David Lynch’s recent passing inspired me to revisit my favorite of his movies, Mulholland Drive, which I hadn’t seen since I first watched it in a theater in 2001. Of course it holds up. Of course it’s heads and shoulders above nearly anything else made this century.
What struck me watching it this time was how much Lynch creates the sense that Naomi Watts’s character Betty Elms, the starry-eyed, naive new ingénue literally stepping off the plane from Canada, is entering a rich, dark history that she doesn’t understand and can only glimpse in pieces. The same goes, in its own way, for hotshot director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux), who spends most of the movie being reminded of his powerlessness.
There was a whole lot of s*** going on before they got to Los Angeles. The man behind the Winkies diner. The cowboy. Whoever is after Rita (Laura Harring). The shadowy Mr. Roque (Michael J. Anderson).
One of the keys to creating a memorable setting is to create the sense that your protagonist is stepping into a rich, complicated history. It’s dynamic. It’s in motion. There are forces outside of the protagonist’s control. There was s*** going on before they got there and it will keep going on after they exit the stage.
If you think of a setting solely in terms of the buildings and the trees, it’s going to fall flat. The best settings are places that seem to have a life and agency of their own. There are powerful forces sweeping the scene that influence your characters.
If you feel like there’s something missing in your story, zoom out and check the setting. Does it have its own pulse? What are the deeper forces at play?
And a question that haunts Mulholland Drive: Who has the ultimate power and what are they doing with it?
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Hey, pretty girl. Time to wake up.
Love that movie. Love you forever, David Lynch.
I should put up a picture of Winkies on my bulletin board to remind me to have shit going on.
That’s great news Nathan I am trying to get my second book published in a series of 3 stand alone novels and currently on a training course for this. The start of my second book finds a mafia boss in Uganda looking for his niece who died when his sister was giving birth. (first book) But he still thinks his niece is alive. So the start of my second book continues with this search. As I am looking for an agent as the first book has been self published it has been suggested I should not start the book this way as it will confuse readers who have not read the first book.. Your article on Mulholland drive convinces me to keep my original opening.