David Lynch had very successful track record as the launcher or relauncher of "semi stars" i.e. people not quite A-list but who had really really good careers after breakthrough performances in Lynch films. Here's a top ten:
1) Kyle McLachlan - plucked from nowhere to be in Dune, then saved from blacklash obscurity via Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks
2) Isabella Rossellini - had been the "girl" in White Nights and of course had famous mum but Blue Velvet made her an icon
3) Laura Dern - had a Lynch double whammy with Blue Velvet then Wild at Heart which made people look at her in, ahem, a different way
4) Dennis Hopper - am trying to remember this right but from memory Hopper was considered toxic goods in the early 80s but then in the mid 80s, I think 1986 to be specific, he became Mr Hollywood via a part in Blue Velvet as well as Hoosiers and then also directing Colors - it was a big comeback and of course Blue Velvet made him a go to villain for the next fifteen years or so which kept him in oil paintings and health treatments
5) Lara Flynn Boyle - in the 90s she was on a magazine cover every second week it seemed (weight battles, dating Jack Nicholson, being in The Practice) but she was launched in Twin Peaks
6) Madchen Amick - okay yes she kind of never hit the hugest heights but for a section of us she will always be a star (see also James Marshall, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sheryl Lee, Sherilyn Ann Fenn, Michael Ontkean, Joan Chen, Kyle McLachlan - there was much discussion on Tuesday night viewings of Twin Peaks about who your favourite eye candy was, there was a lot on display)
7) Naomi Watts - seemed to be around forever (I remember her arc on Homers where she played a girl in a wheelchair who fell for Dieter Brummer’s brother) - then got Mulholland and it all changed
8) Robert Blake - acted since he was a child - became a TV star... then got Lost Highway which opened him up to a whole legion of fans and he might’ve had a Hopper like renaissance but then he, uh... shot his wife...
9) Sherilyn Ann Fenn - look, technically Two Moon Junction made her a star but Twin Peaks turned her into a 90s It girl, dating Johnny Depp and the rest... she never quite became what she could have but look back on her performances and they were actually legit terrific
10) Chris Isaak - cheating a little but not really, Lynch was an early supporter of Isaak, put his songs in his films and directed video for Wicked Game.
Various rantings on movies, books about movies, and other things to do with movies
Saturday, January 18, 2025
David Lynch - top ten people he launched as stars
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