Behind the camera, David Lynch is a certified phenomenon. In front of it, he remains a little more enigmatic. His cameo credits (“Louie,” “The Cleveland Show” and that time they appeared to run out of cast members in “Twin Peaks”) are pretty incongruous with his usual brand of provocative art, and lend a further wacky dimension to his already surreal public persona.
Now, he has committed himself to be directed by his daughter, Jennifer Lynch, in a new indie, “A Fall From Grace,” executive produced by Jory Weitz. Ms. Lynch, whose “Boxing Helena” proved something of a critical punchbag, co-wrote the script with Eric Wilkinson. It will be a detective thriller in which Tim Roth is a St. Louis homicide agent in pursuit of a serial killer whose young victims keep cropping up on riverbanks, Laura Palmer-style. Lynch Sr., who will play Roth’s father, remarked upon working underneath his daughter, “I will be putty in Jen’s hands.”
“I didn’t write the role with him in mind,” she says, “but I was thinking of [my father] because he calls up so many powerful and yet fragile elements in my life and because this character is strong but broken down by dementia. So for me, it’s perfect.” Filming is scheduled to begin this summer, and let’s hope it doesn’t keep Daddy Lynch from finishing that new script he’s working on. [THR]
