Union-Tribune Publishing, October 10, 2001

How pair got to intersection of Lynch and 'Mulholland'

-- BRUCE NEWMAN KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

In the opening scene of the new noir-as-tar "Mulholland Drive," a glamorous-looking woman is in the back seat of a limo when suddenly a traffic accident causes her life to take an unexpected turn. Actress Laura Elena Harring, who plays the woman, knew nothing of this plot twist when she was picked out of a stack of mug shots and summoned to meet writer-director David Lynch.

"I was so excited to meet him," Harring recalls, "that I actually had a car accident on the way to the interview." Later, "It seemed like an omen to me."

Actress Naomi Watts, who plays an all-American Hollywood ingenue named Betty in the film, arrived at her intersection with Lynch -- and possibly fame -- after a journey that included several wrecks, most of them in such projects as "Tank Girl," which flopped in 1995.

"Everyone goes, 'Oh, you're a fresh new face,' " Watts says. "And I let them believe that." In truth, she has made her living as an actress for more than a decade, coming to Hollywood after being brought up first in England, then Australia.

"I've worked on a lot of different things, and for whatever reason, they haven't turned out as well as promised. But this definitely feels a bit like a launching vehicle."

Watts and Harring are almost inseparable throughout "Mulholland Drive," but never more so than during their love scenes together.

"I remember reading the script and feeling OK about it, then panicking a couple of days before we shot," Watts says. "To me, it felt like a natural extension of their friendship, this physical connection."

Harring lived in Mexico until she was 14, then moved to Texas, Europe and finally Los Angeles. After she appeared for a year in the daytime drama "Sunset Beach," and on screen in such duds as "Exit to Eden" and "Little Nicky," it has taken so long for her performance in Lynch's new film to get distribution that she already has another potential hit lined up for release: She has a supporting role in New Line's "John Q," starring Denzel Washington.

Director Nick Cassavetes told Harring he wanted her "tacky, trashy, brawly, tough, obnoxious" for that role, which she enjoyed after all the cocktail dresses she wore in "Mulholland Drive."

"Not all movies are about glamour and sexiness," she says. "I definitely don't want to be pigeonholed into one thing."