The David Lynch Files: Eraserhead 1

An invaluable resource on the making of Eraserhead, Godwins book includes interviews with the cast and crew conducted when memories were still fresh. - David Lynch & Kristine McKenna, Room to DreamAs a young artist working with minimal resources, aided by a dedicated cast and crew, David Lynch spent four-and-a-half years making his first feature. The result was a completely unique, darkly comic nightmare called Eraserhead. Carefully nurtured by distributor Libra Films, Eraserhead gradually developed a passionate audience despite a very mixed response from critics. It took four years for the film to reach Winnipeg, Canada, but when it finally did it took hold of writer Kenneth George Godwins imagination. Determined to understand the nature of the films power, Godwin wrote the first in-depth analysis of Eraserhead. That essay led to a commission to write an article forthe magazine Cinefantastique. For the first time, the secretive Lynch agreed to tell the full story of the films production.Gathered together in this volume are the original essay, the complete, unedited production history, and full transcripts of all the interviews Godwin conducted with Lynch himself and members of the cast and crew of Eraserhead.Among the commentaries which Eraserhead has inspired, it is worth mentioning George Godwins most interesting comments ... a must for the Lynchmaniac - Michel Chion, David LynchDavid Lynchs first work has become a cult film, but its bizarre imagery has never before received a cogent interpretation - Film Quarterly Introduction 6 Eraserhead: An Appreciation 9 The Making of Eraserhead 18 Interviews 70 David Lynch 71 Cast and Crew 151 Jack Nance 152 Fred Elmes 166 Catherine Coulson 185 Alan Splet 201 Doreen Small 207 Jack Fisk 216 Laurel Near 219 Jeanne Bates 223 Peter Ivers 227 Additional Interviews 236 Ben Barenholz 237 Mel Brooks 239 Stuart Cornfeld 241 Jonathan Sanger 244