I love exploring the film location for driving scenes in Twin Peaks. One of the first articles I published on this blog discussed Agent Cooper’s drive into town. There is something about the magic of editing with these scenes that is fun to break down. Today, I’m looking at the scene in Episode 2008 where Leland Palmer is pulled over by Sheriff Truman. This scene, like many from Season 2, was shot in Southern California. So buckle up, this one is great.
WHERE IS THE LOCATION WHERE LELAND PALMER WAS PULLED OVER IN TWIN PEAKS?
For this article, I’ll be using three aerial maps to indicate where the scenes take place. Overall, the crew used Lake Vista Drive that runs through Malibou Lake Mountain Club, a private lake and residential community of custom houses nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains between the Conejo Valley and beaches of Malibu.
The area has many No Trespassing signs and the community is serious about those warnings.
Scott Frost penned this episode’s script between September 12-26, 1990. Part of this particular scene was revised on September 20 and was presented on Pink pages (which helped differentiate between the pages with and without revisions).
The scene was shot on October 3, 1990, the same day we see Leland Palmer leaving his house with the golf club bag. One of the extra features on a previous DVD release contained a snapshot of the call sheet for the day. They also filmed pulling Maddy from the water later that day.
The most interesting part about the script is “Big Ed” is used in place of “Leland Palmer.” At the time, there was utmost secrecy around revealing the true identity of Killer BOB, so these changes were made to avoid anything leaking prior to the episode airing on November 17, 1990. Clearly, the crew involved that day knew Ray Wise and not Everett McGill were in the scenes. I wonder what it would have been like if Twitter was a thing in the 1990s.
CHICKS AND DUCKS AND GEESE
The scene opens with Leland Palmer singing “The Surrey With A Fringe On Top” from Rogers and Hammerstein’s first musical, “Oklahoma!” from 1943. The film version of this play debuted in theatres between October 11-13, 1955. He will continue signing this song throughout the scene (he began signing when he was leaving home earlier in the episode).
The scene numbers below the images correspond to the images on the Google Maps image above.
The approximate coordinates where Leland’s drive begins are 34°06’27.5″N 118°45’29.0″W. Notice the stones in the background which are still found along Lake Vista Drive today.
Leland continues serenading us with his show tune. You can see a blue and white street sign in the background.
Leland passes a driveway.
Those details are found at 34°06’28.0″N 118°45’28.0″W along Lake Vista Drive.
Most likely the out-of-focus sign in the background is about at this spot – 34°06’28.1″N 118°45’25.9″W.
LELAND PALMERSWERVING ON THE ROAD
The camera cuts to a rear view of Leland’s dark blue 1975 Chevrolet Caprice Convertible with tan interior. The license plate – 710 YEP – is for The Timber State which is the slogan for a fictitious Washington state (it’s actually known as The Evergreen State). The bottom of the plate says “Centennial Celebration.”
Here is a look at the same spot from October 14, 2020. The approximate coordinates are 34°06’28.1″N 118°45’24.7″W. Notice how the white fence was replaced with a wooden, rustic-looking one. This changed happened at some point after 2016.
In the script, this is where the action begins (remember Big Ed = Leland Palmer)
EXT. ROAD – DAY
Big Ed Hurley’s pickup truck swerves wildly down the middle of a country road.
Remember the tree on the far right side of this image. It will appear many more times throughout the entire scene.
Leland continues his erratic drive down the highway.
That giant tree is still found on Lake Vista Drive today at 34°06’28.6″N 118°45’22.7″W.
SHERIFF’S BRONCO ENTERS
The scene suddenly cuts to an empty road. We see a tire of what I assume is a big rig truck, which probably means there is extra footage of the truck passing the camera (another missing piece!).
Enter the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department’s Ford Bronco. This scene doesn’t appear in the script.
We’ve also jumped locations to the far side of Lake Vista Drive before crossing the bridge near Malibou Lake. Approximate coordinates are 34°06’34.1″N 118°45’11.5″W.
The Ford Bronco passes the camera on its way down Lake Vista Drive.
COOPER WHISTLES
Agent Cooper is whistling “The Surrey With the Fringe On Top” when we cut to inside the Ford Bronco. The scene also jumps and they are now driving in the opposite direction, which would be the same direction that Leland is traveling (his car would be behind the Bronco).
There’s that giant tree in the rear window. Cooper’s whistling is not mentioned in the script.
The scene takes place at 34°06’28.8″N 118°45’22.3″W.
LOCATION WHERE LELAND PALMER IS PULLED OVER CONTINUED
Time for a new map as the scene continues along Lake Vista Drive.
We now see the front of Leland’s car as he swerves side to side on the road. This scene takes place around 34°06’28.1″N 118°45’25.2″W.
The markers along the right side of the road make this spot easy to identify.
THE SCENE SWIRLS
The camera pans up to trees above Leland’s car, which is supposed to be his point-of-view as he barrels down the road. The tree canopy is part of that one giant tree I’ve mentioned a few times. It’s found at 34°06’28.5″N 118°45’22.7″W.
Panning down from the tree canopy, we see the familiar white fence along Lake Visa Drive.
The spot is found at 34°06’29.0″N 118°45’22.0″W.
Oh hey – there’s that giant tree again.
MANDATORY DRIVER’S ED CLASSES?
The script picks up the dialogue from the scene; it remains mostly the same on screen with a few changes to dialogue and one omission. Notice that tree is behind them which means Leland’s car should be right behind the Sheriff’s.
INT. TRUMAN’S BRONCO DAY
Cooper sees the oncoming car in their lane before Harry.
COOPER
Are driver education programs compulsory in your school system? [Cooper says “mandatory” not “compulsory”]
Harry has seen it, nods “yes.”
TRUMAN
Yep …
COOPER
Think we’ve got a drop out. Look out, Harry!
The truck doesn’t pull over, Harry drives off the road. They’re startled, but neither they or the car are damaged. They look at each other a moment. Did they see who they think they saw?
COOPER
Big, Ed?
[Not included on screen]
Cut inside to Sheriff Truman driving the Ford Bronco from the view of the rear seat passenger. They are driving in the opposite direction from the previous scene.
Thanks to the yellow road sign, the scene is pretty easy to locate – 34°06’31.8″N 118°45’20.6″W. Those giant white trees on the right side of the image will be seen when Leland parks his car after being pulled over.
When Cooper yells, this scene is most likely shot during the same scene when he asks Truman about driver’s education classes. Either they had two cameras or they did a second closer take of Cooper’s dialogue.
AVOIDING A COLLISION
Sheriff Truman makes an evasive maneuver to avoid hitting Leland.
You can find this spot at 34°06’30.4″N 118°45’21.3″W, which is right in front of a place we’ve already seen earlier in the episode. Notice the brown home to the right.
It’s the same brown home from the scene when Leland puts his golf clubs in the trunk of his car.
Sadly, the home was long gone but the yellow fire hydrant and bollards remain.
FINAL SCENES WHERE LELAND IS PULLED OVER IN TWIN PEAKS
You’re still with me. Good. This is the final map from our road trip with Leland Palmer.
The crew probably chose this spot as there was enough room along the side of the road to perform the stunt.
One thing we seen just around the bend is some type of vehicle. Could be a crane truck which is probably blocking access to the road to ensure proper safety on set.
Improvements were made to the area which replaced the giant tree and paved the driveway of a nearby home. The approximate coordinates are 34°06’30.0″N 118°45’21.3″W.
LELAND PULLED OVER
You can see the brown house in this shot of Leland looking in his rear view mirror, trying to play it cool. The scene was shot around 34°06’30.8″N 118°45’20.9″W.
The script described the action:
INT. CAR – DAY
Close on Big Ed behind the wheel.
The sheriff approaches from behind, lights and siren blaring. Ed smiles, waves to them, obeys their instructions to pull over to the side of the road.
Josh Boyd created this meme based on the scene which caught the attention of Ray Wise’s daughter. She tagged him on Twitter on February 1, 2019.
LELAND PALMER PARKING HIS CAR
Leland puts his car into park along the side of the road.
The same spot from September 19, 2020. Unfortunately, that giant tree was removed yet it still appears in Google Maps which helped me determine where he parked the car.
There’s the trees I mentioned we’d see again when Leland put the car in park.
The coordinates for this location are 34°06’31.0″N 118°45’20.7″W, which are the final location on our drive.
LELAND TALKS TO COOPER
The law enforcement team approach Leland’s car.
The dialogue from the script remains mostly the same with only minor changes.
ROAD – DAY
Truman and Cooper step out of the Bronco, as does Ed out of his truck.
ED (concerned)
Harry, Agent Cooper, are you all right?
TRUMAN
We’re fine, Ed, you?
ED
I’m fine. I was, was just on my way out to the club to break in out some new irons. Boron. Graphite shafts. I started thinking about Laura. I guess my mind wandered. [No mention on screen about the type of Leland’s clubs]
COOPER
It’s a good practice to leave your troubles behind when you sit behind the wheel of a vehicle.
ED
Yes, of course, you’re quite right. My apologies.
The only other change in the script when Leland recalls the “dairy” is how it’s described. They reference Big Ed’s Gas Farm since the character is supposed to be “Big Ed.”
ED
Oh. Oh, I did remember something. As you’d asked? The night Laura died. I was working late at the station. Around ten. Ben Horne shows up in his fancy car. He looks real agitated, talking to himself. I heard him say something about a ‘dairy.’
TRUMAN GETS A CALL
Sheriff Truman gets a call from Lucy Moran over the radio. We get a fantastic shot of the back of his Ford Bronco with the license plate – Timber State L4257SP.
Leland asks Cooper about golf and wants to show off his new clubs.
As Leland rummages around for his clubs, we see “golfers” on the green area behind the fence. This is not a golf club but by having the extras in the scene, it makes it feel like one.
Truman yells to Cooper that they found Gerard by the waterfall.
We see the golf club bag with Maddy in the the trunk.
It’s similar to the bag we saw earlier in the episode.
This scene always makes my hair stand on end. It sure looks like Leland was about the whack Cooper with that golf club.
More of the extras can be spotted in the background as Leland moves to put away his club.
SHERIFF TRUMAN AND AGENT COOPER DEPARTS
Leland returns to the driver’s seat as the Sheriff and Cooper speed away.
As the law enforcement team leaves, we can see another squad car in the distance (probably controlling access to the road). There is also some movement of people near the Malibou Lake Club House. Unsure if that is where base camp was located for the day but it could explain the movement.
Leland sits for a moment in his car. The script describes the action:
Cooper and Truman get in the Bronco and drive off. Ed watches them, then begins to laugh wickedly as he walks back-to the rear, throws the club inside.
He climbs in behind the wheel, looks in the rear view mirror. It’s “Bob.”
INTWINPEAKS.COM
I have to give credit to Charles from the former InTwinPeaks.com website. He first explored this scene more than a decade ago. Below is the page that was once located on his site. I just expanded the work he originally started.
Excellent worck