John Malkovich becomes David Lynch (and other characters)
In a new project, the actor relives iconic scenes from Lynch's filmography.
John Malkovich and David Lynch are, respectively, the actor and film director who’ve implicitly or explicitly addressed the issues of identity and its porous barriers through numerous projects. Now they’ve joined forces in Playing Lynch, a series of cartoons that revive iconic characters from Lynch’s filmography.
The project was produced by the David Lynch Foundation which is dedicated to investigating transcendental meditation procedures. The project will keep fans’ attention as they await the revival of Twin Peaks, the cult TV series slated to return to screens next year.
A scene is to be released daily on the website. In each, we can see the transformations of Malkovich into characters such as Agent Dale Cooper (originally played by Kyle Maclachlan in Twin Peaks) and the mysterious Log Lady (of the late Catherine Coulson), as well as scenes from the Elephant Man, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, and the legendary Eraserhead.
Probably no characterization within the project is more impressive than Malkovich’s rendering of Lynch’s own character – the director consumed by his wild-dream imagery, himself a creation arising from his imagination. As is often the case with great directors and creators, they become a kind of incarnation of their own work.
In addition to these scenes, the soundtrack has been prepared specifically for this project with musicians like Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips (The Elephant Man), Sky Ferreira (Blue Velvet), Zola Jesus (Eraserhead) and Lykke Li (Lost Highway).
The scenes, however, were not directed by Lynch – an interesting change for a project of this type – but by Sandro Miller. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Miller stated that to prepare Malkovich, “we would put the scenes over and over again on a television and he would watch them. He said his lines moving his mouth and nose – it’s like watching this clay mass becoming something real.”
For his own part, Malkovich once again demonstrated his dramatic and chameleonic genius by putting his full faculties at the service of the more than ambitious project, for the film and the representation. We’re sure that true fans of Lynchian eccentricity will have at least a couple of criticisms upon closely observing the project, which can be watched or downloaded from Playing Lynch.com.
Related Articles
When ancient rituals became religion
The emergence of religions irreversibly changed the history of humanity. It’s therefore essential to ask when and how did ancient peoples’ rituals become organized systems of thought, each with their
Seven ancient maps of the Americas
A map is not the territory. —Alfred Korzybski Maps are never merely maps. They’re human projections, metaphors in which we find both the geographical and the imaginary. The cases of ghost islands
An artist crochets a perfect skeleton and internal organs
Shanell Papp is a skilled textile and crochet artist. She spent four long months crocheting a life-size skeleton in wool. She then filled it in with the organs of the human body in an act as patient
A musical tribute to maps
A sequence of sounds, rhythms, melodies and silences: music is a most primitive art, the most essential, and the most powerful of all languages. Its capacity is not limited to the (hardly trivial)
The enchantment of 17th-century optics
The sense of sight is perhaps one the imagination’s most prolific masters. That is why humankind has been fascinated and bewitched by optics and their possibilities for centuries. Like the heart, the
Would you found your own micro-nation? These eccentric examples show how easy it can be
Founding a country is, in some ways, a simple task. It is enough to manifest its existence and the motives for creating a new political entity. At least that is what has been demonstrated by the
Wondrous crossings: the galaxy caves of New Zealand
Often, the most extraordinary phenomena are “jealous of themselves” ––and they happen where the human eye cannot enjoy them. However, they can be discovered, and when we do find them we experience a
Think you have strange reading habits? Wait until you've seen how Mcluhan reads
We often forget or neglect to think about the infinite circumstances that are condensed in the acts that we consider habitual. Using a fork to eat, for example, or walking down the street and being
The sky is calling us, a love letter to the cosmos (video)
We once dreamt of open sails and Open seas We once dreamt of new frontiers and New lands Are we still a brave people? We must not forget that the very stars we see nowadays are the same stars and
The sister you always wanted (but made into a crystal chandelier)
Lucas Maassen always wanted to have a sister. And after 36 years he finally procured one, except, as strange as it may sound, in the shape of a chandelier. Maassen, a Dutch designer, asked the