In 1993, Jennifer Lynch debuted her first feature film -- "Boxing Helena," about a surgeon who amputates a woman's healthy arms and legs. Despite being nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, the movie is most remembered for poor reviews (Lynch received the title of "Worst Director" from the Golden Raspberry Awards) and the legal battle that occurred after Madonna and Kim Basinger pulled out of the title role.
Now, 16 years later, the daughter of David Lynch is back with "Surveillance," which premiered on video-on-demand, before a run at L.A.'s Nuart theater. The film stars Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond as FBI agents who arrive in a small town on the hunt for a team of serial killers. Lynch spoke to TheWrap about her hiatus, the public's expectations of her and trying to escape her father's long shadow.
So, where have you been all this time?
I was producing a lot of short films. Writing a lot. Raising my daughter. I had three spine surgeries -- I'm not fully fused with cadaver bones and titanium bolts.
What prompted you to jump back in the directing saddle?
I felt like I couldn't go back to work as a single parent until my daughter was of an age where she could understand, "OK, this is what mom does to be happy and to be a better mother" ... that I wasn't abandoning her. But she was there every day.
Why serial killers?
I'm a big fan of horror films and thrillers. I'd seen serial-killer films done to death, but I hadn't seen the one I really wanted to see myself. And raising a daughter, I thought they'd never used a child the way I wanted to see a child used in one of these films.
Your dad was involved in the process.
He actually had read the script early on and called me and said, "You can't end it like this. It's too dark." He really feels that darkness cannot win over light. And I said, "Well, that's the end of the movie." And he said, "I challenge you to write a different ending." So I wrote a different ending and shot both. I was like, "Don't f---in' dare me, Dad!" So I did it, but ultimately I stuck with the one I'd written orignally.
And what did he think?
He said, "You're right, that's the way the story ends. It's just so sad."
Did he help to get the film made?
About a year and half after that, he called me and said, "What's going on with this movie?" And I told him zero, because it had been so long, and nobody was biting. And he said, "Don't hate me for asking, but what if I put my name on it as executive producer?" And I said, "I don't want to hear it. It's bad enough that we're related. I'm never gonna live it down."
