this one, the third one, was very far removed from the first two, even though the second was quite a jump from the first.
One day we were getting ready to shoot a scene called “The Little House,” which involved Laura Dern and my friend Krzysztof Majchrzak, an actor from Poland. Krzysztof arrived in Los Angeles fresh from Poland and the CamerImage gang brought him over to my house.When he got out of the car, he was wearing these goofy glasses, and he smiled and pointed to the glasses.
So I got the idea that he planned to wear these things in the scene and I said,“No, no, no, Krzysztof.” And he said, “I need a prop. I need a thing.” So I went into my office and I opened up the cupboard and saw a little piece of broken tile, I saw a rock, and I saw a red lightbulb, but very transparent like a Christmas light. I took these things out and offered him a choice. “Take one of these, Krzysztof ”—and he picked up the bulb. I put the other things away. I wasn’t going to let him have those anymore. I just gave him the bulb. So we went out to the small house and Krzysztof came out from behind a tree with the red bulb in his mouth, and that’s how we shot the scene. So one thing led to another.
I really had this feeling that if there’s a Unified Field, there must be a unity between a Christmas tree bulb and this man from Poland who came in wearing these strange glasses. It’s interesting to see how these unrelated things live together. And it gets your mind working. How do these things relate when they seem so far apart? It conjures up a third thing that almost unifies those first two. It’s a struggle to see how this unity in the midst of diversity could go to work.The ocean is the unity and these things float on it.
And I thought, Well, obviously, there’s got to be a way that these relate—because of this great Unified Field. There couldn’t be a fragment that doesn’t relate to everything. It’s all kind of one thing, I felt. So, I had high hopes that there would be a unity emerging, that I would see the way these things all related, one to another. But it wasn’t until halfway through that, suddenly, I saw a kind of form that would unite the rest, everything that had come before. And that was a big day. That was a good day, because I could pretty much say that it would be a feature film.
THE NAME
One day, still very early in the process, I was talking to Laura Dern and learned that her now husband, Ben Harper, is from the Inland Empire in Los Angeles. We were talking along, and she mentioned that. I don’t know when it popped up, but I said, “That is the title of this film.” I knew nothing about the film at the time. But I wanted to call it INLAND EMPIRE .
My parents have a log cabin up in Montana. And my brother, cleaning up there one day, found a scrapbook behind a dresser. He sent it to me, because it was my little scrapbook from when I was five years old, from when I lived in Spokane, Washington. I opened up this scrapbook, and the first picture in it was an aerial view of Spokane. And underneath it said, “Inland Empire.” So I figured I was on the right track.
A NEW WAY TO WORK
Working on INLAND EMPIRE was very different.We shot it entirely in digital video, so the level of flexibility and control was amazing.
Also, I didn’t have a script. I wrote the thing scene by scene, without much of a clue where it would end. It was a risk, but I had this feeling that because all things are unified, this idea over here would somehow relate to that idea over there. And I was working with a very great company, StudioCanal in France, who believed in me—enough to let me find my way.
DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY
I don’t do director’s commentary tracks on my DVD releases. I know people enjoy extras, but now, with all the add-ons, the film just seems to have gotten lost. We’ve got to guard the film itself. It should stand alone. You work so
One day we were getting ready to shoot a scene called “The Little House,” which involved Laura Dern and my friend Krzysztof Majchrzak, an actor from Poland. Krzysztof arrived in Los Angeles fresh from Poland and the CamerImage gang brought him over to my house.When he got out of the car, he was wearing these goofy glasses, and he smiled and pointed to the glasses.
So I got the idea that he planned to wear these things in the scene and I said,“No, no, no, Krzysztof.” And he said, “I need a prop. I need a thing.” So I went into my office and I opened up the cupboard and saw a little piece of broken tile, I saw a rock, and I saw a red lightbulb, but very transparent like a Christmas light. I took these things out and offered him a choice. “Take one of these, Krzysztof ”—and he picked up the bulb. I put the other things away. I wasn’t going to let him have those anymore. I just gave him the bulb. So we went out to the small house and Krzysztof came out from behind a tree with the red bulb in his mouth, and that’s how we shot the scene. So one thing led to another.
I really had this feeling that if there’s a Unified Field, there must be a unity between a Christmas tree bulb and this man from Poland who came in wearing these strange glasses. It’s interesting to see how these unrelated things live together. And it gets your mind working. How do these things relate when they seem so far apart? It conjures up a third thing that almost unifies those first two. It’s a struggle to see how this unity in the midst of diversity could go to work.The ocean is the unity and these things float on it.
And I thought, Well, obviously, there’s got to be a way that these relate—because of this great Unified Field. There couldn’t be a fragment that doesn’t relate to everything. It’s all kind of one thing, I felt. So, I had high hopes that there would be a unity emerging, that I would see the way these things all related, one to another. But it wasn’t until halfway through that, suddenly, I saw a kind of form that would unite the rest, everything that had come before. And that was a big day. That was a good day, because I could pretty much say that it would be a feature film.
THE NAME
One day, still very early in the process, I was talking to Laura Dern and learned that her now husband, Ben Harper, is from the Inland Empire in Los Angeles. We were talking along, and she mentioned that. I don’t know when it popped up, but I said, “That is the title of this film.” I knew nothing about the film at the time. But I wanted to call it INLAND EMPIRE .
My parents have a log cabin up in Montana. And my brother, cleaning up there one day, found a scrapbook behind a dresser. He sent it to me, because it was my little scrapbook from when I was five years old, from when I lived in Spokane, Washington. I opened up this scrapbook, and the first picture in it was an aerial view of Spokane. And underneath it said, “Inland Empire.” So I figured I was on the right track.
A NEW WAY TO WORK
Working on INLAND EMPIRE was very different.We shot it entirely in digital video, so the level of flexibility and control was amazing.
Also, I didn’t have a script. I wrote the thing scene by scene, without much of a clue where it would end. It was a risk, but I had this feeling that because all things are unified, this idea over here would somehow relate to that idea over there. And I was working with a very great company, StudioCanal in France, who believed in me—enough to let me find my way.
DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY
I don’t do director’s commentary tracks on my DVD releases. I know people enjoy extras, but now, with all the add-ons, the film just seems to have gotten lost. We’ve got to guard the film itself. It should stand alone. You work so
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