Prepare to meet a new breed of filmmakers – artists who defy hype and cliché. These bold new voices are unleashing their movies to audiences who hunger for something beyond the fast-food films they’ve been served at the multiplex. These filmmakers not only make their own rules, they break them as well.
Jennifer Lynch would make great conversation if she just described what it’s like to watch her father cook. That’s because her dad is legendary filmmaker David Lynch. She speaks as fondly about her father as she does about her passion for film. Jennifer has a film career of her own having directed her first feature at the age of 22. Boxing Helena came out in 1993 clouded by a storm of controversy. The film not only caused a stir because of the disturbing story about a man who keeps a limbless woman in a box, but a lawsuit that dragged on for years and almost derailed her career.
Jennifer returns to the writing and directing with Surveillance, a film that fits into the serial killer genre, but with plenty of unexpected twists you’d come to expect from a Lynch.
Serial killer films seem to have been done to death, so to speak. How did you come up with such a unique approach with Surveillance?
JL: I found myself wanting to feel the story being dealt like a hand of cards. Slowly they are overturned and their values revealed, this process always thrills me in a game, and adds to the tension of the whole thing. Since I’ve written about people playing games, whether knowingly or unknowingly involved in that game… I wanted the story to feel like one.
The story in Surveillance is told from three perspectives, a cop, a drug addict and a child – as a as a director this must have allowed for a lot of experimentation?
JL: It allowed me to touch on different methods of framing and film stock, giving voice to each character’s recollections, as well as juxtapose those with their ‘present’ moments. There were no rules, and therefore there was a real sense of freedom in designing both the script and the final images. Lots of voices, lots of room to move.
There’s a horrific car crash in the movie, but what do you consider more challenging — stunt scenes like crashes or intensely dramatic scenes?
JL: Each carries a challenge, but I’m quite comfortable with dramatic scenes. I adore the chance to blow things up emotionally as much as I enjoy crashing cars and blowing sfx heads up practically. Crashes and explosions, especially in low budget films are usually one take… so the tension is high and the crew always cheers after a good shot… all that prep for one five second period. In the emotional scenes, it is usually three takes and the joy is in just the right twisting of words, tone and frame… It’s all in good fun… no matter what the shot. Hell, I even like inserts.
One of the characters performs quite a “unique transformation” in the form of a dance and it’s quite haunting? How do you direct a scene like that?
JL: With that scene, my direction was pretty simple. “You’ve been holding this in for so long… let it out, all the way to your toes. Out the top of your head… let it shake out of you so I can almost see it.” I think the actor got it 100%.
There are truly terrifying scenes in Surveillance, but unlike the trend of torture-porn-horror films of late, your film is grounded in a humanity. Did you consciously take a sensitive approach to those disturbing scenes?
JL: Yes. Very intentionally. Making something really upsetting is tricky… there’s an ease to horror because it can scare us, but we don’t feel sick about our real lives afterwards. In this… I guess I wanted to feel sick… to wonder even on a sunny day what might go wrong… to wonder what was behind the smile, the badge, the chuckle. Not simply to upset… but to investigate. I don’t think all of us are bad people… I think the idea that we might be, is scary and I wanted to make a film about it.
How did you round up such a great cast with Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond? And French Stewart turns in an amazing performance as well, what made you consider Stewart for the film?
JL: I got real lucky with the cast. The film is good because of the people involved. I had asked Bill years earlier to read the script and he did not care for it. He passed. it wasn’t until two weeks before going to camera, when another actor had to back out, that I asked again… just because Id always thought of him in the role, and he said yes after reading the newer version. Julia Ormond got ahold of me, actually. I couldn’t resist her. Not for one second. French Stewart was a suggestion from my casting director. I thought it was genius. When French came in to talk, I realized how much he had going on that had never been explored n screen. He’s a freakin’ powerhouse of talent. Comedy is the hardest thing to do in my opinion… it makes him astoundingly strong in timing and instincts… not to mention… you just don’t see him coming in a darker role.
Indie films are always a struggle to get made, what were the greatest challenges for you with Surveillance?
JL: Financing. Plain and Simple. Not that I blame them… but people just don’t want to let go of their money.
You began as a P.A. on the set of your father’s groundbreaking movie Blue Velvet – what memories can you share about that experience?
JL: Not a single day went by without incredible laughter and excitement. There was special magic on that film. Really special magic. Ideas coming out of my father like crazy. It was inspiring.
Does it present a lot of pressure having a father with such a storied career? Or does having David Lynch as a dad have more advantages?
JL: It is a real mix of both… in work and life… just like anyone with their parents. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
It’s been over a decade since your first film Boxing Helena – why the long gap?
JL: I was raising my daughter, now almost 14, as a single parent… I got sober… And had three consecutive spinal surgeries of two years… I needed to do some work on me and in what I felt was a more genuine life, before I felt strong enough to get back to work. I missed it every day though.
Why aren’t there more women directors in Hollywood? Is it still a boys club?
JL: Boys Club suggests women don’t belong… so no… Women are all over the crew, just not all over directing… I have caught a lot of crap for the violence in my work… no one is giving the makers of Saw or Tarantino crap for similar work… maybe the combination of emotion and violence gets me in trouble… I don’t know… everyone belongs. Even if and when we don’t agree with the work, we all belong. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. Ultimately, disliking things has inspired me as much as liking things has. It is important to have different responses. For me, it shapes what I do and how I do it. I’m grateful for the films that pissed me off. Seriously.
Words by Chris Gore
