Mulholland Drive: Interview

Review by By Clint Morris

Interview with Laura Elena Harring
Star of Mulholland Drive

If you haven't seen Mulholland Drive yet, you are missing out one of the year's most exciting screen pleasures. Directed by David Lynch, the mesmerising drama with a difference concerns two women, one with a case of amnesia, attempting to unlock the secrets of their mysterious existence. And with David Lynch behind the camera, you can bet it's going to head down a road less-traveled...

Playing Rita, the mysterious brunette of the film is rising newcomer Laura Elena Harring. Harring, like Director Lynch, never expected Mulholland Drive to reach the near-sky heights it has. The story behind the production is that Mulholland Drive was originally a TV pilot made for ABC. However, even after Lynch cut it considerably, the station canned plans to screen it, and so the show seemed dead in the water.

Thankfully, a French film company expressed their interest in the project and helped Lynch turn the one-time TV show into a feature length film. "Two and a half years later I found out I was required again, can you believe that", Laura tells me via her Hollywood home. Most of the actors returned to set to film additional scenes, including a few Australian actors. "Aussie actors are great and soooo talented," boasts Laura. "I especially liked Naomi (Watts) and Melissa George".

After 15 years of working on Television in series like "Sunset Beach", and fourteen films including "Little Nicky" and "Lambada : The Forbidden Dance", Harring enlisted in London's Academy of Performing Arts, obviously rewarding training if you've seen her on screen now. No doubt Lynch also helped her immerse herself in the role of Hollywood starlet Rita, and Laura has nothing but praise for her mentor.

"He's a great, gentle, poetic soul," she says. But what most people want to know - as they usually do with David Lynch films - is what the hell the story is really about ?

"Everyone always wants the interpretation of Mulholland Drive and I can't help them, unfortunately. David never gave us any clues." Laura says. "But thanks to the film, I am meeting with a lot of people and having a great time".

And, according to Laura, it was a blessing that Mulholland Drive never became a TV series. "I don't think he wants to do TV again", Laura says of the Twin Peaks alumni. "I heard him say that once, but one never knows."

Among her next roles, Laura plays her first action-part in "Derailed" opposite Jean Claude Van Damme ("first action film. I fly 50 feet up in the air!!"), and a part in Denzel Washington's new film John Q.

"I learned a lot from Denzel", Laura confesses. "He's a consistently great actor. Every take was different. He has such depth in his eyes!".

But as much as the world looks forward to Laura Elena Harring's new parts, one wonders if she will ever step back into the shoes of Rita. "Mulholland Drive 2? There hasn't been any talk of a sequel. But Anything's possible. Since it appears Diane (Watts character) disappears in the end, she would have to haunt me, no?"

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