Descending from Mars to Earth

Interview with David Lynch

David Lynch, Mel Brooks once called you the «James Stewart from Mars». Your latest movies were mostly from Mars. Now «The Straight Story» is entirely James Stewart . . .

. . . from Iowa.

Exactly. What has happened?

I`ve descended. (laughs)

What brought you down to Earth?

Reading the script. I fell in love with the story and the character. Then the next progress was  when Richard Farnsworth was cast. If you get into a story like this, it means the world to you.

Was it your world, because you were raised there?

I grew up near Iowa, a bit more to the west, in the Northwest. I grew up in small towns - even if not that small like this one. Certain things must have floated inside that related to the story.

Do you identify with the values the protagonist embodies -  wisdom of age, an almost religious quality - or do you rather observe them from a distance?

I think there`s truth to wisdom of age in general. But there can be wise young people as well. To me, this depends on the attitude, you could talk about that forver. But when you`ve  made many experiences and are approaching the end of life, you think about it differently.  You see life in retrospect and notice the mistakes you`ve made and learn from them. If you have chance to make up for it, it`s more important to you. It should be important to you when you`re young as well, and it is to many. Then thereīs nature and all. For me, there`s something spiritual to travelling through nature; then it`s about forgiveness and the effort to make up for mistakes you`ve made. That`s a good thing, even it`s hard sometimes. I can relate to that, I think everybody can.

Was it a challenge or an obstacle to film a story based on facts? 

Neither. Stories can come to life for different reasons. Some are from the ether, some from an ocean of ideas, they may be from a book and the other received it from the ether; they may come from a script, from real life. That doesn`t make a difference, because itīs about ideas, and working with ideas is a wonderful process. Thereīs so many sounds, images and scenes to use. That`s so great. Thereīs also the actors who can contribute. Itīs not a limitation, for it`s the same with each movie: you can`t deviate from the road to much. Often the road doesn`t let you deviate too much. So you just keep to the road step by step. You have to follow the road, no matter where the ideas come from.

Did you have a particular actor in mind, or was Richard Farnsworth always first choice?

I think, his name was brought up at an early stage. You know how it works: All kinds of bells start ringing and all lamps switch on and you just know: That`s it! Nevertheless you consider other actors as well. But when you imagine a certain scene, you recognize that that somebody wouldn`t do it, it just would`t feel right for some reason or other. Of course Richard stood the test, he was simply wonderful. 

(Michel Bodmer.

 The interview took place during last year`s Cannes festival, where the movie was screened in competition.)