Blue Velvet

Top 10 Fun Facts

1. Exterior shots of Lumberton were filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina - the future home of Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill. We had no idea David Lynch had so much in common with the WB.
2. The original rough cut of the film clocked in at around four hours. That's like making it through half of the first season of Twin Peaks.
3. Although Tony Bennett recorded the song "Blue Velvet" in the early 1950s, David Lynch named the film after Bobby Vinton's chart-topping 1963 version, which also appears on the soundtrack. Tough break for the patron saint of San Francisco.
4. The film's orchestral score was inspired by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. In fact, the film "borrows" from Shostakovich in more ways than one - David Lynch set up speakers on set and blasted the composer's music to help set the mood for cast and crew.
5. Lynch's attention to aural details didn't go unnoticed; the film scored the 100th spot on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 Greatest Film Soundtracks. Number one? A Hard Day's Night.
6. After reading the script, Dennis Hopper desperately wanted the role of drug dealer Frank Booth. Legend has it that he exclaimed, "I've got to play Frank. I am Frank!" Try that at your next casting call and let us know how it goes.
7. Not only did the movie help breathe new life into Dennis Hopper's career, it also liberated Isabella Rossellini from a life sentence as a supermodel.
8. Keep a careful eye out for red curtains in the film. They show up in key places and have become a recurring symbol in David Lynch's work, from Twin Peaks to Mulholland Drive.
9. If drapes don't float your boat in the symbolism department, how about some creepy crawlies? Early in the film we see a nest of bugs crawling underground, while later Jeffrey masquerades as an exterminator. Even Frank's nitrous oxide mask gives him an insect-like quality.
10. Lynch grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where the film takes place. He once explained, "...lumber and lumberjacks, all this kinda thing, that's America to me - like the picket fences and the roses in the opening shot. It's so burned in, that image, and it makes me feel so happy."

Cast

Crew