The film was shot in the Fall of 1991 in Washington and then later moved to California to film mostly scenes on sets built in Van Nuys. Most of the scenes in Washington were filmed at the same locations used in the Twin Peaks Pilot with a few exceptions.
Over the years, there has been much speculation on how much of the shooting script has been filmed. Since 1992, I have had a several rare “once in a lifetime” opportunities at both the Twin Peaks Festivals as well as outside the Twin Peaks Festivals to meet and speak with many of the cast and crew members about the film. The following analysis has been taken from a document provided at Twin Peaks.org that was released online back in 1992. I have gone ahead and updated this document to include some minor corrections, new screenshots, additional commentary, trivia, and confirmations on which scenes were actually filmed. I will assume that any dialogue that was cut from a scene that made it into the film was most likely shot and just cut from the scene itself. Unfortunately there is little in the means of photographs of actual Deleted Scenes. For some sections, I have simply used shots from the film that were similar in context. For others… well, you’ll see. If you have any photos to contribute, please let me know. I hope you enjoy this and would love any feedback, additional submissions, or corrections.
These scenes are from the “Shooting Draft” of FWWM dated August 8, 1991.
Except for comments in [] and for summarizing scenes in () that are the same in the movie, the descriptions are verbatim from the script.
Scene 1: (Fade in to shot of Teresa Banks’ body wrapped in plastic drifting along in Wind River, Deer Meadow, Washington, as in the movie.)
[Ed. No mention of TV screen getting axed in the original shooting script.]
Scenes 2-9: (Gordon calling Chet, Gordon and Sam meeting Chet at the airport, dance by Lil, all as in the movie.)
[Ed. Two women being handcuffed in the school bus scene are described as prostitutes. Man being arrested is the bus driver. Notice one of the FBI Agents has a cast on his left arm. Mike Malone, who was also the Set Dresser had broken his arm prior to shooting the film. The only change in the following scene is that the script calls for the scene to take place inside the security lounge at the airport. The filmed version was changed to an exterior shot at the airport.]
Scene 10-12: Chet decoding Lil’s dance for Sam, flashback to Lil’s dance.
(Chet and Sam are driving down the road.)
DESMOND:
Gordon said you were good. The tailored dress is our code for drugs. Did you notice what was pinned to it?
STANLEY:
A blue rose.
DESMOND:
Very good, but I can’t tell you about that.
Stanley rides along quietly for a while.
DELETED Dialogue:
STANLEY:
What did Gordon’s tie mean?
DESMOND:
What? That’s just Gordon’s bad taste.
STANLEY:
Why couldn’t he have just told you all these things?
DESMOND:
He talks loud. And he loves his code.
STANLEY:
I see. He DOES talk loud.
DESMOND:
Gordon would not have sent us to Deer Meadow without thinking it was a high priority situation.
STANLEY:
It MUST be a high priority situation.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
[Ed. Answers why the code was used and why FBI agents were called in for what is otherwise a local murder case.]
Scenes 13-15: (Deer Meadow Sheriff’s Station, all as in the movie.)
DELETED Scene:
As Desmond and Stanley walk to the adjoining morgue they see a pile of steel bars similar to the one Desmond saw Cable bending in the picture.
END OF DELETED Scene
[Ed. Confirmed to have been shot. Source: Gary Bullock]
Scenes 16-18: Chet and Sam in the morgue.
… as Chet is reviewing the file on Teresa:
DELETED Dialogue:
As Desmond is doing this, Stanley takes out his “special machine.” Desmond looks up from his work and notices.
STANLEY:
Solved the Whiteman case with this.
[Ed. During the airport scene, Gordon tells Chet that Sam cracked the Whiteman case.]
DESMOND:
That’s what I heard.
STANLEY:
No one could find those splinters without a machine like this. And no one has a machine like this.
DESMOND:
That’s good.
STANLEY:
Yes, it is good.
(looks around)
What do you think is in these other drawers?
DESMOND:
I don’t know, Sam.
STANLEY:
Maybe later we could take a look.
DESMOND:
Sure, but let’s finish up with this first.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
[Ed. When Sam uses the machine to find the letter T under Teresa’s fingernail, the script calls it ‘the Whiteman instrument’. Desmond says Teresa lived in the Canyon Trailer Park. (See below) In the movie, it is changed to the Fat Trout Trailer Park.]
Scenes 19-21:
Sam and Stanley visit the diner.
Chet and Sam talk with Jack. Another guy in the room is working on a light that keeps buzzing and shorting out. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing so he is poking at the wiring.
[Ed. On the big screen and large screen televisions, you can see that Jack is wearing a ‘SAY GOODBYE TO JACK’ pin with the “HELLO” crossed out. Also notice the flickering blue light in this scene.]
[Ed. The flickering blue light is coming from the trying to torch open a safe according to Robert Engels. You can make out the safe in this screenshot. Note that the safe is not mentioned in the script. Only reference is made to the lamp.]
DELETED Dialogue:
JACK:
Had the FBI here once before. Back in the fifties when Hap was running the place.
DESMOND:
Where’s Hap?
JACK:
He’s dead–good and dead.
DESMOND:
Sorry to hear it.
JACK:
He didn’t suffer.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
(Chet asks about Teresa, Jack points him towards Irene)
JACK:
Now her name IS Irene and it IS night. Don’t take it no further than that. There’s nothin’ good about it.
[Ed. Joke referring to the song, Goodnight, Irene made famous by the Weavers.]
(Chet and Sam move over to counter.)
DELETED Dialogue
IRENE:
Take a look around. There’s nobody in this place–you’re meetin’ the reason why. What’ll it be?
DESMOND:
How come Jack lets you work here?
IRENE:
Jack and I are united in holy matrimony.
DESMOND:
Say no more.
Stanley is casing the restaurant as Irene pours them a couple of cups of coffee.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
DESMOND (showing credentials): Federal Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent Chet Desmond. I’d like to ask you a few questions about Teresa Banks. Jack said you knew her. How well?
IRENE:
She only worked here a month. Nice girl. Never seemed to get here on time though. Ask me, she has a little problem with …
(makes a sniff to indicate a “cocaine problem”)
DELETED Dialogue:
Came looking for a job with a friend of hers. Pretty girl. Could’ve have been her sister.
DESMOND:
What happened to her?
IRENE:
There was only one job. Teresa took the job. Her friend took a hike. Never saw her again.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
DESMOND:
Did you ever see Teresa take cocaine?
[Ed. Notice the chainsaw in the log to the right of Irene.]
IRENE:
No.
(Most of scene is pretty much the same as in the movie, except for a few changes in the dialogue.)
IRENE:
Who’s Shorty? Those drugs are legal.
DESMOND:
He’s with me.
(back on the track)
Anything you would like to tell us about Teresa Banks that would help us out?
IRENE:
I’ve thought about that. I think her death is what you would call a “freak accident”.
DESMOND:
Thanks.
An OLD GUY, long and skinny, smoking, gets Desmond’s attention.
OLD GUY:
You talking about that little girl that was murdered?
DESMOND:
You have something to tell us?
OLD GUY:
Yeah.
DESMOND:
What?
OLD GUY:
I can tell shit from shinolah. Gets me along way down that road.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
[Ed. Note that the French Girl at Hap’s, as credited in the film is not in the script nor. Fans speculate that her barely audible line in French is “La nuit est le bon moment” which roughly translates to “Night time is the right time”. You decide.]
Scene 22: Outside the diner.
DELETED Scene:
As Desmond and Stanley head towards their car.
DESMOND:
I think we should see the sun rise at the Canyon Trailer Park.
[Ed. See note in scenes 16-18 about trailer park name.]
STANLEY:
Are you speaking to me in a code?
DESMOND:
No, Sam, I’m speaking plainly and I mean just exactly what I say.
STANLEY:
In that case, we should go to the Canyon Trailer Park.
Irene walks past them and towards the parking lot.
STANLEY and DESMOND:
Thanks, Irene. Good … (catch themselves) Good morning.
STANLEY:
Thank god it is morning.
END OF DELETED Scene
[Ed. Confirmed to have been shot. Source: Sandra Kinder, Fan Made Video.]
Scenes 23-28: At the Canyon Trailer Court, investigating Teresa’s trailer.
(They wake up park manager Carl Rodd, as in the movie.)
CARL:
Mrs. Simmons owns the trailer and she lives in town. Teresa rented it about a month ago.
DELETED Dialogue:
DESMOND:
Did she have someone with her?
CARL:
Right. She had a friend with her. The friend took off.
DESMOND:
Was there an argument?
CARL:
Not that I know of. But arguments do happen, don’t they?
DESMOND:
Yes they do. Did she have visitors?
CARL:
No, hey, I already told this whole damn thing to Sheriff “Not-Quite-Able” …
Here’s the trailer now.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
(They enter trailer and look around as in the movie.)
Desmond notices her personal effects on the dresser, but no ring.
DELETED Dialogue:
DESMOND:
You better dust this place, Sam.
STANLEY:
I’ll get my kit.
Stanley walks towards the car. He writes in his notebook.
STANLEY (to himself):
5,600 dollars.
[Ed. Continuing the pricing obsession he first showed in the Sheriff’s station.]
Inside the trailer, Desmond notices a picture on the wall, takes it down, and looks at it through his magnifying glass, and sees the ring on Teresa’s finger. Stanley returns.
DESMOND:
Take a look at this.
STANLEY:
She’s wearing a ring.
Stanley studies it.
DESMOND:
My guess is there isn’t enough detail in the photo to get an idea of the design on the ring, but we should do a blowup of this anyway.
STANLEY (squinting at the picture):
May I see the magnifying glass, Agent Desmond?
(takes a look, then looks at Desmond)
There doesn’t seem to be enough detail in the photo to ascertain the design on the ring.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
Carl leans in from outside.
CARL:
I’m gonna make myself some Good Morning America. You want some?
(Rest of coffee scene is as in the movie.)
A woman sticks her head into the trailer. She has an ice pack over one eye and a load of idle curiosity. Desmond notices her.
DESMOND:
Did you know Teresa Banks?
She just nods in the negative and leans back out.
[Ed. The shot of the utility pole, and Carl’s lines “See, I’ve already gone places. I just want to stay where I am.” are not in the script.]
DELETED Dialogue:
Behind her is Deputy Cliff, who looks into the trailer.
[Ed. Cliff Howard is the deputy whose nose Chet tweaks in the sheriff’s office.]
CLIFF:
Hey, how’s J. Edgar doin’?
(to Carl:) Bet you appreciate them bustin’ your mornin’ in half, eh, Carl? Bet they woke you up.
CARL:
They’re only doing their job.
DESMOND:
What are you doing here in the trailer court, Deputy?
CLIFF:
Maybe I just live here, what do you think about that?
DESMOND:
Can I ask you where you were the night Teresa Banks was murdered?
CLIFF:
You can tell J. Edgar that I was at a party and I got fifteen fuckin’ witnesses.
CARL:
Maybe if you did a little less partyin’ that little girl would still be alive?
CLIFF:
Is that right, Mr. Jack Daniels?
DESMOND:
Did you know Teresa Banks?
CLIFF:
Got a couple of cups of coffee at Hap’s from her. That’s it. By the way, where do you get off questioning a lawman? I could ask you the same question.
DESMOND:
No you couldn’t.
Chet steps towards Cliff who loses his balance and has to step off the trailer steps. Desmond stands in the doorway of the trailer and watches Cliff get into his car and drive to work. Stepping away from the trailer, Desmond spots something underneath. He bends down and retrieves a Titleist golf ball.
[Ed. Confirmed to have been shot. Source: Greg Olson in his book “Beautiful Dark“.]
DESMOND:
Is there a golf course around here?
CARL:
Not a lot around here, no. Got some clubs, but not very many fellas with balls.
Desmond drops the ball in a plastic bag and gives it to Stanley who puts it in his kit. Desmond turns to Carl.
[Ed. Was I the only one that made a connection back to BOB/Leland on the golf ball reference?]
DESMOND:
Thanks for your help, Carl. Sorry we woke you up.
CARL:
That’s alright. I was having a bad dream. I was dreamin’ about a joke with no punchline.
Desmond and Stanley nod to Carl and walk to their car.
STANLEY:
I couldn’t help but notice that you had a suspicion that Deputy Cliff was the murderer. You did think that, didn’t you, Agent Desmond?
DESMOND:
He’s not the murderer.
(after a beat)
But he is a bozo.
STANLEY:
Yes, he is like a clown.
Desmond walks around the car to the driver’s side and gets in.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
Scenes 29-32: Chet and Sam return to the sheriff’s office to retrieve the body.
(Confrontation between Chet and Sheriff Cable is as in the movie.)
DESMOND:
Teresa Banks had a ring. Any idea what happened to it?
CABLE:
We got a phone, here, that’s got a little ring.
DELETED Dialogue and Scenes:
DESMOND (turning to Stanley):
Sam, get the body and put it in the van.
(to Cable:) Sheriff Cable, where were you on the night Teresa Banks was murdered?
CABLE (flexing the muscles in his arms):
My alibi is as strong as these bands of steel.
(He reaches out and stops Stanley from going out to get the body. Cable smiles menacingly at Desmond.)
Cliff told me you asked him the same thing. Why don’t we step around back and we’ll have our final “discussion” outdoors?
Cable exits followed by Cliff and the giggling secretary.
STANLEY (coming close to Desmond):
When he says, “Discussion,” how do you take that, Agent Desmond?
DESMOND:
I don’t take it, Sam. I give it.
Desmond, Cliff, Stanley, Cable, the secretary and the FBI van driver all have stepped outside by a pile of iron bars.
[Ed. See note in Scenes 13-15 about iron bar.]
CABLE:
Now, J. Edgar, I’m going to take off my badge, here. Do you mind?
(takes his badge off)
The only way you’re going to get that body is over mine.
(He picks up a steel bar and bends it a la the picture in his office.)
(to Desmond:) You try that, you little monkey.
DESMOND:
I think I’ll take off my badge as well.
Desmond takes his coat and badge off. Cable takes his shirt off and Desmond follows. Cable is bare-chested and Desmond is in FBI-issue underwear. Desmond goes to pick up an iron bar and Cable hits him with a sucker punch. As Desmond backs away from this, Cable rushes at him.
Desmond stops him with a few well placed punches to the face. Cable falls down and Desmond stands over him. Chet picks up the steel bar and bends it. He then tosses the bar away. Cable stands up and rushes at Desmond who flips and flops him around. Cable tries one more grand roundhouse punch which Desmond expertly ducks.
DESMOND (eyeing Cable’s glass jaw):
This one’s comin’ from J. Edgar.
Desmond blasts him in the jaw and Cable goes over–lights out, all systems down. The no longer giggling secretary and Cliff stand and stare. Desmond looks at them.
DESMOND:
Who’s next?
After a moment of unbearable humiliation, they shuffle away.
END OF DELETED Dialogue and Scenes
[Ed. Confirmed to have been shot. An interesting thing to note is that the filmed version of this scenes actually strays from the scripts as at the point when Chet says “This one’s comin’ from J. Edgar”, when Chet punches Cable, Lynch filmed a mouth full of blood shooting out of Cable’s mouth which splatters across the faces of Cliff and the Giggling Secretary. Source: Gary Bullock, Photographic. See below.]
Dissolve to Stanley and the driver finishing loading the body into the van. Desmond and Stanley talk.
DESMOND:
Take the van back to Portland, Stanley. I’m going to take one more look at the trailer park.
They walk towards the van until Stanley stops.
DELETED Dialogue:
STANLEY (confidentially): One thing that has been troubling me. That lamp at the diner. Do you think they were working on it for aesthetic reasons or was their work due to faulty wiring?
[Ed. see description of lamp in Scenes 19-21)
DESMOND:
Faulty wiring.
STANLEY:
Aesthetics are subjective, aren’t they, Agent Desmond?
(extends his hand)
I’m Sam Stanley. If you ever need me.
DESMOND:
Thanks, Sam, for the good work. You have a good eye for detail.
STANLEY:
We do notice things, don’t we, Agent Desmond?
END OF DELETED Dialogue
STANLEY:
Are you going back to the trailer part for the Blue Rose?
Desmond smiles at Stanley as they shake.
DELETED Dialogue:
As Stanley enters the van, Desmond can barely make out what Stanley says as he points to the driver.
STANLEY (very muffled):
83,000 dollars.
[Ed. Another pricing remark–see scenes 23-28.]
END OF DELETED Dialogue
Scene 33: Chet back at the trailer court.
Desmond is standing in front of Teresa’s trailer with Carl.
CARL (motioning behind and to the right of Teresa’s trailer): And that’s Deputy Cliff’s trailer over there. The red one.
CHET:
Right.
CARL:
I’ll be in my trailer if you need me.
[Ed. No mention of the shot of the utility pole or the woman who wants her “goddamn hot water” from Carl.]
Carl walks away towards his trailer. Desmond walks over and around Cliff’s red trailer. He gets a strange feeling. He looks past Teresa’s trailer to the edge of the trailer park …
MISSING ACTION:
… where he sees a hand appear in the window of a trailer. Then the hand disappears.
END OF MISSING ACTION
Desmond walks to that trailer. He knocks on the door but no one answers. He looks under the trailer and sees a mound of dirt with a small indentation at the top. In the indentation is Teresa Banks’ ring. As he reaches out and touches it, he disappears.
Scene 34: Gordon Cole’s office in Philadelphia.
DELETED Scenes
Cole and Albert Rosenfeld talk.
COLE:
EVERY SYLLABLE OF EVERY WORD IS THE SOUND OF TWO HANDS CLAPPING. IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID, ALBERT?
ALBERT:
Six to eight hands clapping. I was referring to the possibility of a little silence.
The phone rings and Cole answers it.
[Ed. Unconfirmed if this was shot. Although it is very likely that it was shot as additional scenes in the FBI Office with both David Lynch and Miguel Ferrer appear in the film.]
Scene 35: Philadelphia FBI offices.
Agent Dale Cooper, in the doorway across the hall, talks to Diane in the next room. While he talks, he does some isometrics against the door frame.
COOPER:
I know you haven’t changed your hair and I’ve seen that beautiful dress before, but I must say Diane, you look sensational today.
Diane says something else that we cannot hear.
COOPER (enjoying this):
No, I am not trying to buy time. It’s Thursday and I know you have changed something in this room … and this time you’ve done very well.
(stalling)
And I am going to tell you exactly what it is … in a moment … you have moved …
(snaps his fingers)
Got it! It’s the clock, you’ve moved it 12 inches to the left.
(a laugh)
Another triumph for the dashing agent Cooper. And you, Diane, now have to clean the coffee cup, get fresh ground coffee from Sally and make a damn great pot of coffee.
Cooper with a triumphant smile walks over to join Cole and Albert. But Cole’s stern look takes his smile away.
COOPER:
What is it, Gordon?
COLE:
COOP, AGENT CHET DESMOND HAS DISAPPEARED. GONE LIKE THE WIND IN DEER MEADOW.
[Ed. Confirmed to have been shot. Source: Kyle MacLachlan, Ron Garcia]
Scene 36: Sam Stanley’s apartment in Spokane.
All around the walls of Stanley’s apartment are work benches with adding machinery on top of them. In the middle of the room is a portable plastic pool, with milky white water and crystallized salt formations clinging to the sides like quartz rocks. From one odd looking piece of machinery there are wires which extend into the pool. Cooper’s eyes go to the pool and back to Stanley as Sam talks about Desmond.
STANLEY:
Agent Chet said he wanted to check the trailer court one more time. He had me drive the van with the body bag back here. Which we did. It was 105 miles.
COOPER:
Anything else?
STANLEY:
Did Gordon show you a woman named Lil?
COOPER:
I’m up to speed, Stanley.
STANLEY:
Agent Chet wouldn’t tell me what the Blue Rose meant.
COOPER:
And neither will I.
STANLEY (understanding):
Oh, alright.
(reflecting)
You know, I liked Agent Desmond. He had his own M.O.
Stanley turns to one of his work tables and shows Cooper the Whiteman machine.
[Ed. See scenes 16-18 about Whiteman machine. At a closer look you can see markings on the case. BLM 139709. Anyone know what this machine could actually be?]
STANLEY:
I cracked the Whiteman case with this.
COOPER:
(trying to stop him): Stanley, I heard all about it.
STANLEY:
No one could’ve found those splinters without a machine like this and no one has a machine like this.
COOPER:
Tell me about the letter.
STANLEY:
Take a look at this. Chet and I found it under Teresa Banks’ ring fingernail.
Cooper looks under the microscope to see the letter they found on Teresa.
COOPER:
And no one found the ring?
STANLEY:
No, sir, we did not.
Cooper straightens up from the microscope. Stanley extends his hand.
STANLEY:
I’m Sam Stanley, if you ever need me.
END OF DELETED Scenes
[Ed. Confirmed to have been shot. Source: Kyle MacLachlan, Ron Garcia. ]
[Ed. In the movie, scenes 37-38 come after Scene 56.]
Scenes 37-38: Cooper at the trailer park.
Carl Rodd shows Cooper to Teresa’s trailer.
DELETED Dialogue:
CARL:
GOD! I’m beginning to lose faith in the United States Government and that includes the telephone system. Don’t you folks talk to one another? That’s her trailer over there and I haven’t touched a god damn thing.
END OF DELETED Dialogue
CARL (continued):
Agent Chet Desmond come by a second time and asked to see Deputy Cliff Howard’s trailer (gestures to the red trailer) … which I showed him. I went back to my trailer (gestures back to his) … after that, I never saw him again.
COOPER:
Thank you, Carl.
Cooper starts walking in the opposite direction from Cliff’s trailer picking up the same odd vibe that struck Desmond.
CARL (turning back):
That’s not the way to Cliff’s trailer. I told you.
COOPER:
I am not going to Cliff’s trailer.
CARL:
Well, where are you going?
COOPER:
I am going over here.
CARL (coming along with him):
God damn, you people are confusing.
(Rest of the scene is as in the movie, with Cooper questioning Carl about the trailer tracks, Carl telling about the Chalfonts, Cooper finding “Let’s Rock” on Chet’s car, and telling Diane he thinks the killer will strike again.)