All language subtitles for MasterClass David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film_Full

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the art life

is a life lived around

working it could be working in any of

the art

forms it could be working in cinema

painting

lithography

music every medium is infinitely

deep and when you get to know them

they'll let you go

deeper this is the art life

in cinema there's many

filmmakers that make films primarily to

make money and it's more called

entertainment I love money like

everybody else but probably I would do

the things that I'd like to do for

free the most valuable thing I could

impart to new filmmakers is what I

always say find your own

voice be true to that voice never give

up Final Cut and total creative freedom

never take a bad idea but never turn

down a good idea and I just like this

process of catching ideas that I fall in

love with and then realizing those ideas

and I like all these different steps of

creating something I I love being in it

and I feel that when you're really in it

uh more ideas flow you get into it

deeper and deeper and it's a thrilling

thrilling ride all these different art

forms are are thrilling thrilling to the

soul so if you love The

ideas that come

along a deep

love you will find a way to realize

those hello everybody my name is David

Lynch and this is my master class

am

I always say ideas are

everything so I go where the ideas

lead they could be to the painting

Studio it could be to an office to work

on a a computer it could be uh sound you

know room to work on sound you go where

the ideas are telling you to go where

you're fired up to do this or that

and that that leads you you know to

those

places we're nothing without an idea we

don't know what to do without an idea

and the idea tells us everything so it's

common sense that ideas are super

important and I love the the idea of

catching ideas

and there're out

there millions and millions of

ideas and we don't know

them until they enter the conscious

mind and then we know them and we we see

them and hear them and feel them we know

the mood of them even if it's just a

small fragment of what could be a whole

film or a painting or

whatever we fall in love with it for

some reason something inside of us says

this is a great idea for me and then you

write that idea down on a piece of paper

in such a way that when you read what

you wrote the idea comes back and full

super important to write down your ideas

so you don't forget

them I think I I've forgotten

three incredible ideas in my life so

write down your ideas and save them

because they're it's it's very

important and then we can talk more

about catching ideas but I do equate

catching ideas with the thing of fishing

you have to have

patience and I say a desire for an idea

is like a bait on a hook

and it's like putting a little piece of

bait on a hook and lowering it into the

water and then you don't know when

they're going to come or what will

trigger them but lo and

behold on a lucky day Bingo you'll catch

a fish you'll catch an

idea and like I say it you don't see the

fish down there but when you bring it up

out of the water that's like the idea

coming into the the conscious mind you

see the fish you see the details of it

you know the fish's eyes the mouth the

fins all the shiny little

scales you fall in love with this little

fish and you write that idea down and

now you have even more

bait and you can lower that fish

in and other fish will swim to it

that are part of that

school and you'll catch more and more

fragments and a script will start

emerging and it kind of goes like that

for me another analogy is there's

someone in the other room with a puzzle

that's completely together and they flip

little one piece at a time into me so

you can imagine the first pieces of pule

they don't relate to anything you might

love the colors of them or the shape of

them or something about them but uh you

just save those and then more come in

more come in and then you start seeing

something emerge and finally the

puzzle's

finished when we get an idea that we

love it feels feels very very good you

see it and feel it and know it all at

once but it's all at

once and it comes with like a I always

say like a spark of electricity a

inspiration kind of

thing but then you kind of calm down and

and more you know leisurely examine it

and on examining it it's like you turned

on your TV and the first thing was like

uh White

Flash and then it kind of you know comes

into it pops on a image and that's the

image then out comes a sound and a

feeling and you just see it and then you

write down what you see and what you

hear and the

mood and you feel very very good you've

got something if it's a cinema idea I

like them for two reasons one is the

idea of it

itself and the other is the way Cinema

could say that

idea and then you got something and all

you have to do then is focus on that and

that focusing means lowering it back

into the water on a

hook and

[Music]

waiting I say intuition is the number

one

tool really of the human being

intuition the way I think about it

is mind and emotion intellect and

emotion together it's a feel thinking

it's a

knowingness a

knowingness and it is extremely

important everybody

has has this but I don't think everybody

has the same amount it's like

Consciousness they say every human being

has Consciousness but not every human

being has the same amount the potential

however for every human being is

infinite

Consciousness Enlightenment Supreme

Enlightenment and we could talk about

that sometime too and it intuition is

tied tied tightly to cons

ious you can't uh just wish for more

intuition you can't just imagine you

have more

intuition same way with Consciousness

you can't just wish for more you can't

just uh uh imagine more you got to go

where it is and get more it's like

fishing you can put your hook on a

desert and lay it on the desert in the

sand you wait for a long long time for a

fish maybe a huge huge ages of time

before water and fish come anyway um so

you've got to go where that um the the

treasure is I guess the analogy is the

chef doesn't make the the

fish the chef just Cooks the fish and

the chef can cook it really really

high-end Fant fantastic or it can cook

it very poorly maybe not even cook it

all the way through and people get sick

but the the chef doesn't make the fish

just like these ideas the person

catching the idea doesn't make the

idea it's it's crazy we really we really

rely on these

gifts uh to do anything

a lot of ideas come from our world and

our

world uh holds a lot of

violence violence in the

homes violence on the

streets violence violence in the city

violence in the

country violence in all the

countries a lot of violence a lot of

corruption a lot of suffering a lot of

tension anger hate

fear a lot of mistakes prisons are full

hospitals are

full it's a mess and it doesn't have to

be this way but it is the way it

is and ideas come from our world stories

emerge from our world and stories

involve things that are in the world you

know I always

say have the suffering and the violence

and all the things of human nature

negative and positive in this script in

the film in this book but not in your

life and that you don't have to suffer

to show suffering on the screen or in a

book you can be very happy showing

suffering and that's the key to things

stories All Through Time have had

conflict and all these different things

but the ideas come from the from the

world they come from other places it

seems also but a lot come from just our

world and the feeling of being in this

world conjures these stories that

[Music]

come many things from our childhood

stick with us from our world our friends

experiences uh feelings

dreams all these things go into the

hopper and they swim

around and new things come in all these

new things come in and they swim

around and if you have time to

daydream they can conjure some

things and

uh it's a very beautiful

story and everybody has these things

swimming

about

and the possibility is there that they

can trigger

ideas everyone's Hopper

is pretty full and they say that the

window to the hopper is wide open when

we're growing up taking in all these

things

and for safety's sake that window starts

closing at a certain point and you start

working with what you've got in

there there's a story um when I lived in

boisey Idaho on Park Circle

Drive uh one

night I think it

was around

9:30 you know in the

50s in small

towns there were street lights but they

were dimmer than the lights of today and

it

was it was near a street

light uh near a street called Shoni

Avenue

and across the way I was with my younger

brother

out of the darkness

came a

woman completely

naked and she

had skin the color of

milk and she wasn't walking quite

properly I didn't understand exactly

what was

wrong and there might have been some

blood on her mouth she was pretty much

oblivious to me and my brother as she

came out of the darkness and

walked and sat down on a

curb and

I never

seen of an adult woman

naked

and it was quite a powerful experience

and I knew that she was hurt in trouble

and I wanted to help her but I didn't

know what to to

do it's not every day that you see a

battered nude woman come out of the

bushes but um these kind of things

happen

and in this story this happened right in

front of your own stupid house get out

of here Mike stop it shut up just shut

up all right nobody's talking to you all

right come on Mike look I don't want to

any

problem who's that huh is that your

mother that your mother Jeffrey no come

here you [ __ ] someone Hurt No didn't

notice Dorothy

Valance come on

[Music]

as far as people thinking well I don't

have anything to

say maybe you

don't but on the other hand that might

be the wrong way to look at

it what might be better is

to just

[Music]

Daydream and catch some

things that start start a flow of

ideas just to see if a story comes that

you

like and more ideas can come more ideas

can

come and there might be something that

you find inside that you really

love and then you say oh wait a minute I

do have something to say I could say

this thing that came to me so it goes

like

that having time which is so difficult

in this in today's world having time to

daydream to sit by

yourself and

daydream it's really really

important for catching

ideas and going over

things uh just daydreaming from the

outside it looks like maybe you should

take this

person not necessarily to a hospital but

to maybe a psychiatrist or you tell them

to get a

job um but it it's real important it's

you're doing it looks like you're doing

nothing but what you're doing is so

important for catching ideas have that

time to sink into daydreaming because it

can go deeper and

deeper and you can catch things

H that you can't catch in any other

way as I said I think that in this world

today people don't have a lot of time to

daydream but that's where that's where

one place where it can happen but it

could also happen at any moment doing

anything because in the back of your

mind you've got that

desire you just keep that desire going

you can um catch

ideas uh these Fish can be flying fish

they don't need water they fly right to

you what scares fish away or makes it

more difficult is

stress depression sorrow anxieties

tension

traumatic stress hate

anger and fear all these things are in

the family of

negativity and they

restrict a lot of things they restrict

happiness and and they restrict you know

sleep and you get fatigued fatigue is is

not good for catching

ideas and

they they like I said squeeze the tube

through which the ideas flow they Cloud

they Cloud the mind all these

things so give yourself a

chance to get those

ideas and uh at the same time bring all

these positive things along with them

things that you're going to need like

energy

and like awareness

understanding and you know it it's it's

real important

if you want to make a featur length

film all you need to do is get 70 ideas

70

scenes and you write these 70 scenes on

3x5 cards and you put them up and when

you have 70 of them you've got a feature

film

I never considered myself a

writer and um I don't know how to spell

I don't know how to

type

um to me writing is like a way just to

remember ideas

schools have

developed a

formula this word

formula in the department of

writing

is

like death penalty

crime the thing I think should sort of

come

naturally and feel feel

good um and that's just all of these

ideas talking to you I think revising

the

writing

um is part of the

process you don't want to be worried

about how it comes out when it's

starting to

flow but then as you go back later

when more and more has come in you see

that oh um that one is you know talking

too much and it's getting weak and let's

take those things out and this is much

better like that this is the thing about

a formula where they say that in the

first it's a three act formula I think

or something like that and I don't know

what the latest formula is but you know

something happens and then then it gets

you know into the nitty-gritty and then

there's a

resolution all

stories

uh need a

beginning where the middle

is uh depends on where the end is I

guess but in a Continuing Story there

could be theoretically no end

when it comes time to

writing I like to

write um what I mean is like

um

well the last time I was really

writing was with Mark frost on Twin

Peaks

but at

night we would write over Skype Mark

being in um ohigh California and me

being in Los

Angeles and we work during the

day at

night because I smoke

cigarettes my wife Emily would put me

outside and I would face East and I

would have yellow pads and a ballpoint

pin

black and cigarettes and red wine

Bordeaux and I'd sit in this lawn

chair and work like that and if you have

a yellow pad on your

lap and a ballpoint

pen pretty soon that pen will start

start moving and words will words will

come out and you get on a thing and I

say you know even

90% can be you know worthless horrible

stuff but maybe as you're writing what

you're seeing or thinking you'll catch a

vein of gold and a thing will start

pouring out and that's sort of the way I

guess it is you catch a vein

it could be a character it could be a

whole part of a story it could be a

scene and but you've got to be like in

fishing with patience and you got to

have a pole and a line and a hook and

you got to be you know ready for it to

to come

in character

comes from an

idea

something uh that uh we see can trigger

a

character something can happen in a

daydream where a character will just

walk in when they do come

along it's as if you always knew them

they

appear as as if out of

nowhere and again it's like an idea it's

a it is an idea and you hear them talk

you know

them a as if you've known them for a

long time you know what they look like

you know what they're wearing you know

the way they are how they speak fast or

slow um their temper of their voice

their whole thing you know them and uh

you write them down and the and the and

even the words you know they come

out they just come out they come out in

a certain way based on that character

that you know and who they're

interacting with a character is an idea

just like a a location is an

idea um a mood is an idea sound is an

idea music is an idea the way it needs

to be based on the ideas that come

mystery and detectives in cinema

relate 100% to

life most of us we don't

know uh where we were before we were

born we don't know for sure where we're

going after we don't know why we're here

we don't know much about anything we're

floating on a ball in something they

call a Universe on the edge of a galaxy

with about 100 or 200 billion

Suns and we are going to football games

and watching TV it's like pretty

crazy it's the way it

is and uh but we're detectives everybody

we're looking around when we have

time sometimes it's just before we go to

sleep we start thinking maybe questions

like why am I here what is going on or

we see things in life and we say whoa or

we hear things and say does that make

sense is that you think that's true we

use our intuition as detectives to see

what's true and what's

false and try to figure out what's going

on and I think that's one of the great

things about detective stories it

relates to what life is uh H what life

is telling us the ideas you know tell

you

everything and if you think it's

imagination really you say I imagine the

by the time you got the word imagine out

the ideas have already fed it to you

it's not really you imagining it it's

it's the flow of

ideas and that's where daydreaming comes

in let's say there's a scene in a in a

diner and the diner has all these

windows and it's a

daytime um and it's uh got the smell of

of cooking and coffee going the sounds

of the

machines and uh the refrigerator you

know um thing cooling working and the

sounds of the coat machine going

sometimes the the uh cash register you

know different things and um people

going around uh people talking you know

knives and forks you know plates for

miciah you know footsteps outside some

sounds are coming in and a light is a

certain way it's say it's it's in the

Northwest so it's a kind of Northwest

feel and kind of a cooler uh Bluer light

coming in um it could still be you know

sometimes can be warm and friendly but

depending on the what's going on you

might want it to be Bluer and

colder

then uh you might have something on the

jukebox that fits in with the

mood

and yeah it comes with the idea all

these different things in the right

mixture can get the mood to be true to

the idea

a script is organized

ideas so the say future director picks

up the

script opens the

script and starts

reading and when they're reading the

script they're

picturing things and hearing things

what you're picturing and what you're

hearing and what you're feeling when

you've read read that script it's just

like catching ideas for your from The

Ether and you

remember what you saw what you heard and

the

feelings and those are your ideas now to

follow and everything along the way of

making the film you try to

remember those feelings that came

through from the words and what you saw

and felt and the mood and the way people

talked and the way they were were what

they were wearing and and the the things

in the room all these things now are

your guide to making the film and stay

true to every part of that thing that

came in your mind because you fell in

love with it that's the thing you want

to

do you got the idea you're in love with

the idea all your ideas are together say

in a script now you go and you start um

putting all the elements together to

make that idea a reality in the material

world uh film is made up of many many

many

elements so you have to be true to every

single little tiny

element in order to have a chance that

the whole will be hold

together and even so if you're really

true to every element and not walk away

until they feel correct based on the

idea you can get a magical thing that

they say the whole is greater than the

sum of the parts a magic thing can

happen when these elements swim together

and boom it's it's it's the magic of

Cinema Anyone who reads the script this

same thing is happening

happing but now this this is the one

who's going to make the film so this one

is picturing this and hearing this and

this like this for him or

herself now the filmmaker's job is to

get all the people that are going to

help to help get this thing out of the

head onto the screen

and that's going to to involve talking

to different

departments and getting them to get the

right clothes the right light the right

this the right that so now this is was

alive in here and now it's going to be

alive on the

screen if it's new to you it's new

they say there's nothing new Under the

Sun if it's new to you and you love the

world um then you

go when is it okay to

borrow I guess it

depends

on uh borrowing or

stealing and um so in Wild at Heart

sailor and Lula it just started creeping

in that they just loved the wizard of

odds and would make references to it

because they loved it

and uh like so many other people but

it's kind of was strange that sailor

would like it but it makes sense to me

it was a little bit stealing I guess but

it made sense the characters and it in

my mind it it honors this great film The

Wizard of

Oz which is a film that's caused people

to dream now for

decades and there's something about The

Wizard of Oz that's

Cosmic and it talks to human beings in a

deep

way

sailor sailor

the good witch saor

Ripley Lula loves you but I'm a robber

and a

manslaughterer and I haven't had any

Parental Guidance she's forgiven you all

these

things you love

her don't be afraid

sailor but I'm Wild at Heart if you're

true truly wilded

heart you'll fight for your

dreams don't turn away from love

sailor don't turn away from

love that's

Cherie uh who's also Laura Palmer it's

perfect that she floats down I said are

you afraid of heights you know and she

said no cuz she didn't want to say the

truth she desperately afraid of heights

we had her strung up really high Fred

Elms did a great job lighting that he

had this um pool of water on

plexiglass and was dancing lights and it

was really really

beautiful and um sailor and and the good

witch did a beautiful job you know Barry

gford you know and the book ends not in

a happy way

and nobody wanted it to end in an

unhappy

way and that's when the good witch

really came in and uh saved the day

Barry was really really really great uh

to work with because he didn't care I

always

say Barry's books I love but they're

very minimal the chapters are short and

minimal and um it's a certain way he

writes his writing is just got these

seeds that Sprout and go off you know in

all different

directions and um so he said David you

do whatever you want and and there'll be

David Lynch's right Wild at Heart and

Barry gord's wild atart he was just

really generous in that way and uh

but his book you know I loved and

inspired you know what came

out when you're just starting out it's

very difficult unless you're from a

wealthy family it's very difficult

to have um the time and materials to

live the art life so uh you have to live

the art life

around uh whatever job you have to earn

money to eat and have a place to live

and work and it's tough but all the time

that you're

working uh to earn that money you can be

thinking and you can be um saving up

your

money and getting those materials and

that as much time as you can to uh

dedicate to your work your your work

which is the

artwork when I started

out all I wanted to be was a

painter and you don't need a lot of

money to be a

painter I raised money by delivering

prescriptions uh for Place herder's

drugstore in Alexandria

Virginia and my father made a deal with

me I wanted to get a studio he said he'd

pay for half if I earned the money and

paid for the other half so I delivered

prescriptions in the e at night in a red

and white Jeep and made enough money

just working a couple nights a week to

uh get a studio where I'd go after

school and work until

uh late at night

so I've had to um do things to earn

money but I've gotten what I call a

setup which a setup is a place to work

and materials to do the tools and

materials to do the

work so if you're interested in painting

you need a place to paint and you need

paints and you need to get all this

stuff together and the space and it's

then they call it a painting Studio

every single thing that we do we need a

place and a machines or you know uh

materials or equipment to you know make

it happen you asked about this little

Bungalow I had on

Rosewood

Avenue I was there during a

time when gasoline was 27 cents a

gallon I had a paper R I delivered the

Wall Street

Journal I picked up my papers at

11:30 and I made $200 a

month that was plenty of

money to um to

live and I had uh I built a shed onto

the side of the Bungalow for a little

tiny Work Workshop

I built some sheds in the

yard

and I had

um the ability to make things I still

didn't have enough money to paint the

way I wanted to paint AFI at the time I

went the center for advanced film

studies was

housed and the Greystone Mansion a 55

room mansion

in the best part of Beverly Hills

California at night no one was there and

I got to take over the Stables I had a

mini studio for 4 years I had all the

equipment I could ever dream of I had

rooms for storage of equipment I had

places outside to build sets I had a

setup like you cannot believe for 4

years and I even lived there I lived in

Beverly Hills California on about a

nickel a week it was beautiful and what

we called the food room where we ate

when I finished a pack of

matches I would do drawings on the

inside they're abstract but these are

all Italian Renaissance drawings

these have been found and

collected and now they're all framed

they're really beautiful little things

so these are my matchbook

drawings from the days of eraser

head my friend Bush no keiler who really

was an inspiration in the early days

said an artist needs at least four hours

of uninterrupted guaranteed un

interrupted time to get one good hour of

painting done and this is so true every

Interruption just is like a a knife stab

in the middle of you know thought and

and getting into it and you start again

you start again it's horrible these days

there's interruptions around every

corner almost every

second I've said that you have to be

somewhat

selfish but selfishness like beauty is

in the eye of the behold older

it's if you're with the right

people it's it cannot be seen so much as

selfishness it could be seen as that's

your work in life and you need the time

and the um materials you know to do it

but you have to protect that space and

that time or you won't get anything done

DAVID LYNCH: I
think we should all

have as much technical knowledge
as possible to make films.

The technical knowledge of a
camera, lenses , film stock,

lighting, sound,
editing machines.

But I think the main thing
is to learn by doing.

When you have hands on
and are doing things,

it brings you into the thing.

And you realize what this
does, what that does.

And it opens up possibilities
for the flow of ideas.

You're learning by doing, not
an intellectual understanding,

but an experiential thing.

That is so important,
as far as I'm concerned.

All the different
parts get into it.

And then in film
school, if you're lucky,

you'll be with other students.

And if they're the right ones,
you'll inspire one another

and light a bigger fire.

And you can meet people that
you'll stay with, you know,

and work with.

And it could be
really, really great,

this school learning
environment.

Maybe get a camera.

Save up, figure out
a way to get a camera

and learn how to use it.

Then get-- maybe
get some friends

and write a scene based on
ideas that you might have caught

and shoot that.

And then because
you did that and you

see what the camera did,
you see like, oh, I should

have been closer on that shot.

That-- that would have--

I-- I-- and then I should have--

and you start learning.

And then maybe you
re-shoot the thing,

or maybe new things have come
along and you learn by doing.

And then more ideas will come.

Because now-- once you start
seeing what this particular

camera gives you if you
have this particular light,

and you see this girl saying
this thing in a certain way,

you start getting a--

the medium starts
talking to you.

And it's like it
introduces itself to you.

You get to know it.

And then the more
you get to know it,

the more it helps you get ideas.

Oh, if I did this--
and that's an idea.

Oh, I could-- oh.

And then in they come.

And so you just stay
alert, do your work.

Don't worry about
the world going by.

It doesn't mean that you can
sit around and not do anything.

You've got to get your
butt in gear and do it.

And don't take no for an answer.

Translate those ideas to
cinema, or to a painting,

or to whatever.

And figure out a
way to get it done.

This is a sculptured screen
for "Six Men Getting Sick"

minus the film and the sound.

Two of the faces are
me and one is of Jack.

And they're cast in
resin, all put together

to be this screen upon
which the film fell.

[SIREN SOUNDING]

What you just saw started
everything for me in cinema.

That particular thing
started with an idea or a--

kind of a experience
that happened to me

when I was sitting at night.

I picture it being
around 9:30 or 10:00

at night in a cubicle in a large
studio room at the Pennsylvania

Academy of Fine Arts.

I'm in there painting a picture
about three or four foot

square, mostly
black, with these--

this green-- sort of a garden--

green coming out of the back.

I'm sitting back
looking at this thing.

And as I'm looking
at the painting,

the green began to move.

And from the green
and black came a wind.

And I thought, oh,
a moving painting.

And then I started thinking
about a moving painting.

And at the end of
every school year

there, they had a an
experimental painting

and sculpture contest.

And I thought, oh, I'm
going to build a moving

painting for that experimental
painting and sculpture contest.

I didn't know
anything about film.

Zero.

And I went down to this--

I thought 16 millimeter
cameras were all the same.

So I called around and I
got these varying prices,

some super expensive, some--

I ended up at this
place called Foto-Rama,

downtown Philadelphia, because
they are the cheapest 16

millimeter camera.

And I rented a little
windup Kodak camera

that took single frames and
had these little bitty cooked

lenses on it, a turret of three.

And I loved this little camera.

I mounted it on top of a
dresser in an old hotel room

that the Academy had
purchased this hotel.

And the rooms were all
empty, but in the hallways

there were beautiful brass beds,
and oriental carpets rolled up,

and all kinds of different
pieces of furniture.

But the rooms were
open for work.

And I built a sculpture
screen in there.

And then I think came in faces,
and the sound of a siren,

and them getting sick.

So it kind of started--

those ideas came.

And this siren was on a
loop of quarter inch tape.

And the film was
not from a negative.

It was a-- what do you call it?

Reversal.

It was-- what you
develop is what you show.

And-- so it was really trashed
by going through the projector

so much.

That whole thing cost $200.

And I said, this is
absolutely ridiculous,

and I can't do this anymore.

It was going to be the end.

But a wealthy former
student saw it

and commissioned me to build a
moving painting for his home.

And that led further
into the world of cinema.

And for me, I just started
getting green lights

in that world.

The beautiful thing
about making that was I

started to fall in
love with cinema.

I think you should go into
film history a little bit.

At the American Film Institute
Center for Advanced Film

Studies, Frank Danielle had
what he called a film analysis

class.

And I think this is
a great, great thing.

There were maybe 10 students
that would come to the class.

And we'd meet for a few
minutes in Frank's office.

And he would say, OK.

You're in charge of editing.

You're in charge of music.

You're in charge of sound.

You're in charge of,
you know, costumes.

You're in charge of this.

Give everybody something.

And then we go see a film.

And then we go back
into Frank's office.

And each person would talk
about a particular, you know,

element, like the editing,
or the sound, or the music.

And it helps to
realize that there

are these different sections.

And each one has so many
possibilities to, you know,

realize those ideas
in fantastic ways.

I love Billy Wilder for
his timing, characters,

and sense of place.

I can't go on with the scene.

I'm too happy.

You see, this is my life.

It always will be.

There's nothing else, just
us and those wonderful people

out there in the dark.

All right Mr. De Mille,
I'm ready for my close up.

Doesn't get much
better than that.

I love "Sunset Boulevard"
with all my being,

and I love his film,
"The Apartment."

And one thing I've noticed
about both those films

is that places, they
feel so good, so correct.

And it's just beautiful sense of
place, time, mood, characters,

timing, humor,
sadness, you know?

All this human condition just
flows in a Billy Wilder film.

He's a great,
great, great artist.

You know, "Sunset Boulevard" is
one of my all-time favorites.

It captures the golden age
of Hollywood, you know,

all the different things,
the stages, the backstreets,

the mansions, this thing
that Hollywood does.

It's just a magical,
beautiful, incredible film.

This "Chinatown," I say
is a great, great film

and will live on.

And one of the great
things about it

is, I say, you know, like
this thing, room to dream.

A film, even though it ends--

the thing I like about
some, you know, endings--

and "Chinatown" is
a perfect example--

the film ends, but there's
still room to dream.

And in "Chinatown," the thing
that makes it so much room

to dream is that last line.

"Forget it, Jake.

It's Chinatown."

Boom.

It just opens up this
mystery of this place.

And the film continues,
and continues,

even though it's over.

I love everything about Fellini.

One of the greatest
filmmakers ever.

My favorite film of Fellini's
is probably "8 1/2,"

but I love "La Strada."

I loved "I Vitelloni."

I've loved all of his
work that I've seen.

Every single thing has just got
Fellini's mark on every frame.

That's the thing.

You know it when you see it.

And his work is
unique and fantastic.

GEORGE BAILEY: Have
you see my wife?

Merry Christmas, Daddy.

Kids.

Pete.

Oh, oh.

Kids.

Janie, Janie, Tommy.

Oh, look at you.

Oh, I could eat you up.

Where's your mother?

She went looking for you.

With Uncle Billy.

Daddy.

Zuzu.

Zuzu, my little ginger snap.

How do you feel?

Fine.

Not a smidge of temperature.

Not a smidge of temperature.

[LAUGHTER]

Hallelujah.

Hello.

George!

Mary.

MARY: George, darling.

Where have you--

George, darling, where are you--

George.

George George.

Oh, George.

Let me touch you.

Are you real?

Oh.

George.

You have no idea
what's happened to me.

You have no idea
what happened.

Come on, George.

Come on.

Incredible.

Frank Capra was another
one all-time greats.

And this-- this film,
"It's a Wonderful Life,"

was made, I think,
in '46 after the war.

And Jimmy Stewart had been
in the war and for years.

And when he came out, he didn't
know if he had the stuff.

And this thing came along.

He does some things in
this film that are like--

[VOCALIZES]

There's one place in the film
where he says the word, Mary.

It's unbelievable what comes
out of his voice, his soul.

He is so great in that film.

Frank Capra is one of the
all-time greats for sure

Frank Capra had a thing for
this side of human beings

that was so beautiful.

MAN (ON PHONE): Mary, Mary?

I'm here.

MAN (ON PHONE): Would you
tell that guy I'm giving him

the chance of a lifetime?

Do you hear?

The chance of a lifetime.

He says it's the
chance of a lifetime.

Now you listen to me.

I don't want any plastics, and
I don't want any ground floors.

And I don't want to get
married ever to anyone.

You understand that?

I want to do what I want to do.

And you're-- and you're--

oh, Mary.

George, George, George.

Mary.

[CRYING]

DAVID LYNCH: I've
had experiences

where people come in and they
get the role for one thing,

but in talking to
them, I see that they

could do this other thing.

When you get to know
somebody a little bit,

you see other possibilities.

And then when
something comes up,

you know they could do that
too, which is quite a bit

different than the other thing.

Are they that character?

Can they be that character
from a deep place within?

And that's the one you want.

Because it's all common sense.

You say, I want to get the
right person for the part.

That makes sense, doesn't it?

So you can't just pick anybody.

You want the right person.

So you need to look
at pictures, explain

what you saw in your mind, the
look of the actor you want.

And then you explain the way
the actor is in some things.

And then people will help
you find pictures of actors.

And then I go by
their face and then

watching them talk
about anything.

And watching them and
listening to them,

I can tell if they will
make it through the film,

if they're the right one.

And sometimes someone
comes in for one part,

but I hear them talk, and
walk, and you know, look,

and they're right
for another thing.

So you-- you watch their
face, listen to them.

And you can tell if they-- if
that person is the one that

can make it through the film.

And you find that one that does
make it through all the scenes

that you're playing
in your mind,

then that's the right one.

You're watching them and
listening to them talk,

and you're seeing
their face, and you're

running them through.

Scene one, they have to play.

Oh, yeah.

He could do that scene.

Then he could do that-- oh,
he could do that scene too.

Yeah, he would be great
for that scene too.

And you're running
them through the film.

This is your guy.

Oh god, Sailor.

That's the night my
sweet Daddy died.

I know, sugar.

[DISTANT LAUGHTER]

Daddy?

[SHRIEKING]

[COUGHING]

Mom?

[COUGHING]

That's some big secret
you've been carrying, Sail.

We've all got a
secret side, baby.

Hope you don't think
I've been lying to you

about other things.

DAVID LYNCH: Laura Dern
is like family to me,

and she's a great actress
with all kinds of talent

to do many, many, many
different characters.

She understands the
human condition.

She's pretty much 100% fearless,
and she's a great soul.

When you get to know someone,
in the case of Laura Dern,

working with her on
"Blue Velvet" as Sandy,

Sandy gave a certain feeling.

But then getting
to know Laura Dern,

I see that Lula can
be there as well.

Lula is there in her.

And going even further in
"Twin Peaks: The Return,"

I see that Diane is in
her, which is really almost

like a grown-up Sandy.

So you get to know someone, you
see all these different things,

possibilities, and the
talent to realize them.

KYLE MACLACHLAN (AS
JEFFREY): All right,

the first thing I need is
to get into her apartment

and open a window that
I can crawl into later.

And how are you
going to do that?

Right out in the car I happen
to have some old overalls

and a bug-spraying rig.

I will go to her apartment.

I'll be the pest control man.

I will spray her apartment.

After a few minutes,
you knock on the door,

drawing her attention away
from me, at which time

I will then jimmy a window.

And what am I supposed to
say when she comes the door?

You will be a
Jehovah's Witness.

[LAUGHING]

I have some "Awake"
magazines for you.

I don't need very much
time, just a few seconds.

What do you think?

I don't know.

I mean, it sounds
like a good daydream,

but actually doing
it's too weird.

It's too dangerous.

Sandy, let's just
try the first part.

DAVID LYNCH: I feel
as if Kyle's family.

And we have a-- developed a kind
of a way, not a lot of talking,

based on looks,
and hand signals,

and just quiet moments
standing together,

then he knows what to do.

[LAUGHTER]

[WHIMPERING]

Are you trying to kill me?

Yes, Darya.

DAVID LYNCH: He
didn't surprise me.

He surprised a lot of
people, but I knew--

Kyle's a great actor.

He's a born actor.

And he's got all those
different things in him.

I always say, you
know, a great actor,

they've got a bad
person in them.

And for like, I say, Kyle
found his bad person.

And-- but it's a different
than Frank Booth, you know,

Dennis Hopper's bad person.

But it's his bad person,
just like Frank Booth

is Dennis' one.

And you find that thing.

You find Dougie Jones in Kyle,
and you find Cooper in Kyle.

So you know, it's just--

they're all in there.

And the only thing you
really do is just help them--

help them bring it
out to the fullest.

Sheryl Lee was cast first
from a still photo and then

an interview.

And she was only going
to play a dead girl.

I told her I wanted to
dip her in gray dye,

and she said that would be OK.

And that she'd be dead by the
shore, wrapped in plastic.

And then there is this picnic
scene that had to be shot.

And she's with Laura Flynn
Boyle, who's-- you know, was,

you know a bona
fide great actress.

And she just held her
own as natural as can be,

absolutely perfect, absolutely
perfect Laura Palmer alive.

And it just was a shame that
she was-- had to be dead.

And one thing led to
another, and she's lived on.

NARRATOR: I think sometimes,
actors are very sensitive.

And they're all wondering.

And, like detectives in
life, they wonder about life,

and they wonder about
the film they're in.

The actor has to
understand enough to make

it real from a deep
place, so you've

got to introduce the thing
that needs to get across

in this particular scene.

When you're looking
at a scene, you're

either in a rehearsal or
just getting going, you know.

And if it doesn't
feel correct, this

is where this thing
of intuition comes in.

It seems sort of
obvious, but how

do you know if it isn't correct?

And then, on top
of that, how do you

know what to say
to make it correct?

It's a tricky question.

Something has to be
judging and watching.

And there has to be some
kind of thing that tells you,

this isn't working.

It could be the way
they're standing.

It could be the loudness
or softness of the voice.

It could be the speed,
you know, like they're not

spending enough time
thinking about something.

There are billions of things.

And then, you sort
of analyze it.

And then, the solution comes,
and you go talk to them.

Sometimes, it just
comes out flawless.

They have understood the
thing from the get go.

Sometimes, the first
things are far away

from where it needs to be.

A lot of talking and
looking them in the eye

and seeing if there's
some understanding based

on these words you're saying.

The proof of the pudding
is in the tasting.

So the next rehearsal,
the next time you try it,

it will be closer if you've
said the right things.

And then, you know, I always say
the same thing over and over,

but at a certain point
after saying these things

and it goes into them, a
light bulb goes off in them.

And they say, I got it.

And then, there it is.

And they kind of then, from
then on, own that character.

If the person is
cast correctly, there

might be some talk up front.

There might be a half a
rehearsal or something.

And then, the first
take tells everything.

You have that first rehearsal.

It's either spot
on or very close,

or we've got a
lot of work to do.

It's one of those.

The idea is telling
them what to do.

The idea came along to define
this particular character,

the way this character is.

They've been cast because
they feel they're the best

one to realize that character.

Then, you talk to them
so that that character,

they catch the same
way you caught it.

And they say, ah, OK.

And the way you do that
is you have rehearsals.

The first rehearsal, I always
say, could be very far away.

And then, you go talk.

And you say, when you
say this and this,

it could mean this
and this and this.

That could be that, that, that.

No, no, no.

It's this, this,
this, this, this.

Oh, OK.

I got it.

And then, you have
another rehearsal.

Now, instead of being out
here, it's now come into here.

Still, these things.

Oh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

OK.

Another rehearsal.

It's almost there.

And then, the fine
tuning, this and this.

The light bulb goes off.

They've got it.

They've got it for this scene
and probably for other scenes,

maybe the whole thing.

They own it.

Now, they bring all their
talent down the correct road.

They've got that character.

And you've done your job.

We're all human beings, so
it would be wrong to say,

you fuckhead.

That's the stupidest thing
you interpreted there.

This is not the right way.

So you would be, you know,
kind and not embarrass them.

And you wouldn't want
to do that, anyway.

You want to go in and
explain something.

And in so doing, you use
words, and you use your eyes.

And you send something
from you to them.

And you use your hands.

And they get it.

A lot of times, it
doesn't work, maybe out

of nervousness or some
kind of fear or some kind

of just not letting
go and letting

that character take over
for different things

or not understanding.

So you make them feel
comfortable so they

can say goodbye to
their personality

and take on a new one.

You make them feel
that it's no problem

failing and trying this thing.

You know, no problem.

It's not embarrassing.

It's a sign of courage,
really, and great work

to try things to make it real.

And no problem if it
comes out embarrassing.

You know, fix it next time.

Whatever.

And then, you explain
certain things.

And eventually, they feel
more and more comfortable,

and they have more and
more understanding,

enough understanding to do it.

And there you go.

You've got it.

It's recorded.

Did you ride that thing all
the way out here to see me?

I did, Lyle.

NARRATOR: Great, great actors.

Great good luck.

Both Richard Farnsworth
and Harry Dean,

they're two of the most
natural actors on the planet.

Richard does this inhale.

It's got all this feeling in it.

It's just incredible--
just before the camera

lifts up and goes into the sky
and Angelo's music comes in.

It's so beautiful.

And Harry Dean has this thing--

I don't know if it was Chief
Sitting Bull-- some letter

that an Indian chief wrote to
the president of the United

States, I think.

And it would make anyone cry.

But Harry Dean, when he
would read this, you know,

he would start crying.

And I had that available.

And then, Richard--

I had them talking a little bit.

I think Richard said, I love
you, Lyle, something like this.

It wasn't part of the
script, but it opened up

a thing in Richard.

And that's where that little
gasp, that little catch, came.

And that was so beautiful.

These things, they come
along just at the right time.

And that's got to be
just great good fortune.

There's nothing
you can do to plan

that like that and at the
same time have it be so real.

[CAR DOORS SLAMMING]

[GLASS SHATTERING]

[SCREAMING]

MAN: Oh, god.

[POUNDING]

[SCREAMING]

MAN: Don't shoot.

Dont!

I can't take it!

Come on!

Tell him you won't tailgate.

Come on.

Do you know how many
fucking car lengths it

takes to stop a car
at 35 miles an hour?

10 fucking car lengths.

That's 106 fucking feet, mister.

If I hadn't stopped suddenly,
you would have hit me.

I want you to get a
fucking driver's manual.

I want you to study
that motherfucker.

And I want you to obey
the goddamn rules.

50 fucking thousand people were
killed in a highway last year.

NARRATOR: At first,
Robert Loggia

was doing the same
lines on the guy.

And I said, Robert, you
know, I can't hear you.

You're whispering.

He said, what?

I said, no, I can't hear you.

And so he went louder.

I say, Robert,
you're whispering.

I can't hear you.

And that went about five or
six times until this one.

They can get themselves there.

They just need to know that
that's what's necessary.

And it's in them.

It's in them.

It's in them.

And you just have
to bring it out.

There's definitely a connection
to violence and humor.

And it is a compulsion.

It's uncontrollable.

And it can reach, you
know, into the theater

of the absurd, this extreme
anger, beyond the beyond anger.

When someone is so driven
and into the stratosphere,

there's some chance
for humor there.

[UTENSILS SCRAPING]

[SIGH]

Well, Henry, what do you know?

I don't know much of anything.

It's the idea and the
way the idea wants to be.

And when you're there
on the day shooting,

you work it so that it
feels like the idea.

And so these awkward pauses
are holding on something.

Another thing I think is say
someone walks out of the room

and closes the door.

A lot of times, people cut with
the sound of the door click,

you know, and go
to the next scene.

But if you close the
door and keep filming,

you suddenly start
seeing the room.

Something starts
happening in the mind.

It's interesting.

[BEEPING]

[DOORS OPENING]

[DOORS CLOSING]

[MECHANICAL WHIRRING]

The idea that got Henry
was I'd grab Jack.

In the very beginning, I'd
grab him by the shoulders,

and I'd make him
show me his face.

And I'd say things to him
like thinking or, you know,

sadness or whatever.

And nothing was working.

Nothing.

And then, I said, OK,
you're a total blank.

Total blank.

And he did a total blank.

I said, that's Henry.

[EERIE MUSIC]

I feel that a set should
be like a happy family

almost like
Thanksgiving every day,

happily going down the road
together, getting along

and congratulating people all
the time of their good work.

And you know, getting
a really great feeling,

a safe feeling too,
for the actors,

so they can, like I say, let
go and go to a new character

with as little fear as possible
and really get in there deep.

People who run a set on fear,
or a business on fear, I say

are really stupid.

If you run your
business on fear,

you're going to
stress the people.

You're going to cause all kinds
of conflicts and jealousies

and backstabbing to get
ahead in the business.

When the father or mother
come home from work,

they're going to be coming
home tired and stressed.

And the little
kids can feel this.

And there can be arguments in
the home based on this stress

and anxieties and tension.

And the little kids
are just like wondering

what is this kind of world?

And when you have a base--

a fear-based thing,
people don't want

to go the extra mile if
necessary to help the company.

They want to say fuck you, man.

And they don't-- are
not happy campers.

And it doesn't serve the work.

Ideas don't flow.

Creativity doesn't flow so much.

Like I say, negativity cramps
that tube through which

these ideas flow.

It squeezes it down.

And you don't-- you're
not happy, you know,

to help the company.

You're almost hate.

A hate grows for the company.

And that is really bad, and it
doesn't serve anybody any good

at all.

So the happier the company, the
more creative it's going to be.

The more the people will happily
want to help if it's necessary

one day to stay late.

Are you kidding?

I wouldn't have
a problem at all.

The next day, you have a
special lunches for them.

And you know, it's beautiful.

You're all together on this
planet trying to live a life,

you know, a good life.

Why would you torture people?

It's crazy.

We're in this thing together.

We've got to start
enjoying this trip.

I arrive on a set wanting
to get today's work done

and have it be absolutely true,
every element to the idea.

So it's a precarious,
uneasy thing in the mornings

or the beginning
of the shoot time.

And a lot of times, things
are like molasses in January

in early starting of a day.

And sometimes, it
looks like maybe we

might not make our day.

So it's very important that
you get everything going

and get into it so
you can make the day.

And what's even better
is to make the day

and maybe even get some extra
things if they come along.

And I always say that in the
morning, or the beginning

of the shooting day, to me,
it's like there's this deepest

canyon.

And you're building
a glass bridge.

It's so delicate, it could
go wrong at any moment.

This glass bridge is
going to carry you across.

And you don't know if it's
going to hold together.

You're just trying to
get everything right.

And then at the end of the
day, the glass turns to steel.

And you've got everything.

And you feel good that you
got it true to the idea.

The day has come where
that you're on the set

or on the location.

They're all kind of like sets.

And they've been
dressed a certain way.

And the actors come in
wearing a certain things,

and now you're going
to have a rehearsal.

So I clear everybody away
and start rehearsing.

And before we start
rehearsing even,

you say, you're going to be
here, you're going to be here,

you're going to be here.

And then, OK, then
we start the thing.

And we have a rehearsal.

And we talk a little bit
about something if it's--

something's needs
to be talked about.

And then get it so it's pretty
much really ready to go.

Then bring in the crew
and show it to them.

So they know what to do, you
know, to get ready to shoot it.

And it mainly involves lighting.

So then, you know, some time
later, you know, it's lit.

Everybody has done their job.

And in the actors come.

And we start shooting.

And in the rehearsal, you
know, you're going around.

And you see where,
you know, you want

to be where the
camera wants to be.

If making the day puts so much
stress on you that you weren't

open to things, happy
accidents or seeing something,

it's never that bad.

It's just in the
beginning, you want

to get as good a
start as you can

so that you will finish the day
on time and get those things.

So I say it's important
at the beginning

to get the train rolling as
soon as possible, in a nice way,

but as soon as possible.

Because it could slip away.

And then if something
else comes along,

you know, there's many ways
to skin a cat, they say.

You'll get that thing.

That just will be added in.

And people will boogie
and make it happen.

It just is that way.

People who have
worked with me kind of

know wherever I'm sitting,
that's the main camera angle.

And I-- so it's
mostly common sense.

And a lot of times, it's
just like, you know,

a wide shot, medium
shot, close up.

There's some kind of
trick things sometimes.

But it's what happens
in those shots

and the size of those shots
and the mood in the light.

It doesn't need a lot
of trick camera things,

at least for what I
want to do mostly.

Getting the coverage
that is true to the idea,

if 47% happened
perfect in this take,

then you try to get the
53% in the next takes.

Maybe 27 of the next
53 happens in take two.

Then the rest, you got.

And that fact, the third was
good all the way through.

Then you, you know, you got
plenty of things to pick from.

Always a good feeling when
you've finished a scene.

And a lot of times, that
means you've finished the day.

Now, if you have
more time, which

would be really
nice to have, you

might get in and get
some different kind

of coverage of that scene.

Or you might shoot a clock
on the wall or a painting

on the wall or dust
bunnies under a chair

and-- or drift across
the floor if it plays

into the scene
some way and maybe

some extreme close-ups with
a, you know, certain looks.

And just give yourself some
more things to work with.

I came into filmmaking
through painting.

And painting, well,
nowadays, people

have assistance
even in painting.

It's crazy.

But in a painter, you
know, you do everything.

You don't have
somebody paint the blue

and then another
person paint the red.

You do everything.

It was common sense to me that
if you're going to build a set,

you want to-- you got to
build it yourself or be

involved with it yourself.

Then you make it the
way that you want it.

You become one with it.

And all these things
are now almost

like they were in your head.

And then once you're
in that, on Eraserhead,

I'd say I was in the set.

I could almost hear
distant factories.

And I would imagine it
raining and the little diners

and all these row factory
houses, row houses,

little narrow streets, stoops,
and factory people, you know,

and smoke, and fire, and
all this world around.

And all those
things outside, that

could all be said with sound.

And it's just a
beautiful thing to get

into it deeper by, you know,
getting your hands in there.

You're feeling and knowing
the world by being in it.

If you're not with the crew,
then that won't happen.

We're all in the trenches.

And that's where it happens.

I was on-- in Laura Palmer's
house at the top of the stairs

in between the parents' bedroom,
Leland and Sarah's room,

and Laura Palmer's room.

I was on my hands
and my knees working

on something on the rug.

And I don't know what it was.

And I was pointed toward
Sarah and Leland's room.

And behind me, the set
dresser, Frank Silva,

was arranging Laura Palmer's
room putting in the furniture

and arranging things.

And I heard a girl say,
Frank, don't lock yourself

in that room, because he had
just moved a dresser apparently

in front of the doorway in
his process of arranging.

But when I heard that, I
pictured Frank in the room,

and something happened.

And I went running in.

And I said, Frank,
are you an actor?

And he said, why,
yes, I am actually.

I said, OK, you're going
to be in this scene.

He said, what am I going to do?

I said, I don't know.

But you're going to be in here.

And so the next thing
up was a slow panning

across Laura Palmer's
room, just a slow pan.

I forget what for.

And we did two very
beautiful slow pans.

And then I said,
OK, now Frank, you

go down to the foot of the bed
and grab onto these railings

and look right at the camera.

Freeze and look
right at the camera.

So he got down there.

And then we panned down.

And we stop.

And there's Frank.

[SCREAMING]

I didn't have a clue
what that meant.

So then that evening, we were
downstairs in the living room.

And Sarah Palmer,
totally distraught,

she's lost her daughter.

She's laying down on the
couch totally distraught.

And she's tormented.

And in her mind's eye, she sees
something, which causes her

to bolt upright and scream.

And Sean, the camera
operator on the wheels, goes.

And I say, perfect.

We got it.

Sean said, no.

I said, what's wrong?

He said, there was someone
reflected in the mirror.

And I said, who was
reflected in the mirror?

He said Frank was
reflected in the mirror.

So something started growing.

And then there it was.

BOB was born then.

BOB was born then.

He was born.

Just like when someone's
born, there they are.

Like the thing exists
somewhere already,

and then we get it
little by little.

They come in, what's necessary.

It's many times tough
to get the day in.

There's a lot of things
that just take time to do.

And it's the reality.

So your time with the actors
in the scene, the part that

goes on the frames,
you really focus

on getting those things that
go on the frame to be correct.

And the rest is unimportant.

Just make sure you
get what you need

on those frames
captured on that card

and captured on the sound card.

That's what you need.

You never compromise
those things.

It would be pretty
crazy to say, oh,

I made it on time, on budget.

I compromised like crazy.

And this film sucks.

So you want to get the
gold no matter what.

Don't ever take no
for an answer on that.

When you want somebody to
understand the things that

have come with the ideas, you
do it by talking or like a show

and tell.

You want them to get on the
same road that you're on.

And that road is
based on the ideas.

So every department, you
need to get with them

and describe to
them with words what

it is that you're after to
make those ideas come true.

So if that's a
production design,

you talk about furniture.

And you talk about
rooms, windows, light.

You talk about what
things go in the place

and how it goes and the
feeling it is that-- the time.

Is it the 1940s, the
'50s, is it, you know,

completely outside of any
of that like science fiction

or some kind of strange place?

And you describe it to them.

And then they understand it.

And they might bring drawings.

And then you say, well,
that's just about right.

But this thing is not
quite right and this

and this and this.

And then they finally get
going down the same road.

Same way with every department.

Same way with every actor.

You just keep going till we're
all going down the same road.

It's not because I want them
to be, you know, I want it.

It's because the ideas
want to be that way.

When you get an
idea, you see it.

So you know what it looks like.

And so if you could
start building and keep

checking the idea,
theoretically you

could build exactly
what's in your head what

the idea looks like.

In this world, you
can build some sets.

But you could also
find locations.

And locations could be very
close to what's in your head

and fill the bill, but not
only that, sometimes, locations

will give you more
gifts, more ideas,

because, oh, look at that,
and oh, that could work then.

And ideas flow from those.

It's really strange.

A set would just
be exactly what's

in their mind based on the idea.

But locations can sometimes
be even more than that.

These are oil tanks that once
existed underneath the Beverly

Center.

And this set of oil tanks
had a donut of earth

that went around it.

So you couldn't really
see it from the street.

The donut of earth was there
in case one of the tanks burst,

this wall of earth around
would hold the oil from going,

you know, too far away.

And so you go up and
down into this world.

It's absolutely magical.

This here is high art.

This is one of the most
beautiful places on earth,

and it's now gone.

I don't know how I found it.

But it was a lucky day.

I do drawings.

But they're very
poor little drawings.

I do drawings to show
where the furniture is

and where the people
will be moving.

But while I'm
doing the drawings,

I'm also talking to them
about different things.

So they could look
at the drawing.

And not much is there.

But if they remember the words,
then they can go and, you know,

do the thing.

Well, I'll show you
a pathetic thing.

OK, so here's the couch.

And here's the-- and then
she'd be sitting right here.

And then she's going to get
up and go to the window.

You've got to have
that window here.

And then she's going to
pull the curtain back.

You've got to have
curtains there.

And this is like an old,
old, you know, rundown place.

So it's going to have mopboard.

It's going to be, you know,
like so, a standing lamp here.

And then, you know,
it's going to look out.

And then Pete will come in here.

And so behind Pete, we
got this side, this door.

It's an oval top thing.

And this is old
wallpaper along in here.

You come in.

And she turns.

And she sees that
he's got a gun.

And so he's here like this
and points his gun at her.

She didn't see him come in.

If you can remember the words,
if you'd looked at it later,

you'd say what the hell?

On Dune, Tony Masters was
the production designer,

great, great, great, great
British production designer.

I went for a boat ride one
night in Venice, Italy.

And these strange mansions were
coming out of the black water.

And it just was
like another world.

And some of this, not all of
it, but some Italian design,

I started talking to
Tony about these things.

And that was the angle on a lot
of the sets that he designed

and some of the costumes
and some of the props.

When it's not of this
world, it could be anything.

But it needs to be something.

So you get an idea of
what that something is.

And then you build that.

In this case, it was a fleshy
grasshopper that was the idea.

You look at a grasshopper
and make it flesh.

And then you get pretty close.

Carlo Rambaldi build it.

He built ET.

And the thing, a lot of
artists, they build themselves.

To me, the Guild navigator
and ET, both of them

look like Carlo Rambaldi.

We have just
folded space from Ix.

Jack Fisk is my best friend.

I met Jack when we were
in the ninth grade.

First thing I ever
told Jack was a lie.

He said what grade are you in?

I said I'm in the 10th grade.

[LAUGHTER] We became great
friends because out of--

I don't know how many--

4,000 people in our high school,
we were, you know, two of a few

that wanted to become painters.

And so we had four
different studios

that we worked in
during high school

and then ended up
together in Philadelphia

going to the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts.

And one of my four wives
was Jack's sister Mary.

So Jack is family
and my best friend.

And we share this, you know,
living the art life thing,

which is super important.

We worked together
on Mulholland Drive.

And Jack became a great
production designer.

And so he was production
designer on Mulholland Drive

and on The Straight Story.

And his wife Sissy was
in The Straight Story.

There is very little
room to move in a way

unless they get an-- give
you an idea that you say,

oh, that would be incredible.

And, you know, that can happen.

Or they fulfill the idea
so beautifully, you just

can't imagine it
being any better.

That was the case
with Jack for sure.

And so-- but it would
be wrong to say, Jack,

you do whatever you want.

And this department,
you guys, bring

me any kind of props you want.

And you guys, bring
me those clothes.

Anything goes with me.

This thing's not going
to hold together.

It's not a compromise.

And it's not exactly a
mutual collaboration.

And it's not an ego
trip for the director.

It's to stay true to the ideas.

Why wouldn't you want
that to be the thing?

Why would you want a whole
bunch of unrelated things to?

And the thing isn't
going to hold together.

When you're location
scouting, absolutely you're

looking for locations
that fit the idea that you

saw in your mind.

And before you go out looking,
you see many photographs.

So the photographs
that hold promise,

then you have to go
see the actual location

and see if it fits the idea.

I can tell you know,
pretty quick, you know,

if it's going to work or not.

If the idea says
it's this way, you

try to find the thing
that fits the idea.

And you know, you see a
thing like in the case

of Pete Dayton's
house in Lost Highway,

their driveway was on the left.

The door was there.

The living room, you enter into.

On the right is a hallway that
goes down to the bedrooms.

And the kitchen is over here.

Because the idea
when you see it,

movements are all
there in the idea.

And so you're trying to get
the location so it, you know,

it flow like it
does in the idea.

Cori is the script supervisor.

Studying her face, her face
is very, very beautiful.

So we get to this location.

And I guess, maybe I saw
that balcony up there.

I don't know what triggered it.

But I said, Cori,
come over here.

And I just started
looking at her face.

And she said, what is it?

I said, I want
you to be in this.

And she said, no, no,
I don't want to do it.

And I said, Cori, you know.

And then I got the
costume designer

and tried to talk about this
dress and all this stuff.

Pretty soon, Cori came out.

And she was just beautiful.

And there she was as the
last line in the film.

No, it's just the
idea popped in.

How can you take credit
for these things?

It just happens.

Silencio.

Patty Norris was
production designer.

And she came to me and
she said, David, they

want to tear this
cabin set down.

I'm coming to you to make
sure you're finished with it

and would take it down.

And I said, well, let
me think about that.

Don't take it down.

And but she started
this thing going.

And I went over to
Gary D'Amico's trailer.

And Gary is special effects.

And I say, Gary, could
you blow up that cabin?

So Gary went to work.

I told Patty, we're
going to blow it up.

And so not only are we
going to blow it up,

but we're going to
shoot it in reverse.

And what was even
more beautiful,

since Gary didn't have the
things he would have used,

he came up with these balloons
of gasoline and other things

that he had.

And it was a soft explosion.

It was soft and different
than it would have been.

The wind and dust and the soft
explosion, it was so beautiful.

I think we had
three cameras on it.

And it was just a
magical, magical thing.

And it came out of, do you
want it torn down or not?

It's like along the
way, ideas can come.

And you say, oh,
that is so necessary.

It changed the thing.

You know, when you
have that thing going,

it's a magical place.

It feeds into the
mystery of everything.

And it gives a feeling.

It gives a feeling
and gives a thinking.

And it's just-- was just
incredible thing that

came along.

James.

They're looking for you.

I'm gonna talk to them.

There's many stories connected
to that particular scene

right there.

It was so cold, I went to
this outdoor sporting store

and got clothes.

And the guy said,
these clothes, you

could be warm at the North Pole.

I was freezing in those
same clothes that night.

It worked-- the cold
worked into the bones.

We were shooting this scene.

And it came time to
move in to the closeups.

And we got in there.

Both James and Donna were
shaking, they were so cold.

And snot was coming
under their nose.

Their noses were bright red.

And it would have been a joke
to try to make this thing there

at night with that weather.

So we pulled the
plug and went home.

The next day, we woke up.

There was two feet of
snow on the ground.

So all the things were supposed
to do that day were out of,

you know, we couldn't do them.

And then I think it was probably
Patty had the idea, come

to my workplace.

And on the second floor up the
ramp is this concrete area.

We open up all the windows.

Bring in some trees.

And we can shoot those
close-ups right there.

It'll be cold enough
to see their breath.

And it will be beautiful.

And that's exactly what we did,
indoors, daytime, against two

cut down trees.

I've used these
shots from time

to time where people come out
of darkness, and I love that.

I love seeing just black,
miles and miles of black.

And then from it
comes something,

and it keeps coming
forward and reveals itself.

It's very beautiful.

So people coming out of
darkness visually is beautiful,

but the idea of
coming out of darkness

is really what life is about.

So it's something
to think about.

I have this thing
about darkness.

You know, if there's part of
the frame that's really dark,

again, it's like room to dream.

You don't know
what is back there.

If you see everything,
it's more safe.

It is the unknown, this
darkness, things coming out

of the darkness.

Herb Cardwell
started the lighting.

This world of "Eraserhead" had
to have a certain feel, sort

of back in time, other
world, and Herb lit mostly

with these little inkies,
many little, little lights,

little pools of
light, so beautiful.

Took forever, but
it was so worth it.

In the lovemaking scene, we
first lit it with the inkies,

and then the mood
was totally wrong.

So we reshot that
with soft light,

but still really
dark, but soft light

where they just sort of
glowed in the darkness.

It was so beautiful.

It was magical.

And black and white they say is
much harder to light than color

because you have
to separate things.

Colors separate
automatically, but you

get a pair of black pants
against a black dresser

like we saw many
times in "Eraserhead",

you've got to rim
light those pants

or they just blend
right-- it looks

like doesn't have any legs.

It's tricky business.

Every move is plotted out.

All the lights are set.

And with Jack Nance playing
Henry, it was, like,

choreographed, you
know, down to the n-th--

Jack loved doing
this, you know, just

to know every
single little move.

And it was so good.

Herb could just, you
know, dial in the lights

to catch this and let
this go into darkness

and come out and get this.

It was very beautiful,
very, very beautiful.

Freddie Francis shot
"Sons & Lovers."

Freddie knew black and white.

And Freddie also is British
and knew those times

with gas lights and
early electricity,

these kind of hospitals and the
mood of them, the whole thing,

Victorian England.

So this was the beginning of
the Industrial Revolution.

And smoke, smokestacks,
machines, all these things

were coming into
being, and so they

had to be in the world
of the "Elephant Man."

Philadelphia is my
greatest influence,

and all the architecture
I fell in love with.

I fell in love the
smokestack industry.

Smoke and fire, all the noise,
the machinery, the steel,

the houses they lived
in, the imagined life,

it just was thrilling to me.

That all came out
of Philadelphia.

The only problem
I ever had-- you

know, a lot of times
Freddie didn't want to make

it as dark as I wanted it.

And he would always
say Lynch wants

it so dark you can't see
it, but that's not true.

There's a mood.

And also, London, you know
in those days, you know,

they say the fog and smog,
you know, was so thick.

You know, you want that
kind of feel everywhere,

and a lot of times
really, really dark

and a mood, especially at night.

Freddie was
absolutely fantastic,

became a great,
great friend of mine.

And after the "Elephant Man",
he shot "Dune," and after "Dune"

he shot "Straight Story."

The play on the stage was
shot many different angles.

So all the pieces were
there, but, you know,

the play, if it had just shot
straight, was, you know--

even though it was a nice
play, it was quite boring.

And this is seen through
the eyes of, you know,

John Merrick, and
it's magical to him.

So it had to feel much more
magical than just a live thing.

It would be so easy to do that
today in digital, so easy.

But then it was so
difficult. All these things

have to go in an optical
printer and get, you know,

all the little
dissolves and fades

and all these different things.

Putting it all together
had to be planned out

to the frame and sort of really
kind of guessed and talked out.

And it was getting near
the end of the mix.

That thing still wasn't
cut into the film.

It took weeks.

And if something
goes wrong, you would

have to start all over again.

It was a thing that was
built and took a long time

on the optical printer.

In "Eraserhead," I would
do these little storyboards

and kind of work
things out for myself

and show them to Herb or Fred,
but mainly I just drawing them.

And I would change
them sometimes too.

But I always say, you
know, like, again,

common sense for special
effects shots or things

involving lots of things
that need to come together,

everybody needs to
know, those things

are talked about and
drawn out and organized

so that lots of different
people know exactly what needs

to be done and when and how.

I had printed up like
these little 1.85 squares.

They're all up
and down the page.

And then I would, say,
have the dresser here,

and then I would have
Henry, his suit here.

And I'd have the box on the
wall here and a plant here.

And maybe he would be
reaching out to get something.

So it would be like that.

Yeah, they were a little
bit bigger than that,

and I was using a pen
rather than a marker,

so they were a little
bit better detail.

But then Henry-- the thing
about the widescreen,

pretty widescreen, is
Henry's hair is tall.

So I would, you know,
have to, you know--

his hair probably
would go out of frame.

And I'd go along, you
know, do the sequence.

[MUSIC - JULEE CRUISE,
"MYSTERIES OF LOVE"]

Yes?

Yeah.

(SINGING) Sometimes a
wind blows and you and I--

Music, as everybody
knows, is magical.

And what you try to do in a
film is get the correct music.

Music, to my mind, has to
marry with the picture.

It has to form a union.

And it can't just be
any piece of music.

It has to be the
correct piece of music.

There might be, out
of 10 trillion pieces,

10 that will work.

But when you pick the one, you
pick it because it marries.

And then the way
the music enters--

I love you, Jeffrey.

--and how it rises and falls--

I love you, too.

--and how it goes
out is also critical.

So it feels correct
as it's moving.

And a hope is, when all
these elements get together,

that the thing can jump and
be that thing-- the whole is

greater than the
sum of the parts.

This-- oh, it's a long story,
this-- this-- this thing.

It's a story of me meeting
Angelo Badalamenti.

I wanted the "Song to the
Siren" by This Mortal Coil

to be in "Blue Velvet."

And Fred Caruso, bless
his heart, looked into it.

And they wanted a
whole lot of money.

And Fred said,
David, you're always

writing these little things on
pieces of paper, these things.

Why don't you write something
and send it to Angelo?

And he'll write a song for this.

I said, Fred, there are 25
trillion songs in the world.

I want "Song to the Siren"
by This Mortal Coil.

What makes you think I can
write these little things

on a piece of paper,
send them to Angelo,

he's going to do
something to top that?

There's no other
song that I want.

So one thing led to another.

And eventually, I sent
these little shrivels up

to Angelo, these lyrics.

Angelo laughed at them.

He said, they don't rhyme.

They're not like
traditional lyrics.

He tried one thing
that didn't work.

And he said, well, what's wrong?

I said, it's gotta
sound-- sound angelic.

It's gotta float.

It's gotta, you know, have
this angelic floating.

So he got Julie Cruz.

And Julee Cruise and
Angelo worked on it.

And then it had this
very, very beautiful feel.

I still loved, and
always will love,

This Mortal Coil's version
of "Song of the Siren."

But I got to use it in "Lost
Highway", you know, after this.

So-- but "Mysteries of Love"
does have a good feel for this.

And it's turned out to be,
in my book, a good song.

When we started
working together,

I would sit next to
Angelo on the piano bench.

It was a Rhodes piano.

I would talk to
Angelo with words.

And Angelo would play my words.

And if I didn't like
what he was playing,

I would change my words.

And then, little by
little, my words changing

caused Angelo to play
something that was just right.

And once Angelo caught
that thing that I liked,

he would take off.

And it was a magical--

a magical thing
that was going on.

Once he caught a thing, this
great talent of Angelo that

pulls your heart strings, this
most beautiful stuff comes out.

And many times I'd start
crying, it was so beautiful.

It was incredible.

I work that way with Angelo
still to this day, talking,

and him playing.

Alan Splet was legally blind.

He wore contacts.

But if he did have
glasses on, they

were the classic
Coke bottle glasses.

And so he couldn't get
a driver's license.

So I always thought that
this sense of hearing

went way up in Al to compensate
for his, you know, blindness.

And also, Al loved, um, high
quality sounds, clean, full

sounds.

So miking things and getting--
and he'd love to experiment.

So he loved to you know collect
sounds and, at least with me,

make sounds.

But he just had a great
ear and authentic--

authentic, natural
things recorded

in the most perfect way.

And technical, you
know, genius, too.

He was really a perfectionist.

That's what Al-- he knew
that that's what I wanted.

And so Al, when he
worked with anybody,

he would try to find the
sounds, the best quality

sounds, or best--

you know, create
the best quality,

particular sound for that film.

I can tell you an
example of a sound Al

and I built for "Eraserhead."

We filled the bathtub with water
and floated a Sparkletts water

bottle just barely, barely
touching the water bottle,

and a microphone down inside--

you know, halfway down inside
the Sparkletts water bottle,

and just gently moved
it around the tub.

And it had this
fantastic ethereal--

it was a unique sound.

It had a ethereal quality that
sort of danced and it moved.

And it's in "Eraserhead" in the
scene with the beautiful girl

across the hall and Henry in
the bed-- you know, love scene.

[BABY CRYING]

When is it appropriate
to break the rules?

Honestly, except for
traffic, I believe Mr. Eddie.

And I believe in Mr. Eddie.

Do you know how many
fucking car lengths it

takes to stop a car
at 35 miles an hour?

That tailgating is really
bad and that people should stop

for stop signs and red lights.

But in cinema, I
don't like rules.

We shot downtown LA.

I don't know that I even
knew that you needed permits.

So we just went down there
in a innocent way shooting

and found some fantastic
beautiful places.

And this was in the early '70s.

And there was no graffiti.

Would I advise people to
go out and steal the shots

without a permit?

You know, I know that Werner
Herzog would want to do that.

I would want to do that.

But I think we live in a
world now where it's better

to go and get those permits.

And a lot of times, they'll work
with you if you're low budget

and, you know, a student
film or whatever but.

And also it's very important
to go, when you go out,

in a safe way so
no one gets hurt.

It's better to be safe all
the way around, I think.

That was part of
this Lumiere project

where they asked 40
different directors

to make a film using the
original Lumiere brothers

camera, which is made of
wood, beautiful wood, brass,

and glass.

And the deal was
you had three takes.

And each take was
about 55 seconds

in a beautiful, little, wooden
magazine hand-cranked camera.

And you got three takes.

You had to use natural light.

You could not edit.

But you could put
in sound or music.

And so it's one continuous take.

The camera was the same.

The lenses were the same.

The motion was the same.

And those were the rules.

I was in my wood shop.

And I got this idea of different
sets and to move from one place

to another.

And then Gary D'Amico
and Phil built this box.

You just pulled
this little string.

And the doors just slammed shut.

And it's absolutely black.

And then we'd go to another set.

And they'd fly open.

And then they'd,
you know, slam shut.

Then we move to
another place or this--

we'd open up on smoke
and go to four--

The mother in the
beginning on the couch,

they find the little
boy, the police.

Then it goes to the
mother on the couch.

Then it goes to the women
and the deer and, you know,

in this place.

And then they had to move
the couch and the mother

out around into another
part of the set.

We built these sets out
of Gary D'Amico house.

It was so much fun.

Restrictions, sometimes, can
conjure really great ideas

that provide solutions.

It's really true, necessity
is the mother of invention.

These things flow out
sometimes with restrictions.

And if you have tons
of money, you just

don't think about those things.

You just know, you know, what
the normal way to do it is,

and you do that.

But if you have
restrictions, you

could come up with
ideas to make it work.

And it could even
be more interesting,

you know, than the
solution with the money.

When you make a decision, you
think it's a correct decision.

And sometimes, it's slow
motion realizing that it isn't.

Sometimes, it's fast.

But you think it's
the correct thing.

All along the way, every single
day, every single moment,

we're making decisions.

And you just do
the best you can.

If things turn out to be a
failure like what happened

to me on '"Dune," I say
that's a blessing in a way.

There's nowhere to
go down further.

You can only go up.

So there's a sense of freedom
that comes out of a failure.

If you have a
success, there's kind

of like a extended drum roll.

This best-- next thing
better be as good as that.

It better be good.

Or you're going
to take the fall.

So you could start
second guessing yourself.

And so there's
danger in a success.

I just keep going back
to "Dune" as being

a major failure for my self.

And making "Blue Velvet"
came out of that.

So it was euphoria--

nowhere to go but up and a
sense of freedom and euphoria

making "Blue Velvet."

You don't have to suffer
to show suffering.

You don't have to be
filled with turmoil

to show turmoil,
have it in the story.

I don't know what goes on
in artists heads, you know.

But I think all the great
artists loved, you know,

working.

And a lot of people say,
well, you know, suffering

is good for art.

Look at van Gogh, they say.

And I say, let's take
a look at van Gogh.

Van Gogh didn't go out painting
because he hated it or he was--

the only time he
was happy probably

was when he was painting.

He painted because
he loved to paint.

And the rest of his life
was pretty miserable.

He didn't sell anything.

He was broke.

A lot of times, he
probably really hungry.

But it's just common sense.

Suffering reduces
and it's the enemy.

Negativity is the
enemy of creativity.

It's common sense.

If someone is
depressed, they say

they don't even feel
like getting out

of bed, let alone working.

If you're sad or if you're
filled with bitter anger,

that occupies the mind.

Maybe you do angry paintings.

So what?

You could do angry paintings
but be happy in the doing.

This romantic idea-- it's
a French idea, I say--

this guy is starving
in the garret.

It's so romantic.

He's cold.

He's starving.

And it's romantic.

It's romantic really
for everyone but him.

If he was honest,
he'd say, I don't want

to be cold and freezing here.

I don't want to live this
charade that, you know,

this is cool.

I don't want to be starving.

I want to feel good and paint.

If they're really honest,
it would be a lot better

to do the work and not
suffer and especially

if they knew that more ideas
would flow and the work could,

you know, blossom, you
know, who knows where.

The feature film is the thing
that's in trouble right now.

Except for the so-called
summer blockbusters,

people don't go to the theater.

They watch cable television
is the new art house

and where you're
going to see something

that is not in the summer
blockbuster category.

And there will be directors
that will come out

of that, filmmakers that
will come out of that.

It will shine.

And it's just going to happen
in that world for a while.

Those things, 2000 people in
a big giant beautiful Palace

Theater with a giant
screen and great sound

all watching the same film,
that thing, I don't see.

The old way, filling up
theaters night after night,

I think is gone.

We're losing quite a lot.

Because the thing
I've found out is

when you have a theater
filled with people,

the film runs slower.

And in a feature film,
there's no commercial breaks.

There's no breaks at all.

And you have to pull the
audience for 2 plus or three

hours and hold them.

And with that many
people, it seems

to be a kind of an intelligence
that rises up in the group.

They can think ahead of you.

And they can drop out.

And they can-- you have
to be able to hold them.

And that's a tricky business.

With cable television, it's
just one or two or three or four

people in the room,
it's a different thing.

They're more forgiving,
one or two people.

One person is
incredibly forgiving.

They'll-- they won't be
like 2000 people in a room.

And it's-- they'll
forgive many things.

And it's just the way it is.

In television, I say it gives
an opportunity for a continuing

story.

And this to me is beautiful--

a story that goes, and
it gets a world going

and characters going.

And it can go and go and go.

And it can, you
know, branch out.

And you can go here and there.

And great things can happen
as you go deeper into it.

If you build a film
for the audience,

because it takes a year
or more to make a film,

the audience is going
to be a year different

when the thing is done.

And you could, you know,
have missed that time.

If you stay true to
the idea and make

it as good as you
can, and you love it,

maybe others will love it too.

But you don't know.

If you think about the
audience and build it for them,

it might-- you've got
just as good a chance,

they might hate it, you know.

But you didn't build
it for yourself.

And it's like, to me,
the wrong way to go.

Build it and make it
true to the ideas.

And you are the final
say and have control.

And then when you release
it, you've lost your control.

You just take what you get.

It can be a great,
big, beautiful world.

We're all, like I said,
different on the surface.

So find your own way.

Find your own voice.

And, you know, compromise
is not an option.

Well, thank you all very much
for listening and watching.

I hope this MasterClass
has been beneficial to you.

And I want to wish all of you
all the very best of luck.

Take care.

I'm going to do a drawing.

And this drawing is what I call
my "poor man's unified field

chart" to describe what
happens, and how Transcendental

Meditation works.

So I'm going to draw
this one line here.

This line represents
the surface of life--

surface.

We see surfaces, metal and wood.

This side of this
line, we call "matter."

And this side, we'll call
"mind," mind and matter.

They say about 300
or 400 years ago,

these people called
"scientists,"

they wanted to know
what this "matter" was.

What is metal?

What is stone?

What is water?

What is flesh?

What is it really?

So they started
looking into matter.

And they found cells.

And they went a
little bit deeper,

and they found molecules.

Imagined what it was like
for them to find a molecule.

Then they went deeper,
and they found atoms.

For a long time,
they thought the atom

was the smallest particle.

They went deeper and
deeper until they

found what they call the
"elementary particles,"

the smallest particles
in manifestation,

all these subatomic particles
in here-- bosons, hadrons,

whatever all, the quarks.

They found four forces that
act upon these particles, four

forces.

And on a deeper level, they
found that these four forces

became three.

These two, electromagnetism
and the weak force, united.

And on a deeper level, they
found the three became two.

Gravity and the unity
of these things,

rather, grand unification.

In the 1970s, modern
science, quantum physics,

discovered the unified field,
the unity of all the particles

and all the forces
in manifestation.

Unified field, oneness.

And this field is unmanifest--

unmanifest.

There is no manifestation
in this field.

It is a field of no things.

Yet even our scientists say
that everything that is a thing

has emerged from this
field in a process

they say is spontaneous
sequential symmetry-breaking,

implying that this field
is perfect symmetry.

Ancient Vedic science
has always and forever

known about this field.

And they say it is a field
of pure consciousness, self

referral pure consciousness.

Transcendental Meditation
is a mental technique,

an ancient form of meditation
brought back for this time

by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

He didn't make it up.

It's an ancient technique.

And it involves a mantra.

And the mantra is a very
specific sound, vibration,

thought.

And this mantra you're given
in Transcendental Meditation

is like a law of nature
designed for a specific purpose.

And that purpose is to turn the
awareness from out, out, out,

180 degrees to within,
within, within.

Once you're pointed within,
you will naturally and easily

dive through subtler
levels of mind,

and then deeper and subtler
levels of intellect.

And they correspond
to levels of matter.

And at the border of
intellect, you will transcend.

"Transcend" is the keyword.

This represents the whole
field of relativity.

You'll go beyond the
field of relativity,

and experience
non-relative absolute.

This field is eternal.

It is unbounded.

It is infinite.

It is immutable,
and it is immortal.

It's for always and
forever been there.

It never had a beginning.

It's there now, and it
will be there forever.

Everything in the
field of relativity

has a lifespan, some super
short, some not so long,

some long, some extremely long.

But everything within the field
of relativity has a lifespan.

When you transcend and
experience this field,

because this pure
consciousness has qualities--

all positive qualities--

you will experience
unbounded intelligence,

unbounded creativity, unbounded
happiness, unbounded love,

unbounded energy,
unbounded peace.

Unbounded intelligence,
creativity, happiness, love,

energy, and peace
are waiting for us

in the big treasury within
each one of us human beings.

All we need is a
technique to get us there.

In the world out there, there's
many, many forms of meditation.

And all these now have been
tested on the EEG machine

in different forms
of brain research.

And Transcendental
Meditation is the only one

that brings transcending.

You want to
experience this field.

Every time you transcend,
you infuse some of this.

And if you had a ball of
consciousness this big,

you infused some of this,
that ball of consciousness

is going to expand.

In the '70s or '80s, there
were other things called

"consciousness raising groups."

They weren't raising
consciousness.

They were raising information.

This is a way to get
more consciousness.

Every human being has
consciousness, but not

every human being
has the same amount.

The potential for each one
of us glorious human beings

is infinite consciousness,
enlightenment.

It just needs unfolding.

You unfold it by transcending.

You go where it is,
and bring it out.

It makes perfect sense.

And in expanding
this consciousness,

you're making the
subconscious conscious.

In enlightenment,
there is no sub.

It's all consciousness.

And you're dealing
with a full deck.

Right now, everybody enjoys
waking, sleeping, and dreaming.

But there's four states of
consciousness above that,

culminating in what they call
"unity consciousness," which

is supreme enlightenment.

It just needs unfolding.

And this is the way to do it.

This is an area of
all-knowingness.

This is where you know
all that intuition comes

more and more and more,
the more you transcend.

In Transcendental Meditation,
you practice this technique

20 minutes in the morning,
20 minutes in the afternoon.

And then the rest of the time,
you go about your business,

and watch things get better,
and better, and better.

The side effect--
there is a side effect

to expanding consciousness.

And the side effect
is negativity begins

to recede, evaporate, go away.

They say negativity
is just like darkness.

And you say, what is darkness?

And you look at it,
and it's nothing.

It's just the
absence of something.

You can't go down to the
store and buy a dark bulb,

turn it on, and
the room gets dark.

Darkness is the
absence of light.

You wrap up this all-positive,
and automatically, negativity

will go, just like
darkness goes in sunlight

or with an incandescent light,
automatically, without trying.

Things like stress-- this
world is stressed like crazy

these days.

Post-traumatic stress--
so traumatic stress,

it saves the vets suffering
from traumatic stress.

Anxieties, tension, depression,
sorrow, hate, bitter, selfish,

anger, and fear all
start to lift away.

I call it the
"suffocating rubber clown

suit of negativity"
starts to dissolve.

And this rubber clown
suit is so heavy for us.

It kills creativity.

It kills joy of work.

It kills energy.

It makes you sick.

Stress-related illnesses--
stress can kill us.

This stuff starts disappearing,
it dissolves the rubber clown

suit.

No one wants to be
a clown suffering.

Here is a thing
that gets rid of it.

Here is a thing that
brings more intelligence,

see more awareness,
more understanding.

It brings more creativity.

Ideas start flowing more.

It brings happiness
in the doing.

It brings peace,
inner contentment,

and a joy of living.

And it serves the work--

money in the bank, common sense.

This is the way to get
more intuition, more

happiness in your work,
flow of ideas more and more,

a way to solve the problems.

The answers will come the
more consciousness you have.

And that heavy weight
of negativity going away

is such a blessing.

So as part of film
school, you should learn

Transcendental Meditation.

Transcendental Meditation
is a unique form.

If you practice a concentration
form of meditation,

because the mind is
engaged in concentration,

it will keep you near the
surface, near the surface.

Maybe there's some benefit,
but you're not transcending.

Contemplation form
of meditation,

like watching your breathing,
or smelling the roses--

that's a nice thing.

But you're not
going to transcend.

So you want a
thing that gets you

to the treasury,
to this real thing,

and infuse that,
and grow in that.

And you'll never,
ever, ever be sorry.

To start Transcendental
Meditation,

it takes four days, about
an hour and a half each day.

And then you have the technique
for your rest of your life.

You understand how it works.

You know you're
meditating correctly.

Your questions
have been answered.

And you have it.

You need a legitimate teacher
of Transcendental Meditation

as taught by
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

There's other people out
in the world say, oh, I'll

teach you that.

I'll do this and that.

It's not the real thing.

You want a legitimate teacher.

And you can call the TM
centers, and they will confirm

the teacher being legitimate.

And like I said, four days,
about an hour and a half a day,

and then you're rocking.

I wasn't so self-assured.

I was creative, but I
wasn't self-assured.

And in this business
you get steamrolled.

You'll get killed, and
probably in any business.

There's self-assuredness,
and then there's

many of us that work for
the goal of the work, money.

But we don't enjoy the
day to day so much.

And wouldn't it be
great if you could

be happy inside, and enjoy
the doing of almost anything?

You enjoy the doing of things.

You enjoy more and
more being alive.

You see a bigger picture.

I say life becomes more
like a game than a torment.

Energy-- people have
trouble sleeping.

People are tired.

And when you're
tired and stressed,

you do strange things.

Many people in prison are
there because of stress.

And what it does to
the brain, causing

us to do these strange, violent
things that most people regret

almost as soon as
they've done them.

But nonetheless,
they're in prison.

Many, many illnesses are avoided
because of stress leaving.

So then there's
this thing of love.

People start looking better.

They start looking friendlier.

And you see more of
loving all diversity.

It's like start
loving all people.

And it's really,
really beautiful.

And understanding
people more and more,

it causes much less conflict.

Negativity is the
enemy of creativity.

It's common sense.

If someone is
depressed, they say

they don't even feel
like getting out

of bed, let alone working.

If you're sad, or if you're
filled with bitter anger,

that occupies the mind.

Maybe you do angry paintings.

So what?

It's like you'd be doing--

you could do angry paintings
but be happy in the doing.

But they take it out on
everybody around them.

They poison the environment.

They poison themselves.

This anger will kill you.

It's a poison.

They say anger is a
real sign of weakness.

It's a sign of weakness.

They can't even
control themselves.

You start meditating, poof.

I was filled with
anger when I started.

Two weeks later, my
first wife comes to me.

I took it out on her.

I took it out on
her every morning,

and I made her life hell.

Two weeks after I started
meditating, she comes to me,

and says, what's going on?

I say, what are
you talking about?

I say it could've been
any number of things.

And so then she said, this
anger, where did it go?

I didn't even realize
it, but it was true.

She realized it, because I
wasn't giving her trouble.

And it was so beautiful.

I started feeling
better in my body.

I started feeling
more self-assured.

I started getting
happier in the doing.

And I see that ideas flow more.

And it's like the joy of
living increases all the time.

And you're getting more in
tune with Mother Nature,

the laws of Nature.

And these laws of Nature,
sweet Mother Divine

starts actually helping you.

When you get in tune, it's
so beautiful what goes on.

It's a cosmic thing.

And for some
reason, human beings

have lost contact
with this field.

But now, there is a way
to re-establish contact,

and unfold our full
potential, and start

enjoying life, walk away from
suffering and negativity,

and party time.