Why Moira Kelly? - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) Discussion

[–] DerKommissar_2525 12 years ago

Maybe because she and Lee seem to have worked together on a movie before?

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[–] MovieMan0283part2 11 years ago

Which is on YouTube, incidentally: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zQ-rqH3zMy4. Not only does it involve troubled teens in denial and an abusive/manipulative father - it also features an image of a white horse during a murder scene (in this case woven into a rug rather than hallucinated in the living room).

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[–] DerKommissar_2525 11 years ago

Ah, looks like the meanie is Kelly's father and she has more to do than in FWWM. And good ol' Windom Earle is in it too playing a law enforcement character.

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[–] MovieMan0283part2 11 years ago

Wow, didn't notice that. Small world...

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[–] dyahrmarkt 12 years ago

have to agree - Moira Kelly was an excellent choice - the character was still there even though the actress had changed. In fact, I think Moira defined Donna more acutely than LFB ever did.

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[–] VivienCastro 10 years ago

The problem was that they created two different Donna's, and LFB's one was the first one.

Big problem is their appearance which really affects the dynamics she has with Laura. While in both cases it is clear that DOnna is the good girl who has the desire to stop being so repressed and be more like her wilder friend, in Moira's case she is the not so pretty sidekick friend. Her desire to be more like Laura comes from her looking up to her in many ways, she is the cool one, the hot one, and Moira tries to imitate her without strong sense of self. Moira's Donna is like a child looking up to her cool older sister.

In LFB's case she is an equal in appearance, and they are on more equal grounds. LFB has a strong personality and it is more conservative and restrained than Laura's (unlike Moira who can't be Laura, Donna simply isn't Laura). She however feels drawn to Laura for her lack of inhibitions and that is the main trait she wants to emulate. She isn't a sidekick or a girl who blindly idolizes a friend, she has more pride, more judgment even of Laura than Moira does. It is this very specific thing about her that is a contrast between them and that Donna is both drawn to and repulsed by.

Both could work, but we saw LFB's Donna first in TP and I find her to be more complex and interesting, and assume so was her relationship with Laura. I assume there was more closeness and understanding of her than there seemed to be between them in FWWM.

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[–] dyahrmarkt 10 years ago

Of course, keep in mind we are seeing the last day in their friendship together. When you consider the entire arc of the time they spent together, however many years that might be, such "distance" you may see between Moira-as-Donna and Laura would be in a certain context. If LFB was in the role for the movie, the script likely would have remained the same. And, keep in mind we, until the film, hadn't seen Laura alive in the real world in real time - only in video footage, memories, in Maddy, and in the Red Room.

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[–] avia2 9 years ago

Worth remembering Donna's significant change between Seasons 1 and 2, from sensible and conservative to sensual and rebellious.

In season 2 Donna also revealed her earlier naiveté when yelling at Laura's grave and when confiding in Harold the recluse.

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[–] newsfop 10 years ago

I think it was an incredible casting choice to replace such a well established character with a new actress. They may be physically different, but the proper channeling was done to keep the core personality in sync. Donna after Laura's death was a much different person than before. We only really see what Donna was like before Laura's death in the pilot of Twin Peaks for a few minutes. Based on that representation, I think Moira Kelly a great job of invoking the vulnerable innocence that Donna had.

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[–] kimmostar 12 years ago

I'm having a hard time picturing Lara Flynn Boyle in this movie.

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[–] andrj908 12 years ago

They should of cast Winona Ryder. She was the right age, quite an up and coming name at the time, and looked right.

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[–] james_film 12 years ago

Winona Ryder was already a big star - if she'd been cast she would have been the biggest star in the whole film and would have been too expensive.

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[–] breakingthewaves001 12 years ago

I doubt she would of cost more than what they had. Twin Peaks was a big deal at the time too. Winona was probably the most expensive around 1993 to 1997. She looked a lot more like Lara Flynn Boyle than Moira Kelly. There was a clip from when Winona was on Oprah for Mermaids and she looks just like Lara.

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[–] doctorcrimedog 11 years ago

Boyle reportedly bowed out because of the nudity in the film, and as I've never seen Ryder do a nude scene either, I doubt she would have worked out.

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[–] newsfop 11 years ago

I'm a tremendous fan of Donna Hayward from the show. She was by far my favorite character. She captivated my attention and I loved watching her grow through the episodes. I would cry when she was sad, and I would cheer when she was happy. There was nobody I felt more for than her.

That being said, I'm actually not all that disappointed that her character was recast for the movie. Reason being Donna wasn't the same prior to Laura's murder. She was naive and vulnerable in such a way we haven't seen before, traits that Lara Flynn Boyle hadn't shown us because of the aftermath.

I'm fine with this because Fire Walk With Me is Laura's movie first and foremost. It's finally a chance to see the person she really was and the tragedy that devoured her. Donna was that one piece that kept her going as long as she did.

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[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Rufus-T 10 years ago

My guess is that the nude scene had something to do with Lara Flynn Boyle not wanting to reprise the role in the film.

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[–] Prismark10 10 years ago

Kelly did look miscast. She looked nothing like Boyle and looked younger.

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[–] sheeleyb 10 years ago

Of course the funny thing is that she looked like she might actually be in the proper age range for the character she was playing.

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[–] timbasa77 10 years ago

Get used to her, everybody. If they feature Donna in Season 3 (or Twin Peaks: 25 Years Later, or whatever you want to call it), it's definitely going to be Moira, given the current state of Lara Flynn Boyle. Kelly actually looks more like an older LFB than LFB does!

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[–] dyahrmarkt 10 years ago

Yep. I'd be more than happy to see Moira in the role again. Lynch would be out of his mind to let LFB in front of a camera, looking the way she does.

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[–] franzkabuki 10 years ago

Well, LFB's IMDb page says that she's "rumored" to be cast as Donna in at least one episode and confidently lists TP as her up-and-coming project; Moira Kelly's page contains no such rumors. Which is unfortunate - I thought LFB would make a pretty effective BOB with her interesting new looks. But then again maybe Donna has had a rough life of alcoholism or hard drug addiction...

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[–] dyahrmarkt 10 years ago

Hi franz - that's pretty funny re: BOB. But actually, if anyone could convince LFB to put herself out there like that, looks and all, it would be Lynch. Look at those shots of the still great-looking Laura Dern in IE, her face distorted like a clown's mask in close-up. Very few actresses would trust a director that way. LFB doesn't strike me as anywhere near the professional that Dern is, but who knows what kind of horror show the two of them could do with a "fallen" Donna...

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[–] franzkabuki 10 years ago

Yeah, to once more paraphrase Dick Laurent, Dern really can out-ugly them sumbitches in Inland Empire. Generally, I've never considered her particularly attractive and in a couple of her roles, she's positively annoying (Wild At Heart, Payne's debut Citizen Ruth), but after IE she never needs to prove anything to anyone again; that's one for the ages. Talking of going hideous though, there's this highly effective Aussie horror The Babadook released last year, where the lead actress Essie Davis manages to turn herself into a full blown nightmare figure even exceeding all Dern's facial contortions - I got scared just looking at her. Bad scared. And it's the creepiest film I seen since IE itself... so if you haven't seen it, that's a rec.

Generally, I'd also prefer to see Moira Kelly as Donna, but LFB's inarguably the more interesting choice - may Lynch be the next plastic surgeon to have a go at her. I guess I still have trust in the old man's judgement, even though the little film work he's done during the past 9 years has been decidedly less than impressive (the kitschy short Lady Shanghai and a few bad music videos to his equally bad music). TP's too great a legacy to access with some half baked notions regarding the follow-up and surely Lynch still understands that, at least... even if he's OD'd on his goddamn meditation.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

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[–] dyahrmarkt 10 years ago

I'll check The Babadook.

It will indeed be fascinating to see Lynch brought "back" from the latest standard he set with "experimental" filmmaking in IE - Twin Peaks fully along *those* lines wouldn't work, aside from the obligatory Red Room scenes we're bound to be treated to. I've been sort of weary on Lynch's so-called output over the past number of years, but I think collaborating with Frost might actually help restore some sense of balance to his material instead of it disappearing permanently down the rabbit hole. That push-pull relationship they had worked for two seasons of Twin Peaks when Lynch wasn't distracted with Wild at Heart (see: those half-dozen episodes after Coop solves the mystery). One reason that was fun is when Lynch was allowed to go full 'Lynch', it made those episodes all the more fascinating, esp. the final episode.

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[–] franzkabuki 10 years ago

Not sure if you've heard already, but some not-so-good new sh-t has come to light recently regarding Twin Peaks 2016 - apparently, Lynch said last week on some arts occasion in Brisbane that "he's not sure TP season 3 will happen"... and on another site it's claimed some Lynch's personal assistant had confirmed that Lynch "probably won't be returning to Twin Peaks". So that like. Allegedly, the issue is about DL demanding more money than the TV channel is prepared to pay him. Which, of course, is a veiled bad news even if the show will go ahead eventually - it's well known what great sacrifices Lynch was prepared to make when Mulholland Dr the TV show was on the table in 1999, going as far as agreeing to essentially butcher the Pilot, just to get the thing on the air. Now, however, he seems to be prepared to value "the little bit of money" over his precious brainchild... which could be taken to mean he knows the material isn't really up to snuff and worth fighting for.

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[–] nikkiweir 10 years ago

I wonder whether the group of artists and artisans that Lynch has worked with frequently over the years, i.e. Propaganda Films, Lynch/Frost Productions, etc., get paid out of his end.

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[–] dyahrmarkt 10 years ago

Since your post, Franz, things have definitely gone downhill with the Twin Peaks 3 thing. The cast is actively campaigning for DL to come back. Sherilyn Fenn is the most active of anyone right now; I actually had a small exchange with her online.

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[–] AdvanceIstheMan 9 years ago

I find it strange that people have a problem with Moira Kelly not looking like Lara Flynn Boyle, as if picking someone that looked more like LFB would make you forget that it's a different actress. She definitely seemed younger and more innocent, but we already knew that the Donna from the TV series was more rebellious and adult than the Donna we never saw. Having a more innocent-looking actress was fine for the movie.

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[–] nikkiweir 9 years ago

Moira, from the Ancient Greek for Fate (portion, allotment).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moirai#Etymology

Actually I think the two actresses resemble each other from certain angles, though maybe less so overall. The differences in their demeanors as Donna fit what happened to that character in the wake of Laura's murder (or maybe in the wake of the whole previous week).

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