Saarbrücker Zeitung   December 3rd1999

"Take a look at the rats!"

Telling the world in simple stories: David Lynch on his film "The Straight Story" 

The film will be released in the Saarland [a German region close to the French border] later on, maybe in January: David Lynch`s film "The Straight Story", that had been nominated already for the film of the month of December by the jury of the  Protestant Filmsociety ['Evangelische Filmarbeit' . We talked with David Lynch about his transformation, Western movies, nature, dreams and innocence.

Question: After your schizophrenic, labyrithine ride on the "Lost Highway", a stubborn old cowboy takes a trip on his lawnmower to visit his brother in the film "The Straight Story". A travel with no abysses of the pervert in sight. What has happened to you?

Lynch: I am surprised myself. I didn`t want to film a counterpart to Lost Highway, but to stay faithful to the true story of  Alvin Straight.

Question: Did you intend to choose a lower gear after your frenetic ride on the  "Lost Highway"?

Lynch: Between films, there´s always a frustrating period of time for me when I looking for new ideas, am attentive and read and listen a lot. Then finally I can start making a new movie. This time, I fell in love with someone else`s script for the first time  (written by Mary Sweeney, Lynch`s companion through life, and John Roach; editor`s note) and had to follow this story of Straight. Strangely, it was hard to work with these minimal means on this straight path. Today, speed seems to be en vogue, but reality depends on contrasts.

Question: Is it difficult to evoke the right mood in a simple story?

Lynch: This story demanded its very own relation between time and place. What seemed so easy at first sight, really pulled my mind. It´s been a new experience for me to create these simple emotions with a certain rhythm, music and sounds. So I regard the film as a kind of experiment. I had to adapt the film to the characters from day to day, for there were a lot of things that were out of our hands - like the weather and the locations. We wanted to shoot along the road, where Alvin went to meet his brother.

Question: How did the film develop into a slow-paced western movie?

Lynch: My male lead, Richard Farnsworth, is a cowboy. He started with rodeo before becoming a stuntmen in films directed by Ford, Huston and Hawks. So I watched Richard crossing these landscapes on a lawnmower instead of a horseback. His travel creates the mood of both a western movie and a road movie - actually it creates its own genre.

Question: The protagonists of your earlier movies seemed to be  more neurotic than Alvin Straight. Why did you choose to present a harmonic relationship between man and nature in  "The Straight Story"?

Lynch: There`s a constant interaction between man and nature. Take a look at the rats. If you imprison them, they start behaving strangely . . . People living in overcrowded cities will respond accordingly to their enviroment. That`s exactly what I`m trying to observe - how we react to our environment.

Question: When you pan from the stars to the fields of wheat in a single take linking the universe to the world -  do you intend act as fate?

Lynch: No, it`s easier to observe the stars outside the big cities. They`re essential to the memories of youth the two brothers share. I show that the biggest frame is to e found in the smallest image, for there is a kind of harmony. I like this simple story being echoed in a wider scope. 

Question: So you`ve drawn your attention towards the macrocosm instead of the microcosm? Or do you still look for the wild jungle beneath the lawn - like at the opening of "Blue Velvet" - when you mow your lawn?

Lynch: (laughs) No, but  "The Straight Story" and "Blue Velvet" aren`t so different: They both begin in heaven and return there! Each time, I see a surface, I want to know what`s beneath it. One might see a common door and be overwhelemed by the desire to open it.

Question: Before, your protagonists were to choose between normality and perversion, between a dark and blonde woman. . .

Lynch: . . . because I like contrasts. If you mix blondes with brunettes, the result will always be different. Fortunately, there`s more to people than their colour of hair. I can`t help myself: I have this weakness for darkhaired women. But in my films I show blonde, redhaired and brunette women - Why should I restrict myself? With cinema, it`s quite the same: Every director has to explore his own desires.

Question: Do you believe in innocence?

Lynch: To me innocence rhymes with openmindedness       and seriousness. That`s not a childish thing. Our environment urges us to keep to ourselves [to isolation]. Being innocent means being curious and not to judge.  

Interview by MARCUS ROTHE