Comments on: off the cutting room floor and onto yer YouTubes

off the cutting room floor and onto yer YouTubes

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:06:50 -0800

Fifty two minutes of deleted scenes from David Lynch's 1986 film, Blue Velvet. [NSFW]

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:17:54 -0800

I'LL WATCH ANYTHING THAT MOVES!

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:30:53 -0800

Rebel archivists, archive this now.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:43:22 -0800

I really couldn't watch more than ten minutes without risking my fragile grip on happiness. But what I saw reinforces that those damned trees are up to no good. And that Lynch likes breasts, but we knew that.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:59:38 -0800

given that Blue Velvet is pretty much a perfect movie as is, I don't see how this could improve on things.

By: quazichimp

quazichimp — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:27:05 -0800

...wow! that was a treat. Its almost another film in its self. Well worth every minute!

By: Ad hominem

Ad hominem — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:31:56 -0800

Wow, finally realized why the movie is named Blue Velvet. Great scenes. Only in Lynch's mind would a club have a maitre d, be decorated with neon beer signs on and have a stage show featuring a dog eating out of a green bowl.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:33:15 -0800

given that Blue Velvet is pretty much a perfect movie as is, I don't see how this could improve on things. Since these didn't make the final cut, we can presume that Lynch also thought they wouldn't improve things. But I don't think people view deleted scenes as a way to "improve" their experience of a movie, I think it's often more like it's just, you know, interesting for people to see what got cut.

By: daniel_charms

daniel_charms — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:57:36 -0800

a stage show featuring a dog eating out of a green bowl. Also the proverbial chicken and egg.

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 02:19:07 -0800

flapjax: One reason may be that many times the scenes are deleted not by the director but by the studio and upper management, sometimes for shitty reasons.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 02:58:39 -0800

Entirely possible and/or probable, for sure, Joseph. No doubt.

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 03:55:23 -0800

How much darker could this movie have been....? Also, it seems to shed some light on Jeffery. I am only part way in but this is a great find.

By: brevator

brevator — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 03:58:37 -0800

One reason may be that many times the scenes are deleted not by the director but by the studio and upper management, sometimes for shitty reasons. "That's why I say you have to have final cut. That's the freedom to be able to work with your own intuitions." -David Lynch

By: orthicon halo

orthicon halo — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 04:48:17 -0800

My recollection is that Lynch was contractually obligated to deliver the film at a running time under two hours; legend has it that it's just one frame short of two hours. The rough cut was supposedly three and a half hours long. The Guardian has a nice piece about the rediscovery of this footage, including Lynch's reaction when it was found. As the article says, people have been looking around for this footage for years; the folks over at DVD Savant were included in one of those vault expeditions about ten years ago, resulting in this interesting writeup (still interesting, even though they didn't find much!)

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 04:52:12 -0800

WOW, I just watched Blue Velvet again the night before last, so I am freshly primed to dive into this pile of .. Lynch.

By: coolxcool=rad

coolxcool=rad — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:03:31 -0800

By: A Thousand Baited Hooks

A Thousand Baited Hooks — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:22:33 -0800

Someone really needs to edit these back into the final version somehow.

By: n o i s e s

n o i s e s — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:34:06 -0800

I remember being introduced to Lynch & Blue Velvet (& so much more) by BBC2. It was Howard Schulman's Moving Pictures, or maybe Alex Cox's Moviedrome. Sigh. If anybody could provide links to clips of either of those I might just go back to bed.

By: fairmettle

fairmettle — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:44:53 -0800

Lynch likes breasts Are there many mammals that don't?

By: nathancaswell

nathancaswell — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 05:47:46 -0800

The dog eating dog food!

By: Forktine

Forktine — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:19:39 -0800

Neat. I haven't seen the film in many, many years, but this makes me think I should rewatch it.

By: sammyo

sammyo — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:28:18 -0800

This would be a good one to watch for in a theatrical retrospective.

By: item

item — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:32:54 -0800

Some of these scenes (such as the nightclub one) would make sense edited into the official release, while others might be a bit trickier for anyone other than the director to wedge in. In any case, I'd love to see someone try to do it. Fuck, Lynch should do it. They're in pristine condition for 'lost' 25 year old footage, so little if any restoration would need to be applied. The actual act of sitting down at a computer and editing them in with Final Cut would take all of a couple hours, really. I get the feeling that Lynch reads a lot of what's written about him online. Maybe he's reading this sentence. If so, My. Lynch, please do us a minor favor and plop together an unofficial director's cut, or whatever you want to call it. Releasing it might be a little trickier, but maybe you could just torrent the thing. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, by the way.

By: pmurray63

pmurray63 — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:47:05 -0800

Don't hold your breath. From the Guardian story: "Clearly it's Blue Velvet: The Director's Cut that the diehards want to see. But Lynch never revises his work. What's more, unlike, say, Ridley Scott on Blade Runner, he had the final cut on Blue Velvet (in return for halving his salary and the budget). So Lynch politely declined the opportunity re-edit the movie with the new footage ..."

By: hwestiii

hwestiii — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:51:27 -0800

legend has it that it's just one frame short of two hours. I'm not sure why, but this reminds of the time I rented "Mulholland Drive" on DVD, and discovered, as I was attempting to locate where my previous viewing session had ended, that entire film comprised a single chapter with respect to the disk indexing.

By: kittens for breakfast

kittens for breakfast — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:55:59 -0800

Some (or all) of this material is on the Blu-Ray release. If you don't intend to buy or rent that, I'd watch this video soonest, is all I'm saying.

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 07:31:30 -0800

While it's interesting to see some of the back story that was cut out, I really think the film as released is better than a full cut with all these scenes put back in would be. It's much tighter and I think has a greater sense of mystery.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 08:39:36 -0800

> While it's interesting to see some of the back story that was cut out, I really think the film as released is better than a full cut with all these scenes put back in would be. Can anyone possibly doubt this? Lynch had final cut and has made it clear he thinks it's fine the way it is, and it's hard to disagree.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 09:11:00 -0800

hwestiii: "I'm not sure why, but this reminds of the time I rented 'Mulholland Drive' on DVD, and discovered, as I was attempting to locate where my previous viewing session had ended, that entire film comprised a single chapter with respect to the disk indexing." The rumor I've heard about that is that the surprisingly conservative Lynch didn't want people just skipping forward to watch the lesbian sex scenes. But I'm not sure about that, just as I'm not sure why the surprisingly conservative Lynch would put lesbian sex scenes in a movie in the first place.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 09:46:22 -0800

koeselitz, I think that it was that he didn't want people sort of picking the lesbian sex scenes out of the movie in isolation from the rest of it. (I believe that there was some controversy at the time of the DVD release about his digitally blurring Laura Haring's genitals in one scene because he didn't want people doing screen grabs of it.)

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 10:03:33 -0800

Lynch had final cut Yes, but he also had to limit the movie's length as noted above. I wonder if he would have left so many scenes in the cutting room if his contract had permitted him to turn in a 3.5 hour movie. Lynch also seems rather pleased that the scenes were recovered and made available for people to see.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:45:53 -0800

Is the music finished or just a placeholder? Doesn't sound like Badalamenti.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:52:08 -0800

Also interesting to see that there were a couple of pieces of rabbit/hound symbology in the deleted scenes. I can't remember; did any of that make it into the final cut?

By: ThatFuzzyBastard

ThatFuzzyBastard — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:55:07 -0800

As I've read, Lynch's concern about the sex scene being taken out of context was why he agreed to the blurring, but the single-chapter thing is his preference, and he's had to be talked out of it on many other DVD releases. Lynch believes strongly in a movie as a singular experience, and gets indignant about the idea that you can pick it apart into bits. Which is funny, given that film is an art form all about assembling little bits (shots) into a whole, but I dig what he means. A lot of Lynch's aesthetic, especially in Blue Velvet, has to do with a certain deliberate stiffness cumulatively turning genuinely eerie, and that's destroyed if you jump to your favorite bits--taken out of context, any moment in his movies can seem off in every possible regard, but put them together and magic happens.

By: El Sabor Asiatico

El Sabor Asiatico — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:43:17 -0800

I have to believe a fan edit is inevitable. Get on it Internet hive mind!

By: Saxon Kane

Saxon Kane — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:57:29 -0800

So can anyone confirm if all of this footage is on the Blu-Ray release or not? The Amazon page says that it includes "newly discovered lost footage" but does it have the whole 52 mins? I am totally fine with Lynch leaving the films the way he edited them, but I would love to see the deleted scenes from other movies, like the 3 hours cut from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. And although Lynch has disavowed it, I really love being able to watch the extended Alan Smithee cut of Dune. Speaking of Mulholland Dr, sometimes I wonder which universe is better: the one we live in now where we got the film, or the parallel universe where it became a TV series like he'd originally planned.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 13:05:55 -0800

I still remember when Laura Dern's character made the tragedy mask face after the naked --not nude-- Isabelli Rosellinni's called Kyle McLachlan's her secret lover. What a powerful scene that was.

By: goutytophus

goutytophus — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 13:42:03 -0800

easily in the top ten of all time. reminds me of going back to renton (wa) to visit my folks.

By: the bricabrac man

the bricabrac man — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 13:59:59 -0800

Speaking of Mulholland Dr, sometimes I wonder which universe is better: the one we live in now where we got the film, or the parallel universe where it became a TV series like he'd originally planned. The TV show is much, much better in that other universe, but its existence caused a series of events culminating in the election of Sarah Palin as Supreme Kommandant of the United North American Union in 2010. So, take your pick.

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:01:18 -0800

Finally: Aunt Barbara gets all the screen time she deserves!

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:09:21 -0800

What a powerful scene that was. Oddly, that's one thing that might have been improved with the backstory; in the deleted scenes we find out who the guys in the car are and why Sandy's jilted ex is so pissed off; he had considered Jeffrey a friend. In the movie as released it's not quite clear where these guys came from or where they went after Dorothy showed up. That said, it probably could have been done a little better without the large number of scenes used to establish that relationship in the deleted scenes collection.

By: kittens for breakfast

kittens for breakfast — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:36:01 -0800

By: You Should See the Other Guy

You Should See the Other Guy — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:58:42 -0800

The rumor I've heard about that is that the surprisingly conservative Lynch didn't want people just skipping forward to watch the lesbian sex scenes. I believe he just doesn't want people watching his movies out of order. Sit down and watch it in a single sitting, is his point. Lesbians have nothing to do with it. I believe it's in his contract now that he decides if there are chapter stops or not.

By: A Thousand Baited Hooks

A Thousand Baited Hooks — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 17:19:33 -0800

Yes, Lynch has strong views about how films should be watched.

By: 41swans

41swans — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 17:34:47 -0800

Megan Mullally!

By: the bricabrac man

the bricabrac man — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:53:52 -0800

That's not "strong views", that's just common sense.

By: neuron

neuron — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 22:45:33 -0800

I saw this movie in its original theatrical release. At that time I said "That was a great movie and I will never see it again." Now, many years later, I recall the movie only vaguely, but I'm going to trust my prior self.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 23:17:26 -0800

Megan Mullally! Holy shit. I did not recognize her. But watching it again, her voice is unmistakable. Holy shit. Megan Mullally was almost in Blue Velvet.

By: ouke

ouke — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 02:15:39 -0800

flapjax: too much for a monday morning , man. now I'm all screwed up for the rest of the day. Wonderful!

By: localroger

localroger — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 05:26:23 -0800

"That was a great movie and I will never see it again." It was only on my third viewing that I figured out the real plot and wrapped up all the little strings that don't seem to make much sense on a shallow viewing.

By: hubs

hubs — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:44:59 -0800

...the surprisingly conservative Lynch didn't want people just skipping forward to watch the lesbian sex scenes. The surprisingly un-conservative David Lynch eats a pair of (warm) panties for the camera (sfw).

By: codacorolla

codacorolla — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:22:40 -0800

Just posting to say that this just got taken down by Fox.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:50:20 -0800

Chris Isaak's rarely seen 'Wicked Game' video directed by David Lynch

By: nathancaswell

nathancaswell — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:00:13 -0800

... I find this alternate video far more interesting and true to the spirit of the song than the much better known official video which was directed by Herb Ritts and therefore looks like a Calvin Klein commercial. Look, I love David Lynch as much as any of us (and Wild at Heart is fantastic) but this right here is like a 3 shot performance intercut with footage from a movie. It's one step above a "comic book movie shots intercut with NBA highlights" promo. The Herb Ritts vid looks like a Calvin Klein commercial, sure... but who cares? Would this song have registered to the extent it did without a half naked Helena Christensen rolling around in the surf and dreamboat footage of Chris Isaak floating through the clouds? Unlikely. They 100% made the right call. The Herb Ritts video is completely cemented as a "time and a place" memory in my childhood. That makes it great.