; Sandy, the detective's daughter who embodies the innocence in all of us; and Frank, the psychotic killer fueled by his own sexual fantasies. The film's painful realism reminds us that we are not immune to the disturbing events which transpire in "Blue Velvet's" sleepy community. There is a darker side of life waiting for us all.

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. Original soundtrack available on Varese Slarabande records and cassettes.

"BLUE VELVET"
PRODUCTION NOTES

ABOUT THE CAST...

KYLE MacLACHLAN, who plays Jeffrey Beaumont, made his motion picture debut in "Dune," which was also directed by David Lynch. While attending the University of Washington in Seattle, he enrolled in acting class and soon after appeared in a summer stock production of "Look Homeward, Angel." In 1982, he was graduated from the League of Professional Actor Training Program and went to the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he remained for seven months, appearing in "Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Caesar" and "Henry V." He has since worked at Seattle's Empty Space Theatre and North Carolina's Flat Rock Summer Playhouse. He has appeared in "The Rainmaker," "Dames at Sea," "Celebration," and "She Stoops to Conquer."

ISABELLA ROSSELLINI, who portrays the mysterious Dorothy Vallens, is an internationally-known model commonly recognized as the face in the Lancome ads. Most recently, however, she has become familiar to American audiences through her theatrical motion picture acting debut in "White Nights" with her starring role opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. Born in Rome, Italy and raised in both Italy and France, Miss Rossellini's work experience includes not only modeling and acting, but costume design and news reporting.

LAURA DERN, who plays the role of Sandy Williams, has appeared in numerous films, including the critically-acclaimed "Mask" -- opposite Cher, Sam Elliot and Eric Stoltz. Additionally, she holds among her feature film credits "Smooth Talk," an American Playhouse feature for PBS; "Teachers," in which she appeared opposite Nick Nolte and Judd Hirsh; and "Foxes." Her television appearances include "Billy Grier" and "Shannon."
Born and bred in California, Dern is the daughter of Hollywood film stars Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd.

DENNIS HOPPER, who plays Frank Booth, is well-known to audiences as both an actor and a director. While in high school, he became an apprentice at La Jolla Playhouse where he appeared in numerous productions. After graduation from high school, he was awarded an acting scholarship to the Globe Theatre Playhouse and appeared in the National Shakespeare Festival's productions of "Twelfth Night" and "The Merchant of Venice." At age 19, he was given a contract by Warner Brothers, and his first important motion picture appearance was in "Rebel Without A Cause." His other film appearances include "Giant," "From Hell to Texas," "The Sons of Katie Elder," "True Grit," and Apocalypse Now." He made is directorial debut with the smash-hit film "Easy Rider," which won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best First Film by a new Director. He was also voted Best Foreign Actor of 1970 by the Academy of Cinema for his appearance in "Easy Rider." As a director, his other credits include "The Last Movie."

DEAN STOCKWELL, who plays Ben, is a veteran actor who began his Hollywood career early in life. As a child, he appeared on film with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in "Anchors Aweigh," and with Margaret O'Brien in "The Secret Garden." With numerous film credits to his name since that time, Stockwell includes among them "Long Day's Journey into Night," for which he was named Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, "Sons and Lovers," "Legend of Billie Jean," and "To Live and Die in L.A." Stockwell's talents have also been showcased on many television shows and on Broadway.

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

"BLUE VELVET"
PRODUCTION NOTES

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS...

DAVID LYNCH director/writer of "Blue Velvet" has previously directed "Elephant Man" which was nominated for eight Academy Awards including: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay Adaptation, and Best Actor. He also directed "Dune" and his first feature film, "Eraserhead," which he also wrote.

Born in Los Angeles, Executive Producer Richard Roth obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a law degree from the University of Chicago. After postgraduate work at Cambridge University in England, he briefly practiced law before turning to filmmaking.

He began his career as a trainee at MCA, and later held a variety of positions at several studios, including Columbia Pictues, Paramount and Columbia Television. Roth also worked as assistant to Ray Stark at Rastar Productions.

Roth's film credits began with "The Model Shop," starring Anouk Aimee and directed by Jacques Demy, on which he was assistant to the director. His actual producing credits, however, began with "The Way We Were," starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, and directed by Sydney Pollack, for which he served as associate producer.
Roth went on to prove remarkable talent when he turned the unusual subject matter of a short story from Lillian Hellman's memoir, Pentimento, into the highly-acclaimed film "Julia," which starred Jane Fonda, Jason Robards and Vanessa Redgrave. The film,was directed by Fred Zinnemann, and received 11 Academy Award nominations, winning four.
More recently, Roth produced the Michael Mann Film "Manhunter," a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group release.

Director of photography FREDERICK ELMES worked with David Lynch previously on "Eraserhead" and the second unit of "Dune." His other credits include "Valley Girl," "Opening Night" and "Killing of a Chinese Bookie."

ALAN SPLET, sound designer, has worked with David Lynch on each of his films, including "Eraserhead," "Elephant Man" and "Dune," for which he received an Academy Award nomination for sound. Additionally, he received a Sound Award nomination for his work on "Never Cry Wolf," and, in 1980, won an Academy Award in that category for "The Black Stallion." Further, Splet created the sound effects for the 1985 Academy Award-winning documentary "Broken Rainbow," and following David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," he served as supervising sound editor on Peter Weir's "Mosquito Coast."

PATRICIA NORRIS, the production designer and costume designer has been nominated for four Academy Awards for her work as costume designer on "Days of Heaven," "The Elephant Man," "Victor, Victoria," and "2010." Her other credits include "Mickey and Maude" and "A Fine Madness."

Film editor DUWAYNE DUNHAM has worked on numerous films including "Return of the Jedi" and "The Mean Season." As an assistant editor, his credits include "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and'Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. Original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

Biography of
KYLE MacLACHLAN

It's been two years since Kyle MacLachlan made his theatrical motion picture debut on the screen as Paul Atreides in "Dune." He now continues his working relationship with director David Lynch, starring in the sensual mystery thriller "Blue Velvet," a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation.

Kyle portrays Jeffrey Beaumont who is home from college and accidentally finds evidence that implies a crime could have happened. As he investigates, with the help of his friend, he comes to realize there are much stranger activities going on in this small North Carolina town than first meet the eye. Isabella Rossellini ("White Nights"), Laura Dern ("Mask"), Dennis Hopper, and Hope Lange co-star in this tale of suspense.

MacLachlan was born in Yakima, Washington in 1959, the oldest of three sons. He attended school there and entered college in 1977 at the University of Washington in Seattle. He studied under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Hobbs, Craig Turner and Nancy Lane while in the Professional Actor Training Program and says, "I owe them a great deal; they are a group of people for which I have tremendous respect."

He left school in 1982 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and immediately started working with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. He remained there for seven months playing Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet," Octavius in "Julius Caesar" and The Boy in "Henry V."

Later that year, he traveled back to Seattle to play the role of Damis in "Tartuffe" at the Empty Space Theater. It was during that time that he was called to audition for the film "Dune" and meet with David Lynch. He worked on that film for the entire year of 1983 and only took a small break to work on "Mass Appeal" at the Tacoma Actors Guild before starting a publicity tour for "Dune" during 1984-85.

MacLachlan and Lynch started the beginning of a long-term friendship and working relationship during the filming of "Dune." It was during that time that Lynch offered the part of Jeffrey in "Blue Velvet" to MacLachlan. '1It was a pre-planned deal since 1983," says MacLachlan and one that he was looking forward to since it involved working with Lynch again.

MacLachlan returned to Yakima recently where he performed with Conductor Brooke Creswell and the Yakima Symphony Orchestra narrating Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait." He is currently preparing excerpts from Dante's "Inferno" as well as Benjamin Britten's "A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" for performance early 1987.

For the past year and a half, MacLachlan has been residing in Los Angeles.

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. Original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

Biography of
ISABELLA ROSSELLINI

International model and actress Isabella Rossellini -- who has been photographed by such renowned photographers as Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber and Bill King, stars in the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group's "Blue Velvet," a sensual mystery thriller directed by David Lynch.

In her role as Dorothy Vallens, Rossellini adds singing to her repertoire of talents, portraying a nightclub entertainer whose life is filled with mystery, love and murder. Creating and unmasking the mutant activity surrounding Dorothy's life in a small North Carolina town are co-stars Kyle MacLachlan ("Dune"), Laura Dern ("Mask" and "Smooth Talk"), Dennis Hopper, and Hope Lange.

Rossellini was born in Rome to Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. Raised by both parents in Italy and France, she is fluent in Italian and French.

Miss Rossellini's career began with summer jobs in the costume department of her father's movies. Arriving in New York at the age of nineteen to continue a career in costume designing, Miss Rossellini began working for the Italian Television network RAI.

Eventually she appeared on Italian television as a reporter, but it was a weekly comedy show, "The Other Sunday," that made her a celebrity in Italy.

Her first leading role in a movie was in "The Meadow" for the Taviani Brothers, and she followed it with "Pap'occhio," a spin-off from her comedy shows. After returning to live TV, a new career blossomed when she began modeling. In 1982, she became one of the world's top models when she signed a contract with Lancome, the first international contract of its kind.

Isabella made her American film debut in Taylor Hackford's "White Nights," in which she played the Russian wife of an American expatriate living in the USSR.

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

Biography of
DENNIS HOPPER

Dennis Hopper may not be familiar to audiences as a murderous madman, yet this is the lifestyle he leads in the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group's production of David Lynch's mystery thriller "Blue Velvet."

Playing a psychotic killer driven by a deranged obsession for sexual omnipotence, Hopper is able to tap his talents as a veteran screen actor to boldly portray madman Frank Booth.

Hopper's onscreen tempered disregard for love and life in "Blue Velvet" is drastically polarized from his offscreen love for and appreciation of the arts. He enjoys painting and photography when not acting and has received much accolade for his photographs which are currently in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Now a celebrated actor and director, Hopper began his career while growing up in San Diego. He appeared in numerous productions at the La Jolla Playhouse while still attending high school. Playing in such classics as "Twelfth Night," "Hamlet" and Othello," Hopper was subsequently awarded a national Shakespearean acting scholarship to the Old Globe Theater.

After graduating from high school, Hopper moved to Los Angeles and landed a ten line part as a Civil War amputee in "Cavalcade of America." He also played the role of an epileptic on the TV series "Medic." Following these performances, 19-year-old Hopper was offered contracts from seven studios.

Hopper went under contract with Warner Brothers Studio where he spent his next three years. His first picture, "Jagged Edge," starred Shelley Winters and Jack Palance. "Rebel Without a Cause" with James Dean followed and was regarded as Hopper's first important motion picture performance. In George Steven's "Giant," he starred again with James Dean, playing the son of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. He portrayed Napoleon in Irving Allen's "Story of Mankind," with Ronald Coleman, Vincent Price and The Marx Brothers.

Hopper was then loaned out to Paramount for John Sturges and Hal Wallis' "Gunfight at the OK Corral" with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. He also did Henry Hathaway's "From Hell to Texas" for 20th Century Fox, which starred Don Murray, Diane Varsi and Chill Wills.

New York City then became Hopper's home as he spent the following five years there studying with Lee Strasberg.

In 1969, Hopper made his directorial debut with the release of "Easy Rider," in which he co-starred with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson and co-wrote with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern. The film's acclaim awarded Hopper Best New Director at the Cannes Film Festival and named him Best Foreign Actor of 1970 by the Academy of Cinema.

Not limited to the big screen, Hopper's career credits include starring roles in over 140 television shows, as well as a starring appearance on Broadway in "Mandingo."

More recent film appearances include Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and "Rumble Fish." In 1985-86, he starred in "The American Way" in England with Michael J. Pollard, "Hoosiers," with Gene Hackman and Barbara Hershey, and "River's Edge," directed by Tim Hunter and co-starring Crispin Glover.

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. Original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

Biography of
LAURA DERN

"It was a great, big, wonderful, strange world to work with David Lynch," explains Laura Dern who now stars in the sensual mystery thriller "Blue Velvet" which was directed by Lynch for release by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group.

Dern portrays Sandy Williams, a small-town high school student in North Carolina. Privy to overhearing confidential information from her father, Detective Williams (George Dickerson), Sandy shares information with Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) who stumbles upon indications of a murder. Sandy and Jeffrey let their curiosity take them on a journey right to the core of a mystery that unveils a tale of murder and mayhem. Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, and Hope Lange co-star in this suspense-filled tale.

A critically-acclaimed actress, Dern is the daughter of veteran actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Born in Santa Monica, California, she grew up among some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Dern started her acting career at the age of six with a small role in "White Lightning." She then appeared in the 1974 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," doing an ice cream eating scene with her mother. For the next two years, she studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute to further her acting ability, and, at the age of eleven, landed her first supporting role in the motion picture "Foxes."

Television appearances followed, including the TV movies "Ahannon," "Happy Endinga" "The Three Wishes of Billy Grier," and "Who Loves Amy Tonight," in which she played the title role.

In 1984, Dern played a sixteen-year-old high school student in "Teachers," which co-starred Nick Nolte and Judd Hirsh. The following year, she landed a role in "Mask," in which she played a blind girl and co-starred with Cher, Sam Elliot and Eric Stoltz. Prior to starring in "Blue Velvet," Dern starred in the critically- acclaimed art film "Smooth Talk."

During the filming of "Smooth Talk," Dern was supposed to talk with David Lynch, but her schedule proved to be too busy. When she finally met Lynch and actor Kyle MacLachlan at a Bob's Big Boy Restaurant, they immediately hit it off, and Dern was offered the part in "Blue Velvet."

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

Biography of
DEAN STOCKWELL

Dean Stockwell, who portrays Ben, a flamboyant individual with odious tendencies for the perverse in David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," was born into the theatre. While appearing on Broadway in "Innocent Voyage" at the age of six, Stockwell was spotted by an MGM talent scout and signed to an exclusive contract. As a child star, Stockwell performed in more than twenty films, including "Anchors Aweigh" with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly; "The Secret Garden" with Margaret O'Brien; "The Green Years;" and "Gentlemen's Agreement," an Academy Award winner for Best Picture. He is well remembered for his work in the title role of the controversial 1948 comedy, "The Boy with Green Hair."

Stockwell made a successful transition to acting as an adult with appearances in such programs from television's 'Golden Age' as "Climax," "Playhouse 90" and "Matinee Theatre." He returned to Broadway to star in the stage presentation of "Compulsion," a role he later reprised in the motion picture adaptation which also starred Orson Welles and E.G. Marshall. For the latter, he was named Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival.

Stockwell's international stature as an artist was re- affirmed when he was named Best Actor for his work in "Long Day's Journey into Night." His film credits also include "Sons & Lovers," "Rapture," "Psychout," "The Last Movie," "The Dunwich Horror," "Tracks," "Wrong Is Right," "Legends," "Paris, Texas," "Night Trap," "Dune," "Legend of Billie Jean," and "To-Live and Die in L.A." His numerous television credits include the television film "The Baby Brokers," and such series as "Hart to Hart," "The 'A' Team" and "Simon & Simon."

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

Biography of
DAVID LYNCH

Lynch was born in Missoula, Montana, on January 20, 1946. Two months after his birth, Lynch's family moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, where they remained for two years. From there, they moved to Spokane, Washington, then to Boise, Idaho, where Lynch attended grades three through eight, and finally to Alexandria, Virginia, where he spent his high school years.

Lynch recalls his childhood as "Good Times on our Street." It was beautiful old houses, tree-lined streets, the milkman, building forts, lots and lots of friends. It was a dream world, those droning airplanes, blue skies, picket fences, green grass! cherry trees -- Middle America the way it was supposed to be. But then on this cherry tree would be this pitch oozing out, some of it black, some of it yellow, and there were millions of red ants racing all over the sticky pitch, all over the tree. So you see, there's this beautiful world and you just look a little bit closer, and it's all red ants."

"My parents didn't drink," he continues. "They didn't smoke; they never argued. And I wanted them to smoke; I wanted them to drink; I wanted them to argue, but they never did. I wanted to have strange things happen in my life. I knew'nothing was as it seemed, not anywhere, but I could never really find proof of it. it was just a feeling."

Lynch suspects that "because I grew up in that very beautiful, sort of perfect world, other things became a contrast. I went to Brooklyn as a little kid, for instance, and it just scared the hell out of me. I remember being with my father and brother in the subway, and I could feel this wind coming from the train, down the tunnel. First the wind and then a smell and then a sound. It was frightening. I had lots of tiny tastes of horror every time I went to New York. I felt fear in the air, and I felt fear in lots of places."

In 1964, Lynch graduated from high school in Alexandria and headed for Boston's Museum School. At the end of his first year, he left for Europe. "I went to study under one of my least favorite artists -- but I meant to stay in Europe for three years." Instead, he returned to the United States in 15 days. "I remember lying in a basement in Athens and lizards were crawling up and down the walls. I began contemplating how I was 7,000 miles from McDonald's. And I really missed it. I missed America. I knew I was an American, and I wanted to be there."

Upon reentering the United States, Lynch headed directly for Alexandria, Virginia. A series of short-term jobs followed, leading Lynch (at age 20) to enroll at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in January, 1966.

The Philadelphia house into which Lynch and his friend Jack Fisk moved was "kitty-cornered from the morgue and next door to Pop's Diner. And that has influenced more things." Lynch calls that period "one of the best times of my life -- and one of the worst times, too. The area had the greatest mood, an unbelievable mood. It was an industrial part of the city, with the strangest characters, the darkest nights. Factories, smoke, railroads, diners, true factory people -- you could see strange stories in their faces. You could see plastic curtains and windows held together with Band-Aids, things stuffed into holes in the windows. Associations like smiling bags of death that they brought the bodies in with. We'd always go through the morgue garage enroute to the hamburger restaurant. I only lived at night then." Their home was a gutted building. "You could see where it was separated from the building next to it. It was a horrible place, but it was a great feeling."

Lynch remained in Philadelphia for over four years, from 1966 to 1970. In 1967, he married a fellow art student, and in 1968, their daughter was born. "We were living in a house with 12 rooms, three stories. The bedroom alone was 25 by 25 feet, giant, high ceilings. And this huge place cost $3,500. That's all! A whole huge house and only $600 down. So you know what kind of neighborhood it was in. A kid was shot to death a half-block from our front door, and the chalk marks around where he'd lain stayed on the sidewalk for five days. The house was broken into twice; two windows were shot out. I saw horrible things pretty much every day." He shakes his head. "I thought I'd never get out of there, ever. I thought that was it. There was tremendous fear in Phila- delphia, fear I didn't realize I was living with until I eventually moved to California and the fear left." That, Lynch says, was the genesis of "Eraserhead."

It was in Philadelphia, also, that Lynch began making films. The Academy's yearly experimental painting and sculpture contest began it all.

For the first year's contest, Lynch built a kinetic sculpture which won second prize. The second year he constructed "a sculptured screen with three-dimensional heads. And I made this film, to be projected on it, of six people getting sick. First their heads, and then their stomachs animated in. It was all on a big loop that went up into the ceiling and came back into the projector. The whole thing cost me $200 to do and took several months." He'd never made a movie before. "But I always sort of wanted to do films. Not so much a movie-movie as a film-painting. I wanted the mood of the painting to be expanded through film, sort of a moving painting. It was really the mood I was after. I wanted a sound with it that would be so strange, so beautiful, like if the Mona Lisa opened her mouth and turned, and there would be a wind, and then she'd turn back and smile. It would be strange." The film-sculpture won Lynch a shared first prize.

Lynch quit the Academy, "because I wasn't learning anything and could paint on my own at home." He proceeded to make a four-minute movie combining animation and, for the first time for him, live action. It was called "The Alphabet," and he presented it to the American Film Institute, hoping to win a grant.

One day in the mail, Lynch received an announcement of the AFI's first group of independent film grant winners. "On this list were some of the real heavy-weights in experimental movies, all in their 40s. I looked at the list, and I said, 'That's it; there's no possible way I'm going to win one of these things.'"

A few days later, George Stevens, Jr., head of the AFI, offered Lynch a grant for $5,000 to do his first film.

"I painted the entire third floor of my house black and made a very abstract film called 'The Grandmother' about a little disturbed boy who plants a seed and it grows into his own grandmother and is filled with love for him."

With "The Grandmother," in 1970, Lynch was accepted into the AFI's Center for Advanced Film Studies. For the next year at AFI, he worked on a script for a movie called "Gardenback," which never got made. However, it was the catalyst for his creating "Eraserhead" to which he devoted himself for the next five years.

Working intensively with his four-crew nucleus chiefly at night and supporting himself with a Wall Street Journal paper route during daylight hours, Lynch ran out of the money with which the AFI had funded him in June of 1973, after a year's labor. For the subsequent year, Lynch added a series of odd jobs to his paper route and devoted himself to raising the necessary money. The film was completed two years thereafter.

Lynch became interested in a project being developed by producer-actor Mel Brooks -- "The Elephant Man." Lynch met Jonathan Sanger, the film's producer, and began to work with the two writers who had developed the first draft. But Brooks was less certain about giving the movie to Lynch to direct. "Brooks decided he had to see 'Eraserhead.' I thought, 'That's it, he'll see it and hate it.'" Instead, Lynch laughs, "Mel literally came running out, threw his arms around me and said, 'You're a madman. I love you. You're in!'" Lynch directed the film which received two Academy Award nominations in 1980 for Best Director and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

After "The Elephant Man's" success, Lynch spent another two years during which he wrote the original screenplay for "Blue Velvet," and tried to get "Ronnie Rocket" off the ground. At that point Dino De Laurentiis phoned and offered him "Dune."

"I'd never heard of 'Dune,'" said Lynch, 'but I read the book, loved it, and began the screenplay." For Lynch, "There's something of 'Eraserhead' in 'The Elephant Man' and some of both in 'Dune.' There's some sort of thread that connects the three of them in my mind. They're all strange worlds that you can't go into unless you build them and film them. I just like going into strange worlds."

Which he did in 1985 as he entered the world of "Blue Velvet," a sensual mystery thriller which unravels very strange goings-on in a small North Carolina town.

Under Lynch's direction, "Blue Velvet" brings together the diverse talents of Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, and Dennis Hopper who play the lead roles in an original screenplay written by Lynch. The film was shot at the DEG Film Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Lynch feels that his approach to films "probably came out of painting, out of my art background, in a subconscious sort of way. I'm interested not only in the story, but also in the mood set by the combination of sound and look. That's what makes it magic for me, what makes it profound -- the visual and sound working together."

"Blue Velvet" is a De Laurentiis Entertainment Group presentation of a David Lynch film starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, with Hope Lange, George Dickerson and Dean Stockwell. Director of photography is Frederick Elmes; sound design by Alan Splet; production design by Patricia Norris; edited by Duwayne Dunham. Music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Richard Roth is the executive producer. Written and directed by David Lynch. original soundtrack available on Varese Sarabande records and cassettes.

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