STARWEEK, 1990, p.9 (exact issue unknown)

Peaks experience

Once fans know who killed Laura Palmer will they rapidly lose interest in Twin Peaks, the bizarre TV series co-created by David Lynch?

David Lynch is delighted with the cult popularity of
Twin Peaks, premiering this season Sun., 9 p.m. on chs. 6,7,41

David Lynch knows who killed Laura Palmer. "Yeah, I know," he says, grinning. "But I can´t tell you. I can´t even think about it. You might be a mind-reader and you´d pick it up."

Okay, fine. I don´t want to know, really. I mean, here we are, at the beginning of Twin Peaks´second season, and everybody´s got his own pet theory, which he will insist on telling you by the office watercooler, at least until Lynch and crew finally decided to tell us who really did do it, by which time such a revelation could come as a huge disappointment. Right?

Deadly depression

Lynch shrugs. "It will be a let-down. The worst possible thing that can happen is to know the answer to a riddle or any kind of question. People want to know right up till they know, and when they´re satisfied, this deadly depression sets in. Yet if you string people along too long, they become angry and frustrated. It´s a no-win situation."

Familiar enough territory for the man who created such warped cinematic visions as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart. A man who has, with unprecedented success, made an equally eerie imprint in the worlds of television, video, music, painting and performance art.

Some say Lynch has spread himself too thin. With the mass popularity of Twin Peaks, he´s been dismissed as a sell-out by the intellectual art-film snobs who once claimed him as one of their own. Does he worry about that? Does he even care?

"I´m a human being," he says, borrowing a line from his most mainstream film, The Elephant Man. "I do care, in a way. In another way, I don´t. If I really and truly did sell out, and they said, 'He sold out,' that´s okay. What´s bad for all of us is when they think they know the truth, but it isn´t that way. That´s very disturbing."

"If you think I´m mainstream, then I´m mainstream, in your opinion. It could be that next year they´ll have passed me by."

The thought of David Lynch becoming mainstream is almost too much to bear. And one can only shudder at the prospect of someone else coming along and passing him by.

"There´s a danger in all this business, but it´s also what kind of moves everything forward," says Lynch. "Everything´s always changing and hopefully going forward. That´s always the hope, because then you stay alive and you stay out front. I´m just trying to do my thing, you know? Like everybody else.

Nonetheless, Lynch does occasionally worry about the Twin Peaks phenomenon. "When anything kind of gets out of control, you become somewhat concerned. You also know up front that things go in waves. Nothing lasts. You sort of have a little bit of a depression, because you can anticipate the turning against Twin Peaks, right in the middle of the wonderful times.

"The good news is that I love Twin Peaks. I love doing it. I just finished shooting the first two episodes for this season, and I love going into that world. So if it keeps on going I´ll be very happy.

"The hard part is turning it over to other people (to direct), because it seems like it´s my world. It´s painful, because there are subtle little differences that you´d want it you were directing it. You just have to kind of accept that, or you go insane. It´s part of TV."

Another part of TV is merchandising. And this season Twin Peaks will be merchandised to the hilt: T-shirts, calendars, picture books, coffee mugs and designer pies. "I Killed Laura" bumper-stickers can already be spotted.

Tremendous fun

"Those bumper-stickers have nothing to do with our commercialism," Lynch says, "they´ve just ripped us off. But that´s all in fun and that´s good. I mean, you know there´s gonna be merchandise, and making money is a tremendous amount of fun. I think that if the merchandise that comes from a show is in the spirit of the show, and if it has a sense of humor and is of decent quality, then there isn´t anything wrong with it."

Wrong or right, Twin Peaks merchandise could be this year´s Bart Simpson T-shirt. People are just so obsessed with it all; they´re going to jump at the chance to actually own a piece of the show - even if it is only a Twin Peaks lunchbox.

Lynch is just happy they´re still interested. "I guess it goes back to this thing about how we´re all curious and we love mysteries, when clues are given and there´s an excitement to it. It´s great to know that the world (of Twin Peak) is real enough for people to care about and think about."

Anyone for coffee and some really good pie?

Rob Salem