David Lynch, Laura Dern and a cow named Georgia: The most bizarre Oscar campaign of all time
Inland Empire isn’t that bizarre and unsettling by the standards of mainstream movies or modern horror films, but nevertheless, it’s bizarre and unsettling by the standards set by David Lynch.
Imagine if Mulholland Drive had none of its silly, romantic or exciting scenes, was 40 minutes longer and was intercut with some of the nightmarish dream sequences from Eraserhead. Congratulations, you’ve got Inland Empire in a nutshell.
It’s a brutally tough watch that will test even the most devoted Lynch fans, yet there is, as there always is with Lynch, much more going on than just weirdness for the sake of weirdness. For one thing, it’s got one of the best leading performances in a Lynch film, and that is saying a lot.
The genius behind Twin Peaks was a consummate talent spot. He got career-best work out of Nicolas Cage, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and, of course, his muse Kyle MacLachlan. However, there’s an argument to be made that the actor who dazzles the most in Lynch’s work is none other than Laura Dern.
Dern was incredible in everything they made together, as the consummate girl next door Sandy Williams in Blue Velvet, the sensitive, lovestruck bad girl Lulu Pace Fortune in Wild At Heart, and in Inland Empire, where she plays… Well, like everything in the film, it’s complicated.
Dern plays a dual role in the film, delivering turns as Nikki Grace and Sue Blue. One is an actor, and one is a character that she’s playing, and the entire film plays with which character is which. The film would fall apart without her, and perhaps that’s why Lynch himself did something that he never does, and played the Hollywood game to try to get her an Academy Award nomination for her work in the film.
Oscar nominations are rarely handed out because of an undeniably brilliant performance. They’re dished out because people campaign for them. If you ever find yourself in Los Angeles in winter, chances are you’ll see billboards out for movies over a year old with “For Your Consideration” instead of a release date. This is so the voting board of the Academy Awards can have these films in mind when they fill out their forms come Awards season.
Campaigning for these awards goes a lot further than that. With the actors themselves, along with writers and director and anyone involved in the film, they’re promoting doing extra press tours and industry schmooze fests. If you find it difficult to imagine Lynch doing anything like that, don’t worry, you don’t have to. Instead, the visionary did what he did best and got weird with it.
The way he campaigned for Laura Dern’s ‘Best Actress’ nomination was as follows. One December day, he parked himself on a director’s chair on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard, smoking one of his trademark cigarettes next to a banner with an image of Dern from Inland Empire on it, with the words “For Your Consideration – Laura Dern” written on it. Lynch was also joined by Marek Zebrowski, director of the USC Polish Music Centre, playing a live piano soundtrack for his day. Pretty out there, but the best was yet to come.
Behind them both was a real-life Holstein cow that was quietly grazing behind the legendary director, with a handler next to him to keep him from wandering off. As if to explain Georgia’s appearance (yes, the cow was named Georgia) was a separate sign saying, “Without cheese, there wouldn’t be an Inland Empire.”
Lynch sat there for multiple days, with bemused LA natives coming up to him and asking what was with the cow? Some of these interactions were filmed, and as you can see below, Lynch was typically forthcoming with his answers.
This wasn’t a prank on Dern, either. It obviously wasn’t successful as Dern wasn’t nominated that year, but Inland Empire was never a film that the Academy would have rewarded at that time. He elaborated on the whole “campaign” later in an interview with Wired, saying, “People solve problems with money normally; well, I don’t have any money. And I also feel that the Academy members must be sick of seeing ad after ad after ad costing a fortune with no one really paying attention… It was so beautiful, such a great day, out with Georgia the cow, beautiful piano music, meeting so many great people.”
A stunt much like Lynch and his work. Bizarre on the surface, yet infused with an undeniable warmth and heart. The kind we won’t see again for a very long time.