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Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 7:38 am
by albie
In the recent series of TP in the extras Lynch twice tells off his crew. He seems quite angry. I wonder what happened to his meditational effects?

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 9:24 am
by Mr. Reindeer
There are some clips like that on the INLAND EMPIRE BTS as well. He snaps under pressure here and there. He’s human. In the Room to Dream book, Emily Stofle details how Lynch was working on the show pretty much every waking minute for over a year and sleeping at most only a few hours a night, and how much of a toll it took on him physically. It’s not admirable, but understandable, that he would be crabby sometimes.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 6:21 am
by albie
Mr. Reindeer wrote:There are some clips like that on the INLAND EMPIRE BTS as well. He snaps under pressure here and there. He’s human. In the Room to Dream book, Emily Stofle details how Lynch was working on the show pretty much every waking minute for over a year and sleeping at most only a few hours a night, and how much of a toll it took on him physically. It’s not admirable, but understandable, that he would be crabby sometimes.
Well in the footage I am talking about he isn't under any particular pressure and to be honest he comes across as mentally ill and a bully. It really cut my respect for him in half.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 6:33 am
by albie
Here he is blowing up for little reason. Because some crew member questioned the amount of time a scene would take. I don't think I'll bother with the Transcendental Meditation thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80eMhhWnWbk

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 12:38 pm
by Jasper
albie wrote:Here he is blowing up for little reason. Because some crew member questioned the amount of time a scene would take. I don't think I'll bother with the Transcendental Meditation thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80eMhhWnWbk
That's some serious denial of context.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 4:38 pm
by mtwentz
albie wrote:Here he is blowing up for little reason. Because some crew member questioned the amount of time a scene would take. I don't think I'll bother with the Transcendental Meditation thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80eMhhWnWbk
Meditation does not make a person perfect.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 5:43 pm
by Soolsma
I think it is a characteristic that is not uncommon among true artists. Working with other people, time, space, money, format; all of these are restraints that prevent an artist from conveying their ideas from their purest form to the media they are represented in. If you take a look at Lynch, it's a given that art comes first, sometimes also before social niceties.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 8:02 pm
by baxter
Before you judge this, ask yourself how many times you've worked 70 hour weeks for 18 months on end, under massive financial stress. Also ask yourself how many people you know who have done that?

I bet those who have worked under those conditions (I've done it), and know lots of other people who've done it (I know lots), don't judge these videos too harshly. You are seeing one moment that looks exciting to put into a documentary, out of a massive chunk of time worked. You'd be very grumpy working under those conditions, and it's completely unrealistic to expect anyone to not lash out occasionally. I have no interest in defending horrible people, but the long queue of people wanting to work with Lynch again because his sets are more fun than most must say something about his character.

How he treats his romantic partners though: there's something to think about!

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 6:42 am
by mtwentz
I can imagine almost every director has their 'not so nice' moments, it's just that said moments don't make their way onto any DVD.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 9:20 am
by LateReg
I love this moment in the documentary, and not just for its candidness. From this clip I think it's pretty clear that Lynch's crew had frequently expressed concern about all the long and slow takes, and here we see him respond/snap about it.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 10:25 am
by Mr. Strawberry
Can you imagine trying to film hundreds and hundreds of takes, and giving 100% of your focus to achieving a specific vision, while your crew hounds you about how long they are? It's unthinkable. The writers have crafted something that needs to be captured on film, the director is overseeing that process, and the crew are there as a vital part of it all. They bring their talents and refined abilities to the table just as the composer, photographer, actors, and everyone else does. Together, the team put their everything into the work and hopefully their combined efforts coalesce as nicely as planned.

So I don't fault him for snapping about that back seat driving, and am astonished by the arrogance of that individual's comments to Lynch. Considering that he is the director, working with material that he co-authored, and given his lifetime of experience, the comments are quite surprising.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 3:23 pm
by Mr. Reindeer
The crew member didn’t do anything wrong. She and Scott Cameron (the First AD, who tries to take the blame) are responsible for dealing with nitty-gritty details so the director can be free to be in the moment with the actors. In this instance, they wanted to make sure they got all the coverage you would typically need in a scene like this, which traditionally would include some closeups so you have the option in editing to tighten the scene. By only doing one long continuous wide shot, you’re really hamstringing yourself if the scene doesn’t play well, because there’s nothing to cut to. What you’re seeing is the push and pull between a crew who have trained to work in an established way for very good practical reasons, and a director who operates largely on his instincts when breaking the established rules. The crew member didn’t put up any fight against Lynch, she just made a perfectly reasonable proposal. But clearly the many long takes which give the show its distinctive pace were something that was a continuous source of questions which Lynch got sick of. Everyone was clearly trying to make the best possible show from the perspective of their position, just coming at it from different angles. But yeah, while I don’t judge him too harshly, his behavor in that moment doesn’t exemplify the kind of boss I’d want to work for.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 3:32 pm
by baxter
I sort of wish the crew had won actually. Many scenes really were too long, and the pacing felt odd in general at points. And not in a "oh my God! This completely breaks the mould and blows my mind!" sort of way. Just in a "that's a bit long" sort of way. The casino scene when Cooper first gets out is a good example.

Then again, some long scenes I loved, because the length was the point (the sweeping scene, the French woman scene which cracked me up for its entire duration).

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 3:40 pm
by Mr. Reindeer
baxter wrote:I sort of wish the crew had won actually. Many scenes really were too long, and the pacing felt odd in general at points. And not in a "oh my God! This completely breaks the mould and blows my mind!" sort of way. Just in a "that's a bit long" sort of way. The casino scene when Cooper first gets out is a good example.

Then again, some long scenes I loved, because the length was the point (the sweeping scene, the French woman scene which cracked me up for its entire duration).
I mostly loved it, but I felt the comedic sheriff’s station scenes suffered, with most jokes landing with a dull thud...and then just sitting there as if waiting for a laugh track that never came. That type of humor isn’t really my cup of tea anyway, though. It still strikes me as ironic that, after talking in the Rodley book about the fact that Marx Bros. films play too slow when watched at home (because they were designed to have pauses between lines for a theater-full of laughing filmgoers), Lynch directed possibly some of the most glacial comedy scenes I’ve ever seen. (I disagree with him on the Marx Bros., BTW.)

A statement like “Who gives a fucking shit how long a scene is” is pretty shocking given how meticulous his editing/pacing was in his mid-career. But having seen the final product, I think this return to an Eraserhead dream-pace is just as meticulous; he just had to do the pacing work on set rather than in the editing room.

Re: Lynch Telling off his crew

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 6:22 pm
by baxter
I'm glad that you mentioned those sheriff scenes in particular. The "is it about the bunny?" scene seemed really off to me, like it was simply poorly edited. It wasn't that funny anyway, but the performances seemed really laboured. I recall seeing a fan edit with the jaunty music of old on it, and it was an improvement, so perhaps things were similar in S1.