Objectif Cinema : All the shooting took place close to where he lives...

Roland Kermarec : Apart from the Madison's house, that was in the neighborhood, Pete Dayton's was in the San Fernando Valley. There were other locations in L.A., some chase sequences in the Hollywood hills, and some desert sequences in Death Valley. We were supposed to shoot there just before Christmas, for a week and a half. At first I was not meant to go, as it would have cost too much for the production, the hotel especially. I was supposed to stay in L.A. and assist in the editing of the first scenes. I admit having been a bit disappointed, even though the editing was interesting too. David Lynch then made a wonderful gesture : he paid for the hotel from his own pocket.

I was then able to watch these sequences, especially the love scene between Pete Dayton and Alice, that constitutes one of the great magical and tripping moments of the production : we were in this totally deserted place, in the middle of the night, in freezing temperatures and with a wind that was blowing dust everywhere, and this Mortal Coil song, Song to the Siren, echoed in this strange atmosphere. We must have heard it at least fifty times while shooting these scenes, and it created an atmosphere out of this world filled with poetry that has forever moved me.


Objectif Cinema : Does Mr. Lynch often play music during the shooting of a sequence ?

Roland Kermarec : He puts some on for the mood of the scenes, without the live sound being affected... often when he noticed at certain moments of the day when the crew were weakening, he would put on a piece by Rammstein. We must have heard it at least 500 times during the production ! That piece for me will be forever linked to Lost Highway ! And it was funny to see how the crew's moral lifted at the sound of it !

During the shooting of the chase in the park, it was very early in the morning and rather chilly. David asked for the music to be put on, went to the speakers and rubbed his hands with a large grin, as if they were two large chimneys ! That's to say how stimulating the music was !


Objectif Cinema : Does he ever listen to certain music on the side ?

Roland Kermarec : During the takes, the dialogue is sent directly to his earphones. Simultaneously, he listens to recorded music whenever it is not directly played on set. For the prison scene, the long dolly shot that follows the prison guards while they feed the prisoners, and which was in the end edited out, he played a jazz piece he had composed together with Angelo Badalamenti. He played it out loud at a very low speed, which gave it an extremely deep sound that echoed in the building. The music was used more for atmosphere than anything else. Unusually, this sequence was shot in an old fire department ; Lynch didn't want the prison to look too realistic even though he knew exactly what he wanted.


Objectif Cinema : Were there many scenes that were shot but never edited in the final cut ?

Roland Kermarec : Yes, quite a few actually, especially with the two girls, Marianne and Raquel. There is a scene in a lingerie store on Hollywood Boulevard, but it wasn't essential for the story and didn't involve any of the principal protagonists. There are also a few scenes with Balthazar Getty that were cut out, when he arrives in this place full of choppers, those cars used by Mexicans to pick up girls. At one moment David took me aside and very amused, he who is always so concentrated on set, pointed to a man with a red pole in his hand and asked me where I had seen that before. He was of course referring to Mon Oncle by Jacques Tati. Already in Wild at Heart he had put in the same homage, but the scene for Lost Highway was unfortunately cut out.