After leaving the Convenience Store in Twin Peaks Part 15 on Showtime, Mr. C and Richard Horne make their way to a spot in western Montana at the beginning of Part 16. Thanks to a tweet from Kyle MacLachlan exactly one year ago today, I was able to locate the film location for what I’m calling False Coordinates Rock.
On Friday, July 13, 2018, Kyle MacLachlan shared via Twitter a behind-the-scenes photo of him playing Mr. C in Twin Peaks Part 16.
Look carefully at the building and road in the background as it was the key to unlocking the film location for this scene.
While searching for other film locations on the internet, I stumbled upon this photo from Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, California. Compare the building in this photo to the one in the image from Kyle and you’ll see it’s a match.
Here’s a closer look at that building which appears to be an abandoned set.
According to their website, Big Sky Movie Ranch has been the setting for many popular film and television shows:
Hollywood started making history at Big Sky back at least to the middle 1950’s when some exterior scenes for Gunsmoke were filmed there. The ranch has been a filming location for many movies and television shows including “Little House on the Prairie”, “Father Murphy”, “The Thorn Birds”, “The Gambler”, “The Beastmaster”, “Bonanza”, “Dallas”, “Gunsmoke”, “Quantum Leap”, “Rawhide”, “Sidekicks”, and “Flicka”. Most of the filming presided on the south side of the property near the exterior town of Walnut Grove until a massive fire came through the entire ranch and burned all of the sets and structures . The ranch has two very distinct areas for filming, one with rolling hills and great vistas and the other with secluded canyons, undulating valleys and a grand mesa. Credits in the past few years include “The Office”, “Saving Mr. Banks”, “Captain America”, “Django Unchained”, “Agents of SHIELD”, “Hail Caesar”, “The Revenant”, and the HBO series “WESTWORLD”.
Located at 4927 Bennett Rd, Simi Valley, California, Big Sky Movie Ranch is about a 14-minute drive to another Twin Peaks film location from Season 2 – Wallie’s Hideout. Sadly, Google Street View didn’t offer the option to view the roads on the Private Property of the ranch. Yet I was still able to locate the exact spot.
Following Middle Range Fire Road, I came to a spot that had a structure across from a grouping of rocks. The exact coordinates of the Rock are 34°19’34.6″N 118°43’38.5″W. I confirmed this location by exploring the scene in Part 16 and the behind-the-scenes short film by Jason S. titled “Bad Binoculars” from the Twin Peaks Season 3 Blu-ray set. Let’s take a look…
ARRIVING AT THE ROCK
Part 16 opens with Mr. C and Richard Horne driving at night. I recently discussed the location of this scene on Twin Peaks Blog.
After traveling on a paved highway, Mr. C turns onto a dirt road.
In “Bad Binoculars,” there is a brief scene of a vehicle passing Riley Lynch (who is giving the middle finger) on a dirt road. The infamous “Rock” is seen in the background of the bottom image. The person driving the vehicle (most likely Jason S. and his crew) are headed away from the film spot. If they continue on the road, they will end up at the film locations for Little House on the Prairie.
Here is another image from Big Sky Movie Ranch that shows the road. Without access to the site via Google Maps, it’s difficult to confirm where exactly the dirt road scenes were shot.
The scene cuts to a wide angle view of Mr. C’s truck driving at night.
This panoramic shot from Big Sky Movie Ranch show the actual road.
Mr. C turns on the flood lights and directs them toward False Coordinates Rock.
In “Bad Binoculars,” Jason S. follows David Lynch as he arrives on set. In the distance there is a vehicle which is approximately where Mr. C’s truck is parked.
Mr. C and Richard Horne discuss the reason for their visit to this spot. The image below is from Middle Range Fire Road and is what may be seen in the background if the scene wasn’t so dark.
Mr. C tells Richard that he was given three sets of coordinates, with two that match this particular spot.
In Part 15, we saw Phillip Jeffries provide Mr. C with part of the coordinates he is trying to match – 48°55’1. Ray Monroe was most likely the second person who gave Mr. C the same coordinates for the rock location. Look for another article about these coordinates coming soon.
Mr. C sets out to investigate the rock. I wish I had better location photos from this spot. The image above shows a side view of the area where they walk.
ENTER JERRY HORNE
Jerry Horne, high as a kite, enters the scene.
In “Bad Binoculars,” we see First Assistant Director Scott Cameron running over a hill.
The behind-the-scenes footage shows Scott over the hill in the spot where Jerry Horne first appears. We also get a look at Jerry running toward the camera.
In addition to directing credits, Scott can be briefly seen at the end of Part 16 as the “Throwing Man.” He interrupts Audrey Horne’s dance after spotting his wife Monique with another man at The Roadhouse.
Jerry is surprised to see “people” and uses his binoculars (incorrectly) to take a “closer” look.
This location photo shows a similar view of the spot seen by Jerry.
INVESTIGATING THE ROCK
Mr. C and Richard cautiously approach the rock. I love the back lighting behind Kyle which gives a nice halo effect.
We get a nice behind-the-scenes look at Mr. C and Richard walking toward the rock in Jason S.’s “Bad Binoculars.”
Mr. C orders Richard to check out the coordinates since he is 25 years younger than him. Handing Richard a GPS tracker, Mr. C says, “It will beep when you’re close and make a continuous tone when you’re on it.”
Richard walks toward the rock. I love how his shadow is cast as his moves around to the side. The bottom image is a side view of where Richard walks.
Another great backlit shot of Mr. C.
Jerry continues watching the scene unfold.
I wonder if Jerry was originally supposed to be laying down to watch the scene like how Scott Cameron demonstrates in “Bad Binoculars.”
“I’M THERE!”
Richard climbs onto the rock as the beeping increases from his tracker.
“I’M THERE!” shouts Richard.
Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?
Fried Richard Horne of course.
Mr. C watches as his son fries on the rock.
Jerry watches the action unfold through the wrong end of his binoculars.
We get a fantastic look at David Lynch giving David Patrick Kelly some direction for this scene in “Bad Binoculars.” Gosh, I love Lynch!!
We then see the view through Jerry’s binoculars.
Richard continues getting shocked and subsequently disappears.
Jerry was watching the scene from the hill on the left side of the image above.
Shocked by what he has witnessed, Jerry Horne scolds his binoculars as he smashes them on the ground. It’s wonderful to see David Patrick Kelly rehearse this scene in the now appropriately titled short film, “Bad Binoculars.”
The Mauve Zone had another behind-the-scenes shot from Part 16. It looks like David Patrick Kelly is to the right on his knees.
“Goodbye my son,” says Mr. C.
He takes one more look at the Rock and walks back toward the truck (another great halo shot).
Mr. C stops in front of his truck to text Diane Evans.
His text – : – ) ALL. – is sent at 2:05 a.m. but is not delivered (possibly due to lack of reception in the area).
The scene ends with Mr. C getting in his truck.
For those playing along at home, here is an image from Google Maps with the approximate locations where scenes took place.
I close with one last look at David Lynch on the set of Big Sky Movie Ranch. The bottom image appears to be around the same spot as to where he is standing. I’m so grateful that Jason S. captured all the behind-the scenes footage as it’s a wonderful look at my favorite director at work.
