Starburst caught up with writer/director Jennifer Lynch to discuss her latest psychological horror film, Chained.
Starburst: Growing up being on the set of your father’s films must have been an inspiration for you to become a director. What was that like, and did you ever think of wanting to be something else?
Jennifer Lynch: I came from a very creative family. I always wanted to paint and write as a child. People looked at us as differently in that I had strange parents and had no money, yet we were a happy, loving family. I never considered directing until I was either on Dune or the Elephant Man. I would watch my father block his scenes then I would look at what he did studying them thinking how would I shoot the same scenes differently. What would I have rather been? If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would be a transcendental meditation therapist or auto mechanic.
The older cars are easier to work on.
I agree. Everything is so computerized now, I’m expecting to lift the hood like in the episode, A Feasibility Study from The Outer Limits when Joyce Van Patten sees the engine materializing.
Schrodinger’s Engine!
Very good! That’s funny!
With everything that is good in the world, there is a dark side to it also, yet your films represent that nothing is good or bad, that there is a grey area and nothing is really what it seems.
I couldn’t have said it better.
In Chained, Vincent D’Onofrio’s character Bob, is he an extension of Bob from Twin Peaks?
He’s his own fella. It didn’t occur to me that there was a connection and he’s never called by name in the film. I just needed a regular, common sounding name because we needed one for reference and Bob was pretty common. The terrifying thing about him is that he’s just this ordinary guy driving a taxi around on the surface, yet has this underlying subtlety of horror, serial killer dark side within him.
Where did you film the movie and how long was the shoot?
We shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada for fifteen days. They just lost their tax break, so the community got hit hard. I used the same crew I did on Surveillance. They were an incredibly dedicated, hard working crew all the way down to the production assistants.
I’m a very blessed person for having such a great crew that worked for less pay then what they were worth. Film is a collaborative medium with everyone working towards the same goal. You get up in the morning, you go to work and you all work together to create a film with everyone having a common interest. They were a very brave and self-sacrificing crew.
What kind of cameras did you use?
The Red and Alexa. They’re an incredible gift to use on a film shoot. You can see what you immediately shot as opposed to the old 35mm film stock where you had to have it sent out and developed which took time.
What’s coming up next?
A Fall From Grace with Tim Roth, Vincent, Darryl Hannah and Willow Shields. It’s a detective film that takes place in St. Louis, Missouri.
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Chained is available in the US on Blu-ray and DVD from October 22nd. A UK release is currently TBC.
