Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

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baxter
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by baxter »

Martin Short and Steve Martin are both so amazing that I imagine that the film would have been incredible. It would have been totally crazy and bombed at the box office though. :-D

I stayed up way too late last night reading the section on S3. Don't start it unless you have time to read it in one session.

I don't know if my feeling on a series 4 has changed or not after reading it. I don't see any reason why it could not continue though. Frost has a pretty good handle on who Lynch is, and seems unbothered by it (the "Lynch is a table for one" quote was amusing).

It's also clear to me that the deficiencies of S3, such as they are, are basically down to Lynch. Frost had a very clear picture of what was happening in the show, and how it built on the previous one, and I sense that he would have been happy to have more exposition in the show. I loved S3 in general, but Lynch seems to want to push ambiguity to the point where a casual viewer will be alienated. It's hard to think that that didn't reduce the impact of the show.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Really interesting tidbit: he claims that scripts were already written going in the direction of the Cooper/Audrey romance before they had to change course due to Kyle. I’d love to read those!

He also says that the hooded figure when Briggs is abducted in E17 is the Dweller on the Threshold (I can’t remember if this has ever been confirmed before, although I think many of us assumed it).
baxter
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by baxter »

He is really open about the mythology. I was hoping that, in the absence of a S4, Mark Frost would just tell us some stuff about what happened at some point. This is that book!

It is totally essential in my view. A superb job by David Bushman, whose questions are spot on.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Terrific quote on why he doesn’t like to answer questions about the mysteries of TP:

“The difficulty there is that it’s always been Lynch’s MO to resolutely refuse to talk about his work. And my suspicion is, knowing him as I do, that he may not have done the spadework that would allow him to be articulate about it, because he works so often out of his subconscious. I don’t mind having those conversations; it’s just that when he’s involved, I try to avoid definitive statements because I know it only pisses him off.”

That reminds me of Lynch’s frustrations with Barry Gifford when he began speaking too specifically in the press about the themes of Lost Highway.
baxter
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by baxter »

Yes, I enjoyed that too Mr Reindeer, and was then surprised at how open he was on various aspects. I think he feels safe talking about S2 (e.g. the dweller on the threshold) because he knows Lynch doesn't give a crap about season 2. By he became more reticent on S3.

Even then, he couldn't resist giving modest assent to suggestions from Bushman, which are themselves illuminating.

I think it was a masterstroke to focus on Frost's entire career in the book. Firstly because it is just interesting to do so (particularly given his long career observing the evolution of TV). But also because he then probably felt a lot more trusting and open when talking about TP.
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Someone really needs to ask Lynch about the “Josie drawer-pull” thing. By all accounts, this seems to be his biggest contribution to the latter half of S2 prior to E29. I’d love to hear his take on why that was the thing he became fixated on.
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by TheArm »

I would also love to know exactly how differently S3 turned out vs. what Lynch & Frost originally scripted. There are hints of it (like the Richard & Linda stuff) in the book, but I'd love to get a better sense. And what Frost thought of how it turned out vs. how he had imagined it when they were writing.
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by bowisneski »

Now's the time for Mark to talk to Lynch and convince him to sell that script as a pdf for coronavirus charity.
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by vicksvapor77 »

baxter wrote:It's also clear to me that the deficiencies of S3, such as they are, are basically down to Lynch. Frost had a very clear picture of what was happening in the show, and how it built on the previous one, and I sense that he would have been happy to have more exposition in the show. I loved S3 in general, but Lynch seems to want to push ambiguity to the point where a casual viewer will be alienated. It's hard to think that that didn't reduce the impact of the show.
I think it will be hard for the Lynch stans to admit that but I agree with this statement for sure.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

I can’t recall if anyone has mentioned Appendix C, the letter to Ed Victor, presumably circa 1990 (he alludes to the first season just having been finished). Clearly he had TSHoTP, or an untitled version of it, worked out in pretty good detail from VERY early on. It’s actually kind of incredible to read how much he’d already developed the concept, and how close parts of it are to what we got 26 years later. The Access Guide reflected that, in a goofy off-handed way, but I’m so glad he finally got to write that book and do it full justice after holding it in his head for so long.
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Re: Conversations With Mark Frost: Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues, and the Education of a Writer

Post by mtwentz »

Mr. Reindeer wrote:Someone really needs to ask Lynch about the “Josie drawer-pull” thing. By all accounts, this seems to be his biggest contribution to the latter half of S2 prior to E29. I’d love to hear his take on why that was the thing he became fixated on.
I thought that scene was awful when I first saw it, and I still haven't really warmed up to it.

If it was Lynch's idea, he should have directed it himself. Maybe if he had done it, it would not have come off as hokey as it did. I am convinced that was the final straw that ultimately killed Twin Peaks. Sure, it came off of hiatus after that, but the show was never able to fully recover.
F*&^ you Gene Kelly
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