‘I Killed Laura Palmer’ – Frank Silva Interview in Australia’s Sunday Herald-Sun on May 19, 1991

Twin Peaks crew member turned actor Frank Silva was interviewed by Nik Garifalakis from Australia’s Sunday Herald Sun on May 19, 1991. Silva passed on September 13, 1995 so it’s a treat to hear him discuss his role as Killer BOB in Mark Frost and David Lynch’s groundbreaking series. This article was included in a binder of Australian newspaper and magazine clippings I acquired at auction.

‘I KILLED LAURA PALMER’ FROM AUSTRALIA’S SUNDAY HERALD-SUN, MAY 19, 1991

Australia’s Network 10 began airing Lynch and Frost’s Twin Peaks at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, February 18 and Tuesday, February 19, 1991. According to “Ratings Report” in The Age from February 21, 1991, Twin Peaks was well received: “Ten’s Twin Peaks was received enthusiastically by Melbourne viewers peaking at 30 on its first two nights.”

In advance of the David Lynch-directed episode 2.007 airing on Tuesday, May 21, 1991, Nik Garifalakis from the Sunday Herald-Sun published his interview with Frank Silva titled “I Killed Laura Palmer” on May 19. It’s an odd interview as it basically spoils the show for viewers by revealing who killed Laura Palmer.

A transcript with additional photos is presented below.

‘I Killed Laura Palmer’

Confessions are never easy. To claim responsibility for a horrendous crime that has shocked and nauseated most of TV viewerland is even harder. But Frank Silva has no problem doing this. He killed Laura Palmer. He was the one who crouched over her, stabbed her repeatedly then dumped her body in a plastic sheet.

And all along you thought Laura’s father did it. Well, he did in a way.

Sound confusing? Welcome to the legacy of Twin Peaks.

Silva plays Bob, a demonic spirit which occupies people’s souls, pushing them to states of frenzy and making them commit murderous acts. It was Bob who possessed Laura’s father Leland, causing him to stab his daughter to death.

“Bob is nothing good,” Silva says. “He is a personification of total evil; a spirit we haven’t tapped into who can go in and out of this world and his world.
He is a character you can take to any extreme and it works. I never really have a script for him. I’m just told to go out there and be him.”

Audiences have glimpsed Bob in the past two seasons of Twin Peaks but he comes to the fore in his gruesome, gut-wrenching glory in this week’s episode. He is tall and strong with long, matted grey hair and a beard. He howls like a hyena and crawls on the floor like a determined, hungry beast preying on weak souls.

Although Tuesday’s episode at 9.30pm on Network Ten reveals Laura’s possessed father as the murderer, it only scrapes the surface of the Bob issue. Viewers should be prepared for a taunting couple of weeks as the show features elements of satanism, the occult and… you guessed it; another body wrapped in plastic.

“There are people who are susceptible to possession and there are others who are not. Later in the series you’ll discover why this happens,” Silva says. “Bob is out there in Twin Peaks. He transforms from human to animal. He is a creature of the night but will always keep coming back as Bob. He may be an owl one minute then he will become the guy with the grey hair and torment more people.”

There is a chilling scene in Tuesday’s episode where Bob claims another victim. While crushing her body he persistently sucks on her chin. “That was a bizarre scene.” says Silva. “David Lynch (the director) said he wanted it dream-like and that’s how it turned out.”

Actually it’s more like a nightmare thanks to Silva’s effective portrayal of the demonic Bob.

Although Bob is pivotal to the Laura Palmer storyline, Silva claims the character was not featured in the original Twin Peaks synopsis. Silva, a props man on the production, was spotted one morning by Lynch while making alterations to the set. The character of Bob was suddenly born.

“David made me crouch down beside Laura Palmer’s bed and act scared and that’s when he had this vision. It wasn’t in the script but it snowballed from
there,” Silva says.

When another scene was shot, Silva’s reflection accidentally appeared in the mirror. Lynch kept it in because it epitomised the demonic Bob’s presence in the town.

The second series of Twin Peaks has just finished screening in the US and will continue in Australia for a while yet. The American ABC network has yet
to decide whether it will back a third series.

“The problem was that ABC wasn’t as supportive of the series as we would have liked,” Silva says. “The program didn’t appear on a regular weekly basis, it just appeared at different time-slots. Therefore it has gathered more of a cult following than a widespread one.”

But despite this, Silva has had more than his fair share of fans confronting him on the street. “They are initially frightened of me but they come up and chat,” he says.

“There have been times when I’ve been in a bar and I can feel people talking about me. I can lip read and it’s not too hard to read people’s lips when they say things like ‘there’s Bob’. It’s actually quite funny.”

This week’s episode may answer the burning question in viewers’ minds but there are more twists to come. Whatever happens, Bob will be out there, waiting and watching.