Wild at Heart (1990)

Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, and Willem Dafoe.  Cinematography by Fredrick Elmes. Edited by Duwayne Dunham.  Produced by Steve Golin, Monty Montgomery, and Sigurjon Sighvatsson. Written and Directed by David Lynch.

Lula Pace Fortune (played by Laura Dern) and her rockabilly boyfriend Sailor Ripley (played by Nicolas Cage) are deeply in love.  After making a failed pass at Sailor, Lula’s mother Marietta (played by Diane Ladd) hires a man to kill him. But the attack only trips Sailor’s hair-trigger hot temper and the would-be assassin is soon dead on the concrete.

Sailor is convicted of manslaughter and spends the better part of the next two years in prison.  Lula is waiting for him when he reclaims his freedom and the lovers jump in her car, starting their cross country journey to California. This enrages Marietta and she enlists the help of both her private detective boyfriend Johnnie Farragut (played by Harry Dean Stanton) and her violent former lover Marcello Santos (played by J.E. Freeman) to hunt the couple down and finish Sailor off for good.

In the summer of 1989, while waiting for his pilot episode of “Twin Peaks” to evolve into a full blown television series, David Lynch was approached by the producers at Propaganda Films to direct a film for them.  As he decided what movie he would make, his friend Monty Montgomery recommended that he read Barry Gifford’s novel Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula.  Montgomery, who had co-wrote and co-directed The Loveless with Kathryn Bigelow back in 1982, had just optioned the novel and hoped to direct the adaptation with Lynch producing.

But after just the first few pages Lynch had fallen in love with the story and asked Montgomery if they could switch roles.  Both Montgomery and Propaganda Films agreed and in only a week’s time Lynch had a screenplay put together. It was less than half a year later that Lynch was finishing up principle photography on his cinematic version of the book, now simply titled Wild at Heart.

Lynch finished Wild at Heart just in time to make it into the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.  To his, and a handful of the jury members, surprise, his film would walk away with the top prize of the competition: the Palme D’Or (the Golden Palm).  When it came time to give Wild at Heart a domestic theatrical run, test screening audiences were far less enthused. The graphic sexuality and extreme violence left many viewers stunned.

With pressure from the studio Lynch would eventually reedit his film, toning down the visual intensity of select scenes. Lynch stood by his new cut of the film, citing that it was for the benefit of the overall picture. He claims that the choice to remove footage from the theatrical release was his own and that the film is presented as he would want it.

But the reworking ultimately didn’t make any differences to American audiences.  The film was bashed by critics and suffered a quick death at the box office.  Years have tamed the controversy and new viewer can appreciate Wild at Heart, maybe not as Lynch’s finest project, but certainly as a significant part of his total body of work.

Budget: $9,500,000

Total US Gross: $14,560,000

Genre: Romance

Runtime: 124 Minutes

US Release Date: 8/17/90

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Awards:

Academy Awards: 
Nominated for best supporting actress.

Golden Globes: 
Nominated for best supporting actress.

Writers Guild of America: 
Nominated for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

Cannes Film Festival: 
Won the Golden Palm.

Tagline: A Wild Crazy Love Story Hotter’n Georgia Asphalt!

Quote: “Did I ever tell you that this here jacket represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom?”