Interview With Monty Montgomery, Twin Peaks & Wild At Heart Producer

"As for my role as a producer; well, since the credited producer was barred from the set by David; I did all kinds of tasks, from second unit directing to going for toothbrushes and toothpaste for the crew when snowed into a location one night."


Monty Montgomery interview "Who killed Laura Palmer?" was the hottest question of the summer in 1990. Twin Peaks was the soap opera that changed the parameters of the medium for which the lasting of intellectual and emotional impact isn't really characteristic. Fifteen years later, we have met Monty Montgomery, one of the producers of the series at the Istanbul Film festival, which he attended as the member of the grand jury. He was one of the founding forces of the independent production company Propaganda Films, responsible for thousands of music videos (Madonna, Michael Jackson), commercials (Coca-Cola, Nike) and movies such as Being John Malkovich.

1. You got involved in films at the tender age of 15 - with the production of Wings of Ash: Pilot for a Dramatization of the Life of Antonin Artaud (1978). Could you tell us more about this project?

Wings of Ash was developed by the painter Marcus Reichert & myself based on the life of Antonin Artaud. Reichert was friendly with Francis Bacon, who in turn after reading the screenplay mentioned the project to Mick Jagger. Jagger expressed interest in playing the part, so I put together privately the money to produce an elaborate screen test. Ed Lachman was the Director of Photography & I remember we 'borrowed' all the camera and lighting equipment off of a Dino De Laurentis production which was on hiatus during our shooting schedule in New York City. The test was not a success for a number of reasons which shall go unanswered unless important for the reader's intrigue. Oddly enough, some years back I saw listed in a Christie's Film Ephemera auction catalog: 'a rare 35mm print of WINGS OF ASH.� I never even had a print myself!

2. Your second producing credit (Union City, 1980) followed two years later...

I bought the rights to a Cornell Woolrich short story entitled The Corpse Next Door. Woolrich had written the story which became Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW. Reichert wrote the screenplay and I produced the movie, which became eventually UNION CITY. Deborah Harry of Blondie was cast to star and Ed Lachman was once again the DOP. Kathryn Bigelow was the script supervisor and the production was generally chaotic for me as a producer. Things got so bad with the Mafia in New Jersey; I was forced to hire another more experienced producer for two weeks. This being Fred Caruso who had line produced The Godfather, etc. Fred & I hit it off like a house on fire and he became my mentor. I learned more from him in two weeks than I did during the rest of my career & had a wonderful time during the process. Ironically, Fred went on to produce Blue Velvet & asked me to come work with him on the film; which I did not; but here I get ahead of myself. Union City was a mess as a finished product�.what I considered, even then as a failure, but the experience was tremendous. MOMA owns the negative now, so perhaps it has some artistic value?

3. You only directed (co-directed) one movie, The Loveless (1982), which was a screen debut of Willem Dafoe. What was the nature of that project and your involvement in it?

Kathryn Bigelow & I began talking about writing a script together. She was at Columbia Film School during this time. Eventually we wrote 'US 17' which became THE LOVELESS after many post production/ distribution name changes. A peculiar biker movie set in the 50's about nihilism. I produced this movie with a great friend A. Kitman (Alex) Ho. Alex was Fred's protégé and off we went to the deep south of America to make this highly stylized student feature film. Any other information about this movie I recommend you purchase a DVD which has commentary by myself, Willem Dafoe & Kathryn; plus extensive supplemental info, photos, etc'

4. How did you get connected with David Lynch initially?

Isabella Rossellini encouraged David Lynch to meet me. This meeting was arranged by Alan Mendel, who then was Isabella's manager or agent or both. I went over to David's house and we chatted for awhile. A week or two later; he called to ask if I would like to produce a short film THE COWBOY AND THE FRENCHMAN for French Television. I did; and so began our working relationship. The production went beautifully, everyone had fun and David was extremely pleased with the way the production was handled from start to finish. I took no personal credit, since Propaganda was just getting started.

5. What was your role as a producer on the series Twin Peaks?

By this stage, David & I had become pretty good friends and were spending time together over meals, etc. Propaganda had a loose relationship with him and we were helping with post production on various projects of his. The Twin Peaks Pilot movie production office was at Propaganda and David had asked me to unofficially keep an eye on what was happening, since he was in New York working on something else. I had nothing whatsoever to do with the creative development or the deal making of the Pilot movie for the series. The deal was made by Tony Krantz of CAA who was David's then agent. Eventually, I voiced some concerns to David about the pre-production & he decided to ask me to come on board as his producer & off we went to Seattle, Washington with a small budget for such an ambitious movie to be made in a very short schedule. There was little sleep to be had and we never took off our expedition gear, since the weather conditions were a challenge at best. If it did not rain, it snowed, if it did not snow, it hailed or sleeted or was foggy or everything all at once, etc. It was intensely pleasurable and the results were well worth the efforts. As for my role as a producer; well, since the credited producer was barred from the set by David; I did all kinds of tasks, from second unit directing to going for toothbrushes and toothpaste for the crew when snowed into a location one night. Duwayne Dunham the editor who had done Blue Velvet was a good friend of mine and the post production was a joy both on location and in Los Angeles.

6. What was in your opinion the secret of the Twin Peaks success? How did you react to the sudden and massive popularity of the series?

I guess Twin Peaks was at the right place at the right time. I never gave much thought to why it was so successful and had no time to reflect on the popularity of the initial success of the series, since I was working on so many other projects. By the time the episodes began to be broadcast (David directed the first three, which we did together) we were up to our eyeballs at Lucas Ranch mixing WILD AT HEART frantically to make the Cannes screening deadline. David and I carried the film onto the plane ourselves.

7. The series went pretty far in terms of what might be acceptable to TV audiences (at the time). How could you sell the ideas, was it a trouble to get the money?

I did deal with ABC�s Standard's & Practices Legal Department about script changes during the production about forms of bondage & some clothing issues, but in the end nothing too radical.

8. Do you think it would be easier to make similar kind of TV show today, I mean, how would you compete with that kind of series?

I have never been interested in Television, quite frankly and do not even own one.

9. You were not connected with the movie "Twin Peaks: Fire walk With me". How come?

There was no reason for me to be involved in Fire Walk with Me.

10. 1990 was quite a busy year for you - producing Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart, Jack Fisk's movie "Daddy's Dyin'... Who's Got the Will", Industrial symphony No.1... and you were only 27. How did you manage all that?

Strike while the iron is hot. Actually, I only set up Jack Fisk's movie and did the pre-production, scouting with Jack, since I was focused on WILD AT HEART. My partner Joni Sighvattson was the main producer of this movie. Industrial Symphony was like a music video, which Propaganda was well equipped to handle on the spur of the moment.

11. Were there at any time plans to continue with series? Could you imagine Twin Peaks, 20 year later?

No comment.

12. What is the story behind Wild at heart? Is it true that you wanted to direct initially, but David Lynch fell in love with the book?

Barry Gifford who wrote the book WILD AT HEART was then the editor at Black Lizard Press in San Francisco. Specializing in re-publishing NOIR titles; so he and I had a cordial relationship without ever having met in person, because I had optioned a couple of their books. One day the galleys for his book arrived with a letter. I had been looking for another story to direct & I loved the book immediately. I quickly made a deal for the rights and called David Lynch to ask if he might consider acting as Executive Producer. I sent the book over one Friday and he called me on Sunday and said: 'Monty, you are not going to direct this movie, because I am'. We laughed and he started to write the script. I remember PolyGram would not pay for the screenplay, so Steve Golin and I put our own money into the script deal & fortunately we were making the movie within about six months.

13. If I understand correctly, some scenes from Wild at Heart were shot, but later deleted in editing, are there any plans for the issuing of director's cut or something like that?

Yes, many scenes were shot and never used for one reason or another. Some scenes were too violent for test audiences, some scenes just made the movie too long; no matter how good they were by themselves. The current new release DVD is out. No plans to my knowledge for a Director's Cut version, unless you would like to pay for it.

14. Were you interested in directing any other movies besides The Loveless and Wild at Heart? Are you still interested in directing?

I am interested in directing again.

15. The press release from the Istanbul FF says that you are the founder of American Cinematheque. Could you elaborate on that, please?

The American Cinematheque was the dream of two both deceased men, Gary Essert and Gary Abrahams. I met Gary Essert thru FILMEX which had been the Los Angeles Film Festival when THE LOVELESS was shown back in the 1980s. He shared his enthusiasm for the Cinematheque with me and I participated financially back when their operating budget was fragile. At the time it was risky & I gave what seemed to be large amounts of money, but by today's standards it would be nothing. Eventually it all became a reality and I was able to connect Propaganda into the production end of the first Awards Shows & my partner Joni Sighvattson went on to serve as President. ("http://www.americancinematheque.com/indexegyptian.html")

16. What is your connection with Steve Golin and Propaganda Films?

Steve Golin was my partner at Propaganda, is a dear friend and we produced many projects with one another during a 15 year period.

17. You produced your last feature film in 1996 (The Portrait of a Lady, directed by Jane Campion). What have you been up to since then?

I had several false starts on feature projects and produced with David Lynch an album of music for my wife ("http://www.lynchnet.com/luxvivens/"). I lived on an island in Maine for three years and wrote three new screenplays and a book.

18. How did you get the (memorable, I must add) role of "The Cowboy" in Mulholland Dr.?

David wrote the part of THE COWBOY for me and would not take no for an answer when I tried to avoid playing the role up until the very last minute. David is a lifelong friend. We are regularly in touch.