Award-winning actress and director Diane Keaton passed on Saturday, October 11, 2025 at the age of 79. Best known for roles in movies like Annie Hall, The First Wives Club, Something’s Gotta Give and The Godfather, Keaton has a unique connection to David Lynch and Mark Frost’s groundbreaking television show Twin Peaks directing the second season episode #2.015 (or #22). In December 1990, it was big news that she was selected as a director and made for several headlines into 1991.
DIANE KEATON WILL DIRECT TWIN PEAKS
News about Diane Keaton directing an episode of Twin Peaks first appeared in newspapers on Dec. 12, 1990. The Shreveport Journal stated her episode – #2.015 – began production on Thursday, Dec. 6.
Prior to directing the season two episode, Keaton made her prime-time television directing debut with an episode of China Beach titled, “Fever,” which aired on Nov. 3, 1990. She had previously wrote and directed a 1987 documentary film titled Heaven which was about beliefs concerning the afterlife and heaven in particular. She also directed “Girl with the Crazy Brother” as part of the CBS SchoolBreak Special with aired on Jan. 30, 1990.
Before television, Keaton directed two music videos for Belinda Carlisle including her 1987 hit “Heaven is a Place on Earth” and the 1988 song “I Get Weak.”
Keaton won an Academy Award in 1977 for her role in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall and appeared in several shows and films such as Reds, The First Wives Club, Something’s Gotta Give, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Godfather and more.
According to The Northern Echo Yorkshire edition from April 10, 1991, Keaton got the chance to direct Twin Peaks “after taking a six-month course in Advanced Motion Picture Script Analysis at the University of South Carolina [sic].” Yet I’m thinking the British paper meant to say “University of Southern California,” not “South Carolina” as it appears no such course existed then at the South Carolina university.
The news release about Keaton’s Twin Peaks episode appeared in headlines and clippings in newspapers throughout December 1990 and into January 1991. The papers reported her episode would air in February 1991.
Even when Twin Peaks wasn’t showing new episodes, news about Keaton appeared in papers thanks to syndicated services like Knight-Ridder News Service.
While the show had other notable directors such as Tim Hunter or Caleb Deschanel, clearly Keaton was an unexpected big name. It could be due to her award-winning acting roles and the fact she hadn’t directed many things prior to Twin Peaks.
DIANE KEATON’S TWIN PEAKS EPISODE 2.015 (#22)
The episode was written by Harley Peyton and Robert “Bob” Engles in November and December 1990 with numerous pages have revisions. These revised scenes were printed on different color paper as indicated below.
- FIRST DRAFT DATE: November 20, 1990
- SECOND DRAFT: November 26, 1990
- GENERAL DISTRIBUTION: November 27, 1990
- REVISED: December 4, 1990 – BLUE
- REVISED: December 5, 1990 – PINK
- REVISED: December 6, 1990 – GREEN
- REVISED: December 7, 1990 – YELLOW
- REVISED: December 11, 1990 – CHERRY
On Dec. 12, the episode’s story was published along with news about Keaton being the director.
“The ‘Twin Peaks’ episode she is directing features several story lines: Truman and Cooper attempt to track down Cooper’s former partner, Windom Earle; Ed Hurley cooks for Norma for a change; Ben Horne, with help from Audrey, Jerry, Bobby and Dr. Jacoby, changes the course of history; James Hurley gets into trouble with the law; and Josie is shaken up when Catherine invites a guest to dinner.”
It’s interesting to note that Big Ed was supposed to cook for Norma Jennings in this episode. We never seen that action on the screen. There were revised pages on Dec. 4, 1990 for this scene so it may have been changed at that point.
Wendy Robie who played Nadine Hurley recalled working with Keaton in Brad Dukes’ essential book “Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks.”
“Diane Keaton was a favorite of mine. I think maybe it’s just because she is a wonderful actor, she understood Nadine so well … Well, Diane Keaton is talk to me about that moment [between Ed, Norma and Nadine] and she just leaned against the door frame and she was short of paraphrasing what to say and she was Nadine, she was! IT was just something in her bod. I mean, I had this urge to take off the eye patch and hand it over because she was brilliant. She completely understood.” (page. 240)
For writer Harley Peyton, he enjoyed watching Keaton direct on set in early December 1990.
“As a writer you’re usually up in your office, but that was one of those days we all came down to watch because we just liked her and she was wonderful with the actors and took to this world as easily as anyone who worked on the show. With some directors you didn’t get a sense they were doing anything different from the scripts, but in terms of visual imagination, she definitely did.” (“Reflections,” page 241)
KEATON’S PLAYFULNESS IN TWIN PEAKS
Other flourishes from Keaton don’t appear in the script such as the three officers walking in unison at the Marsh Mansion.
A row of Maytag men seated at Wallie’s Hide-Out when an officer approaches the bar also isn’t mentioned in the script.
I particularly love Keaton’s use of unique camera angles and visuals such as Truman and Josie holding hands under the dining room table while being questioned about Jonathan’s murder.
Other notable uniqueness to this episode includes a line of Great Northern Hotel employees holding drums in the lobby as Ben Horne has his American Civil War moment. One day I hope to identify these extras.
Keaton also turned a set decor item seen throughout most of the show into a prop during this episode. The Eat-It-All ice cream cone was cleaned by both Shelly and Norma as they share a moment on the Double R Diner floor.
PRAISE FOR DIANE KEATON FROM DAVID LYNCH AND OTHER ACTORS
A few weeks after ABC Television put Twin Peaks on hiatus after airing episode 2.016 (#23), Lynch and Frost spoke with reporters to offer a rally cry to fans. During this meeting, David spoke highly of Diane Keaton’s episode as reported in The Berkshire Eagle on Feb. 28, 1991.
“Lynch is particularly enthused about an episode directed by actress Diane Keaton that aired on February 9 … ‘I love that show!’ shouts Lynch when asked about Keaton’s ‘Peaks’ episode. ‘It was very stylized buy absolutely great! We have a lot of terrific directors. They have a freedom with this that they’re not going to get anywhere else in television, and they run with it like crazy.”
For Kyle MacLachlan, he was thrilled to work with Diane as explained in “Reflections“:
“As a director, she brought that kind of playfulness that you need when you work on episodic television and you have lots of long days. You’re looking for any way to break out of the routine and she was all for that. I remember it being a very playful and creative environment that she brought with her.” (page 240).
“Diane was just really great,” David Patrick Kelly told Brad Dukes for his 2014 book. “The thing about Diane Keaton is that in her work as an actress and director, she brings this idea of empowering women and I thought she brought that to the one scene between Jerry and Audrey. While being completely sexy, the characters she represents are totally empowered. Those two thing are not incompatible and I think are very important to Twin Peaks.” (“Reflections,” page 242)
I know some Twin Peaks fans don’t care for the James Hurley and Evelyn Marsh storyline. With each passing year, I love these scenes more and more. Diane Keaton did an exception job capturing a “film noir”-like vibe between James Marshall and Annette McCarthy.
It’s the ending to this episode that sticks in my mind the most – the illuminated death mask of Caroline Earle waiting for Deputy Dale to return to room 315 at the Great Northern Hotel. I can still hear the dialogue from this scene.
EARLE’S VOICE
Breathtaking, wasn’t she? A truly beautiful woman, Caroline. Funny, after all this time, after all that happened in Pittsburgh … I still love her. And I know that you do too … (beat) Now, Dale. Listen carefully. It’s your move …
When the episode aired, Diane Keaton remained an important part of the show’s marketing blurbs. This television listing preview snippet mentioned that she would be the director for the Feb. 9, 1991 broadcast. There were 8.2 million viewers who tuned in to the episode that night.
While millions may not have seen Keaton’s playful take on Twin Peaks nearly 35 years ago, this episode is a standout effort as the show continued finding its footing in a post Laura Palmer murder mystery world.
Thank you Diane for creating something wonderful and strange and for sharing your talents with so many. You will be missed.
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