One of the first articles I wrote for TwinPeaksBlog.com traced the route Agent Cooper drives when entering the town of Twin Peaks. I clearly have an affinity for identifying these driving scenes seen throughout all three seasons of my favorite show. This time, I’m examining the route Mr. C drives during Twin Peaks – Part 3 on Showtime. This California location is found just down the street from where he crashes his car in the same episode.
WHAT IS THE LOCATION MR.C DRIVES IN TWIN PEAKS – PART 3?
The stretch of road seen in Part 3 is actually Soledad Canyon Road in Acton, California. The approximate coordinates were the scene begins are 34°27’15.4″N 118°12’03.1″W. The location where the driving scene ends just before Mr. C flips his car are 34°26’49.4″N 118°12’47.3″W.
Like other driving scenes, editor Dewayne Dunham inter-spliced several shots taken at various points along Soledad Canyon Road with images of Mr. C behind the wheel.
This scene was shot on during the afternoon of October 29, 2015. They shot the car crash scene the day before. I visited the location during the morning of September 20, 2020. In the episode, the shadows appear to be late afternoon versus no shadows the morning I visited.
THE ROAD
The scene opens with a long stretch of road which may look familiar as it’s the second time we’ve seen this highway.
In Part 2, we see Agent Cooper looking down on this road from behind the Red Room’s curtains. The crew used a high-reach to capture this shot. More than likely they shot both the crane shot and the road shot at the same time.
We see Mr. C’s 2003 black Lincoln Town Car barreling toward the camera. The Dialogue and Continuity Script says this is an Interstate Highway.
EXT. INTERSTATE ROAD – DAY
A car drives forward.
I’ve also seen references to this road being South Dakota Highway 18.
We see an aerial view of that same shot in Part 2, which is why I think they captured it at the same time.
Here is the same location around 9:53 a.m. on September 20, 2020. The road was busier than I anticipated, so be careful if you are trying to get this same shot if you visit.
MR. C BEHIND THE WHEEL
Mr. C’s car was most likely mounted to a rig that pulled the car along the road. This helped get steady shots of him behind the wheel. We catch glimpses of the road in the rear window. The bushes and landscape appear to be from the same spot as the establishing shot.
CAR INTERIOR SHOTS
The scene cuts to a shot of the Lincoln Town Car’s interior. The dashboard clock is hovering around 2:53 p.m. The Dialogue and Continuity Script describes the action, interestingly using “Dale” instead of “Mr. C.”
INT. CAR – MOVING – DAY
Dale is driving.
[OMINOUS ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC IN]
He looks at the dashboard clock. CU on car lighter socket that beings zapping electricity.
[INTENSE ELECTRICAL SCRATCHING]
Here is an actual shot of a 2003 Lincoln Town Car interior. I searched endlessly for an interior shot of a 2003 model that had a “Tune” button below the clock.
The only examples I found were from models later than 2003, such as the 2006 interior which has a “Tune” button above the CD player. Later models label the button “Tune – Cat.” So most likely the interior shots of the Lincoln were captured later using a later model car that has no cassette deck.
The Dialogue and Continuity Script continues:
INT. CAR – MOVING – DAY
Dale is driving. CU crackling lighter socket. The car runs on the road and the engine is revving.
The camera also shows the cigarette lighter sans lighting mechanism.
The image above is from a 2003 Lincoln Town Car with gray interior as no one has a black interior car for sale these days.
DRIVE CONTINUES
The scene continues with a series of cuts between Mr. C in the driver’s seat and the road.
The Part 3 camera must have been mounted low to the ground. To get the shots I did on September 20, I held my camera outside my driver’s side window. Notice the mark on the road pictured on the right side of the image. It’s still there!
A reverse shot of Mr. C driving which shows part of the double yellow line out the rear window.
The white trailer in the distance is still alongside the road five years later!
BLURRED VISION
As the drive continues, Mr. C’s vision becomes blurred as the Lodge tries to pull him back in. The road scenes reflect this point-of-view.
Overlapping negatives created the blurred shot. Luckily the mountains in the distance didn’t change so it was easy it identify the location.
The struggle to see gets increasingly difficult as he continues.
More blurry road shots. The little peak on the mountain ahead helped me identify the location.
CAN’T SEE AT ALL
The intensity of the Lodge trying to pull Mr. C back in grows and grows. There are several shots where he closes his eyes, which leads up to the enviable car crash.
A shaky shot of the dashboard again.
Another shot of a 2003 Lincoln Town Car dashboard.
The camera cuts back to Mr. C still lunging forward, a continuation of the previous shot.
CLOSE TO THE END
The camera has been repositioned to the driver’s side dashboard. We can see the hood ornament in these shots.
The bent guard rail along the right side of the road appears to match.
The car appears to drive toward the gravel section on the right side of the road.
The camera pans up to a blurry image of the hillside. This is the furtherest down the road shown on screen.
The gravel section behind Mr. C appears to be the same one in the images above.
One final view of the road before the car will be flipped.
Silly me didn’t photograph or record video far enough down the road so I turned back to Google Street View. The two shots above are heading in the direction toward the car crash site, not away from it like every other shot.
One final shot of Mr. C before he crashes the car.
