Twin Peaks Publicity – Pete Martell at the Packard Sawmill in the Pilot

David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks would not have been the same without Jack Nance who played Pete Martell. Aside from the long relationship with Lynch, Nance’s character is the one who first discovers Laura Palmer on the rocky beach. As part of early publicity for the show Capital Cities / ABC, Inc. produced a number of black and white publicity photos featuring different characters. This photo of Pete was captured on set at the Snoqualmie Lumber Company in Snoqualmie, Washington.

TWIN PEAKS PUBLICITY –  PETE MARTELL AT THE PACKARD SAWMILL IN THE PILOT

To help media keep track of the many characters in Frost and Lynch’s show, Capital Cities / ABC, Inc. made a series of 8-inch by 10-inch black and white publicity photos. These character studies highlighted the many faces viewers would seen in the small town. This photo of Jack Nance as Pete Martell was taken at the Snoqualmie Lumber Company in Snoqualmie, Washington which served as the Packard Sawmill in the Twin Peaks pilot.

This photo is dated 1990 which means it was produced in advance of the shows network television debut on April 8, 1990.

According to production paperwork, the scenes were shot on February 24, 1989 at the former sawmill.

It appears the on-set photographer (most likely Kimberly Wright) must have snapped the shot of Nance smiling between takes. The line behind him in the black and white photo is the chalkboard.  There is an alternate color shot of Pete that may have been taken just before the smiling photo.

Nance told Los Angeles Times reporter Susan King how he sees his character in an interview from May 10, 1990.

“I have looked at this guy a couple of times in looping [dubbing] sessions and in the episodes, and Pete is a goony character,” he said, bursting into laughter. “I looked at this guy and said, Is this guy really that far gone?’ He’s a weird joker.”

You can see Kimberly Wright on the left with her camera standing next to David Lynch at the Snoqualmie Lumber Company during location production in 1989.

The scene is where Pete is counting wood (“2 by 4s, 4 by 8s”) just before Catherine and Josie have a shouting match. Interestingly, Pete counting doesn’t appear in the first draft of the Twin Peaks pilot from Dec. 7, 1988. The action cuts from a State Trooper escorting Janek Pulaski through the sawmill. Catherine Martell was spelled as “Katherine” and Josie was known as “Giovanna” who would have been played by Isabella Rossellini.

INT. SAWMILL CATWALK – DAY

On a catwalk outside the office, over the din of the mill, Katherine Packard is confronting Giovanna Packard, as an embarrassed Pete Martell stands by, near a large, control console.

Nance sort of confirmed his dialogue was made up on set when speaking with Susan King in May 1990.

“Here’s how he’ll work,” Nance said. “You have a scene, and there’s a moment when the cameras are rolling, but the director hasn’t called, ‘Action.’ You are still yourself; you are the actor, but you are not committed to the scene yet That’s the moment David will use the most. He will talk to you and give you little things to say. I don’t know how much in the pilot, if any, was written. We would be waiting to go, and he would come up and say, ‘Say, “Wrapped in plastic,’ and the cameras would be rolling. He would give you this great stuff to say. It’s real neat.”

This set was part of the actual working sawmill. The silver hat on the green table was worn by sawmill workers.

You can see a similar hat worn by a millworker at the Double R Diner who was played by Snoqualmie Valley resident Leo Kelly. He worked at the mill for 50 years until his retirement in 1975.