I love uncovering new details about the making of my favorite David Lynch film – Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Thanks to an article by Greg Olson in a “Film Comment” magazine, we go behind the scenes at the Fat Trout Trailer park in September 1991.
GREG OLSON’S ARTICLE IN FILM COMMENT MAGAZINE
During one of my frequent searches for Twin Peaks items on eBay, I found this “Film Comment” magazine published in November / December 1991 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
The cover featured Laura Dern playing Rose in Martha Coolidge’s Rambling Rose. In the bottom left corner of the cover was a callout to “The TWIN PEAKS Movie.” How wild that Laura was on the cover decades before her role as Diane.
Greg Olson’s article titled “See You in the Trees” was found at the end of the magazine on pages 79-80. The title was a nod to Jimmy Scott’s tune “Sycamore Trees” from the second season’s final episode.
Born in Seattle, Olson is the founder of the Seattle Art Museum’s award-winning film program. He published “Beautiful Dark” in 2008 which explores the surreal intricacies of David Lynch’s unique visual and visceral style not only in his full-length films but also his early forays into painting and short films, as well as his television landmark, Twin Peaks.
On February 24, 2024, Greg will release “Black Coffee Lightning: David Lynch Returns to Twin Peaks” which takes a deeper look at the third season on Showtime (find a copy at BlueRoseMag.com).
On Wednesday, September 4, 1991, Greg saw a local 11:00 p.m. news report that David Lynch began filming his new Twin Peaks movie at the Riverside Mobile Home Park in Snoqualmie, Washington.
On Thursday, September 5, he drove to the former trailer park to catch a glimpse of the second day of shooting.
The article includes a great photo of David Lynch in his director’s “uniform” which Olson describes as “…baggy khakis, a white shirt with its collar button closed, a black suit jacket with small holes at the elbows, and a charcoal-billed cap.”
The second image is a publicity shot from Episode 1.003 during Laura Palmer’s funeral at Black Lake Cemetery.
It’s a cropped version of this image found on The Mauve Zone.
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE FAT TROUT TRAILER PARK
Greg’s article is a nice companion piece to Charlotte Fraisse’s Official Shooting Diary from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It confirms a few details that wasn’t listed in her diary. The first day of shooting on Lynch’s 1992 masterpiece was September 4. Two of Charlotte’s entries are below:
Tuesday, September 3, 1991
D-day minus one. Arrival of Special Agent Dale Cooper, alias Kyle MacLachlan. David Lynch, who wants this character to be as clean and respectable as possible, runs his fingers on the back of the actor’s head to check the length of his hair and promises as a ‘hello’: “Not short enough yet”
Thursday, September 5 – 2nd Day
Warm and relaxed atmosphere. David is calm and kindly, as heedful of the actors’ performances as of the quality of sound. He follows the shooting sitting in front of a small video monitor. He often uses two cameras and prints a lot of takes that give him a wide range of possibilities for editing.
Greg’s article confirms that the Fat Trout Trailer Park scenes were captured on the first two days of location shooting. Using his article, I’m going to analyze what he saw during his visit.
WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?
Greg said he arrived on set around 1:30 p.m. to see David Lynch and Cinematographer Ron Garcia setting up the scene where Carl Rodd (Harry Dean Station) ask Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) where the hell he was going. Cooper’s long shadow confirms this scene was shot in the afternoon. Sunrise over the Riverside Mobile Home Park would be to the left of Cooper.
Olson states Stanton and MacLachlan rehearsed the scene several times:
“For a number of rehearsals and takes we get to savor Stanton bellowing, ‘Where the hell are you going up that way?’ Lynch speaks quiet words of direction and, on one take, says ‘Okay, Harry Dean, let’s get that anger up there” before calling ‘Action!’ through his megaphone. He calls Stanton ‘Harry Dean’ and MacLachlan ‘Cooper.'”
Once wrapped, Greg said Lynch thanked the actors by saying “doggone good job.”
CARL RODD’S TRAILER
The article describes driving to the other side of the Riverside Mobile Home Park which boarders the “lazy Snoqualmie River.” You can see that river and Meadowbrook Bridge behind Agents Stanley and Desmond in this shot from the film.
There was an entrance to Riverside Mobile Home Park just before the Meadowbrook Bridge. It’s the same spot where Joey Paulsen and Donna Hayward are seen turning onto the road with Sheriff Truman and Agent Cooper close behind.
Olson mentions Lynch had a small meeting with his actors (most likely Chris Isaak, Harry Dean Stanton and Kiefer Sutherland) just before the scene with Carl Rodd’s trailer door.
The meeting took place on the “set-dressed trailer porch of the film’s park manager. Message-bearing paper scraps stuck to the door, a weathered strip of outdoor carpeting (Look where Agent Stanley is walking) and two scraggly potted-pines – one decorated with a neon-red fishing lure – complete a true low-tech David Lynch tableau.”
You can see one of those potted plants between Stanley and Desmond.
Based on the shadows, this scene seems to have been shot earlier in the afternoon versus the scene with Cooper and Stanton.
DUSTY OLD CAR BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE FAT TROUT TRAILER PARK
Lynch asked a technician to “apply dust to an old car’s hood.” Afterward, David grabbed “a hose and carefully mists and splatters droplets over [the car], perfecting the look even though the eventual shot won’t focus on the car.”
Based on the description, my gut tells the car was Agent Desmond’s vehicle as the camera quickly follows the two FBI agents crossing to Mr. Rodd’s trailer. The car doesn’t get a lot of screen team, hence the shot won’t “focus on the car.”
WHERE’S MY GODDAMN HOT WATER?
I love how Greg shared details from one of my favorite moments with the Fat Trout Neighbor played by Margaret Adams.
The first part of this scene has Chris Isaak and Harry Dean Stanton “talking softly, [starting] to walk slowly toward the camera.” Lynch cuts the take as he notices a “1990” on a license plate at the edge of the scene.
A grip covered the date “with a postage stamp of tape.” I enhanced the Washington State license plate on the trailer and found a small white square in the upper right corner of the plate. That could be the grip’s tape.
The second scene described the Fat Trout Neighbor interrupting Agent Desmond and Carl Rodd. This was the final natural-light shot of the day.
“That evening, after [Lynch’s] crew ‘loses the ninety,” Chris Isaak and Harry Dean walk and talk, and are interrupted by an old woman with a sunken chin, her hands permanently curled at the end of stiff arms.”
She asks Rodd for her “goddamn hot water” three times but the local Snoqualmie Valley woman “speaks on the wrong cue.”
Lynch stops the take and “patiently tells [Margaret Adams] how he wants her to enter the action.” The scene had three takes. After they finished, Lynch puts his arm around the demanding neighbor and said, “That was very, very good Margaret.”
Adams was found by Lynch while on the way to set on September 5. In his book “Lost Highway: The Fist of Love,” author Scott Ryan learned from 1st Assistant Director Depak Nayar how they found her.
“On Fire Walk With Me, we were going to the set and David said, ‘Stop the car. See that woman over there? Go get her name and number.’ I said, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. Just get it.’ I got her number. Then later that day he said, ‘You know the lady? She’s in the next shot.’ I said, “What do you mean she is in the next shot?’ He said, ‘Harry Dean Stanton is standing here, and then she will come in and say, ‘Where’s my hot water?’ Then she goes.’ I said, ‘No, we can’t do that right now. We can shoot her later in the day.’ Now I’m trying to find her and get her right away. And she is in the movie.” (Page 67)
I hope to find out what happened to her one day. If she was a local resident, she must have a history in the Snoqualmie area.
PAT COKEWELL DELIVERS CHILI
After the crew wraps at Riverside Mobile Home Park, Pat Cokewell, then owner of the Mar-T Cafe (now Twede’s Cafe) delivered Harry Dean Stanton’s favorite chili. How cool is that? I’ll have to order some next time I’m in North Bend in honor of him.
Thank you to Greg Olson for capturing these moments of my favorite sequence and location from Lynch’s incredible film.
