Blue Velvet is a 1986 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by David Lynch. Blending psychological horror with film noir, the film stars Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, and is named after the 1951 song of the same name. The film concerns a young college student who, returning home to visit his ill father, discovers a severed human ear in a field. The ear then leads him to uncover a vast criminal conspiracy, and enter into a romantic relationship with a troubled lounge singer.
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, painter, visual artist, musician, actor and philanthropist. Lynch has received critical acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. He has received numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. In 2007, a panel of critics convened by The Guardian announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important film-maker of the current era."
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor and film director. He is known for his roles as mentally disturbed outsiders and rebels. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Hopper studied acting at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and the Actors Studio in New York. Hopper also began a prolific and acclaimed photography career in the 1960s.
Kyle MacLachlan is an American actor. He is best recognized for his work with American filmmaker David Lynch. The most widely known of these collaborations were MacLachlan's performances as Dale Cooper: first on the television series Twin Peaks in 1990 and 1991 and again in 2017, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama; he also portrayed Cooper in the program's theatrical film prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). Further collaborations include his portrayals for Lynch of Paul Atreides in Dune (1984) and Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet (1986). MacLachlan's other film roles include Lloyd Gallagher in The Hidden (1987), Ray Manzarek in The Doors (1991), Cliff Vandercave in The Flintstones (1994), Zack Carey in Showgirls (1995) and the voice of Riley's father in Inside Out (2015).
Twin Peaks is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for a third season on Showtime.
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress and model. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted for her successful tenure as a Lancôme model and an established career in American cinema.
Wild at Heart is a 1990 American romantic crime drama film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Barry Gifford. Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini, and Harry Dean Stanton, the film follows Sailor Ripley and Lula Fortune, a young couple who go on the run from Lula's domineering mother and the criminals she hires to kill Sailor.
Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was an American composer and arranger best known for his work in composing for films. He is best known for his acclaimed collaborations with director David Lynch, notably the scores for Blue Velvet (1986), the Twin Peaks television series, The Straight Story (1999), and Mulholland Drive (2001).
Inland Empire is a 2006 experimental psychological thriller film written, directed and co-produced by David Lynch. As of 2024, it is the last feature film Lynch has directed, marking his longest hiatus between film projects. The film's cinematography, editing, score and sound design were also by Lynch, with pieces by a variety of other musicians also featured. Lynch's longtime collaborator and then-wife Mary Sweeney co-produced the film. The cast includes such Lynch regulars as Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton, and Grace Zabriskie, as well as Jeremy Irons, Karolina Gruszka, Peter J. Lucas, Krzysztof Majchrzak, and Julia Ormond. There are also brief appearances by a host of additional actors, including Nastassja Kinski, Laura Harring, Terry Crews, Mary Steenburgen, and William H. Macy. The voices of Harring, Naomi Watts, and Scott Coffey are included in excerpts from Lynch's 2002 Rabbits online project. The title borrows its name from a metropolitan area in Southern California.
Frank Booth is a fictional character and the main antagonist in David Lynch's 1986 psychological thriller Blue Velvet, portrayed by Dennis Hopper. A violent drug-dealer, he has kidnapped the family of lounge singer Dorothy Vallens, holding them hostage in order to force her into becoming his sex slave. Their encounters are characterized by Frank huffing an unknown gas from a tank he carries with him. This causes him to exhibit a split personality between two individuals he identifies as "Baby" and "Daddy", whose personas he assumes to engage in acts of ritualistic rape. One of Frank's associates is a police detective nicknamed "The Yellow Man", who helps Frank by killing rival drug-dealers. The Yellow Man later steals their supplies from the evidence room, so Frank can sell them himself.
Laura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.
Smooth Talk is a 1985 film directed by Joyce Chopra, loosely based on Joyce Carol Oates' short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (1966), which was in turn inspired by the Tucson murders committed by Charles Schmid. The protagonist and main character, Connie Wyatt, is played by Laura Dern. The antagonist, Arnold Friend, is played by Treat Williams.
The 7th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards honored the best filmmaking of 1986. The awards were given on 11 January 1987.
Mary Sweeney is an American director, writer, film editor and film producer. She was briefly married to American film director David Lynch, whom she collaborated with for 20 years. Sweeney worked with Lynch on several films and television series, most notably the original Twin Peaks series (1990), Lost Highway (1997), The Straight Story (1999), and Mulholland Drive (2001). Sweeney is the Dino and Martha De Laurentiis Endowed Professor in the Writing Division of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. She was formerly the chair of the Film Independent board of directors.
Blue Velvet was the soundtrack of the film of the same name. It included original music by composer and conductor, Angelo Badalamenti. It was released in 1986 on Varèse Sarabande.
The 21st National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 5 January 1987, honored the best filmmaking of 1986.
Blue Velvet Revisited is a 2016 documentary film directed and edited by Peter Braatz. Using a montage technique, it documents the making of David Lynch's critically acclaimed film, Blue Velvet, using a combination of filmed footage, photographs and interviews captured on set by Braatz, with an accompanying soundtrack by Cult With No Name, Tuxedomoon and John Foxx.
