Wild at Heart (1990)

Director:

David Lynch

Writers (WGA):

Barry Gifford (novel)
David Lynch (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 August 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.

Plot Keywords:

Lover | Hitman | Hate | Prison | Wizard Of Oz

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Nicolas Cage	...	Sailor Ripley
Laura Dern	...	Lula Fortune
Willem Dafoe	...	Bobby Peru
J.E. Freeman	...	Marcelles Santos
Crispin Glover	...	Dell
Diane Ladd	...	Marietta Fortune
Calvin Lockhart	...	Reggie
Isabella Rossellini	...	Perdita Durango
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Johnnie Farragut
Grace Zabriskie	...	Juana Durango
Sherilyn Fenn	...	Girl in Accident
Marvin Kaplan	...	Uncle Pooch
William Morgan Sheppard	...	Mr. Reindeer (as W. Morgan Sheppard)
David Patrick Kelly	...	Dropshadow
Freddie Jones	...	George Kovich
John Lurie	...	Sparky
Jack Nance	...	00 Spool
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Buddy
Gregg Dandridge	...	Bob Ray Lemon
Glenn Walker Harris Jr.	...	Pace Fortune
Frances Bay	...	Madam
Blair Bruce Bever	...	Hotel Custodian
Sally Boyle	...	Aunt Rootie
Peter Bromilow	...	Hotel Manager
Lisa Ann Cabasa	...	Reindeer Dancer
Frank A. Caruso	...	Old Bum (scenes deleted)
Frank Collison	...	Timmy Thompson
Eddy Dixon	...	Rex
Brent David Fraser	...	Idiot Punk (as Brent Fraser)
Cage S. Johnson	...	Man at Shell Station
Sheryl Lee	...	Good Witch
Valli Leigh	...	Mr. Reindeer's Resident Valet #2
Nicholas Love	...	Man in Wheelchair (as Nick Love)
Daniel Quinn	...	Young Cowboy
Mia M. Ruiz	...	Mr. Reindeer's Resident Valet #1
Charlie Spradling	...	Irma
Billy Swan	...	Billy Swan
KoKo Taylor	...	Singer at Zanzibar (as Koko Taylor)
Ed Wright	...	Desk Clerk
Darrell Zwerling	...	Singer's Manager
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Zachery Berger	...	Man in Gents' Room (scenes deleted)
Scott Coffey	...	Billy (scenes deleted)
Jack Jozefson	...	Chet (scenes deleted)
Tommy G. Kendrick	...	Red (scenes deleted)
Bellina Logan	...	Beany Thorn (scenes deleted)
Albert Popwell	...	Barkeeper at Zanzibar (scenes deleted)
Shawne Rowe	...	Waitress (scenes deleted)
Michele Seipp	...	Girl at Zanzibar (scenes deleted)
Bob Terhune	...	Earl Kovich (scenes deleted)
Tracey Walter	...	Traveller (scenes deleted)
Debra Lamb	...	Fire Eater at Party (uncredited)
Neil Summers	...	Cop (uncredited)
John Vaughn	...	Robert brenton car accident scene (uncredited)

Directed by
David Lynch

Writing credits (WGA)
Barry Gifford		(novel "Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula")
David Lynch		(screenplay)

Produced by
Steve Golin	....	producer
Michael Kuhn	....	executive producer
Monty Montgomery	....	producer
Sigurjon Sighvatsson	....	producer

Original Music by
Angelo Badalamenti

Cinematography by
Frederick Elmes		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Duwayne Dunham

Casting by
Johanna Ray

Production Design by
Patricia Norris

Costume Design by
Amy Stofsky

Makeup Department
Fríða Aradóttir	....	hair stylist (as Frida Aradottir)
Brian Blair	....	makeup effects assistant (as Bryan Blair)
Michelle Bühler	....	makeup artist (as Michelle Buhler)
Denise Dellavalle	....	hair assistant
Denise Dellavalle	....	makeup assistant
Louis Lazzara	....	special makeup effects
David B. Miller	....	special makeup effects

Production Management
Kool Marder	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Steven Hirsch	....	second assistant director
Margaux Mackay	....	first assistant director
Charles Myers	....	first assistant director (as Myers)
Deepak Nayar	....	second assistant director
W. Thomas Snyder	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Charles Armstrong	....	construction coordinator
Gretchen Armstrong	....	chief scenic artist (as Gretchen Adele Armstrong)
Kenneth Berg	....	construction foreman (as Kenneth J. Berg)
Paul Burge	....	carpenter
David A. Carpender	....	props assistant (as David Carpender)
Daniel Kuttner	....	on-set dresser
Leonardo	....	art department assistant
Nancy Martinelli	....	art department coordinator
Adam Morris	....	art department assistant
J.K. Nageldinger	....	carpenter
Frank Silva	....	property master
Christopher Stone	....	art department assistant
Leslie Weimer	....	scenic artist
Marion C. Weimer-Mirley	....	scenic artist (as Marion Weimer)
Roger L.C. Williams	....	art department assistant
Deborah Winship	....	set decorating assistant

Sound Department
Sara Bolder	....	dialogue editor
Kim Cascone	....	assistant sound editor
Scott Chandler	....	foley recordist
Luis Colina	....	sound effects editor
Frank E. Eulner	....	assistant sound editor (as Frank Eulner)
Ken Fischer	....	sound effects editor
Rob Fruchtman	....	dialogue editor (as Robert Fruchtman)
Kristen Gerstner	....	assistant sound editor
J.R. Grubbs	....	assistant sound editor
Scott Guitteau	....	assistant sound editor
Gary A. Hecker	....	foley artist (as Gary Hecker)
Jon Huck	....	sound mixer
Richard Hymns	....	supervising sound editor
Donna Jaffe	....	assistant sound editor
Tom Myers	....	sound re-recordist
John Nutt	....	dialogue editor
Jenny Oznowicz	....	assistant sound editor
David Parker	....	sound re-recording mixer
Catherine Rowe	....	foley artist
Susan Sanford	....	assistant sound editor
Rob Scott	....	boom operator (as Robert A. Scott)
Michael Silvers	....	dialogue editor
Randy Thom	....	sound designer
Randy Thom	....	sound re-recording mixer
John Verbeck	....	dialogue editor
John Wentworth	....	sound effects recordist
Gwendolyn Yates Whittle	....	assistant sound editor
Dennis Leonard	....	additional sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Dennis Leonard	....	post-production sound engineer (uncredited)
David E. Turner	....	machine room operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
David Domeyer	....	special effects/pyrotechnics
Eddie Paul	....	mechanical effects
Don Power	....	special effects

Stunts
Michael Adams	....	stunts
Mike Ceballos	....	stunts
Roydon Clark	....	stunts
Gregg Dandridge	....	stunts
Ousaun Elam	....	stunts
Donna Evans	....	stunts
Ralph Garrett	....	stunts
Orwin C. Harvey	....	stunts (as Orwin Harvey)
Loren Janes	....	stunts
Steve Kelso	....	stunts
Hannah Kozak	....	stunts
Bernie Pock	....	stunts
Wally Rose	....	stunts
Joseph Michael Roth	....	stunts
Jeff Smolek	....	stunt coordinator
Neil Summers	....	stunts
Bob Terhune	....	stunts
Eddie Wong	....	stunts
Hannah Kozak	....	stunt double: Isabella Rossellini (uncredited)
Joseph Michael Roth	....	stunt double: Nicolas Cage (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Stuart Abramson	....	dolly grip (as Stuart M. Abramson)
Steve Alessi	....	grip (as Steve N. Alessi)
Kurek Ashley	....	grip
Corwin A. Bibb	....	grip
Curtis Bradford	....	grip (as Curtiss Bradford)
Katherine M. Butler	....	second assistant camera
John Carney	....	best boy (as John F. Carney)
Malcolm Doran II	....	grip
David Dubois	....	rigging gaffer (as David W. Dubois)
Paul Enger	....	grip: El Paso
Cobie Fair	....	grip
John Gutierrez	....	grip: El Paso
Charles Hardesty	....	electrician: El Paso
Paul Hauser	....	electrician
George A. Hock	....	grip
Irv Katz	....	best boy
Chris Kiperman	....	grip
Dan Kneece	....	Steadicam operator
Kim Kono	....	electrician (as Kim K. Koko)
Jules Labarthe	....	electrician
Elliott Marks	....	special photographer
Bruce McCleery	....	rigging gaffer (as R. Bruce McCleery)
Bill McCord	....	grip/electric: New Orleans
Dana McCormick	....	grip/electric: New Orleans
Renton-Paul Medcalf	....	grip
Randy Ratliff	....	grip
Patrick Reddish	....	gaffer
Michael Shore	....	key grip
Michael L. Smith	....	grip/electric: New Orleans (as Mike Smith)
Rob Sweeney	....	first assistant camera
Jimmy Trotter	....	grip/electric: New Orleans
John Vecchio	....	electrician
Wayne Wheeland	....	grip
Nicholas Woodring	....	grip/electric: New Orleans
Kimberly Wright	....	still photographer
Edward A. Gutentag	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Casting Department
Dean Anthony	....	extras casting
Eric DaRe	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Cheri Reed	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Brian Berdan	....	first assistant film editor
Deborah Gavlak	....	second assistant film editor (as Debra Gavlak)
Vivian Hengsteler	....	negative cutter
Jenny Hicks	....	second assistant film editor (as Jennifer Hicks)
Ute Leonhardt	....	post-production coordinator
Danielle Liekefet	....	post-production coordinator
Dan Muscarella	....	color timer
Mary Sweeney	....	first assistant film editor

Music Department
Peter Afterman	....	music consultant
Jon Huck	....	music consultant
David Lynch	....	composer: additional music
G. Marq Roswell	....	music supervisor (as Mark Roswell)
David Slusser	....	music editor
Sharal Churchill	....	music consultant (uncredited)
Kevin Laffey	....	music consultant (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Carol Autenrieth	....	driver
Elven Barrow	....	driver: New Orleans (as Elvin Barrow)
T. Bone	....	driver: El Paso (as Bone)
Dan Brizendine	....	transportation captain
Charles Burdette	....	driver: New Orleans
Chris Clark	....	driver: art department
Mike Clark	....	driver
Thomas P. Donovan	....	driver
Charles Franklin	....	driver: New Orleans
David Harrison	....	driver: New Orleans
Allan W. Herendeen	....	driver
Earl R. Hurst Sr.	....	transportation captain: New Orleans (as Earl Hurst)
Darwin Joston	....	driver
Steve Mann	....	driver (as Steven Mann)
David Milchen	....	transportation captain: El Paso
Shawn Solomon	....	driver
Allan Tietjen	....	driver
Russ Tolliver	....	driver (as Russell Tolliver)
John Yarbrough	....	transportation coordinator (as John 'J.D.' Yarbrough)

Other crew
Susan Carney	....	assistant to producers
Beth Denton	....	office production assistant: New Orleans
Julie Duvic	....	liaison (as Julie D. Duvic)
Kimberly Edwards	....	production accountant
Christy Fiero	....	production assistant (as Christy Susskind)
Robin Ginsberg	....	post-production accountant
Arthur Girard	....	set production assistant: New Orleans
Kelly Hauser	....	location assistant: El Paso
James Intveld	....	voice consultant
Mike Johnson	....	fire advisor
Jon Juhlin	....	office production assistant
Cheryl Kurk	....	assistant production coordinator (as Cheryl A. Kurk)
Luis Lara	....	caterer
Mara Lee	....	set production assistant
Darren Leno	....	set production assistant: New Orleans
Steve Ligorio	....	craft service: El Paso
Bruce Loeb	....	set security
Maurice Lospinoso	....	office production assistant (as Maurice 'Moe' Lospinoso)
Patricia Serafina Madiedo	....	production coordinator: New Orleans (as Pat Mediedo)
Tara Martin	....	location assistant: New Orleans
Janet McMinn	....	office production assistant: El Paso
Richard Murken	....	key production assistant (as Richard F. Murken)
Robert A. Neft	....	production assistant (as Robert Neft)
Kathryn Powell	....	production coordinator: El Paso
Heidrun Reshöft	....	assistant to producers (as Heidrun Reshoeft)
Eric L. Roberts	....	craft service
Alessandro Rossellini	....	set production assistant
John Schluter	....	police liaison: New Orleans
Mildred Schluter	....	first aid: New Orleans (as Millie Schluter)
Mildred Schluter	....	nurse: New Orleans (as Millie Schluter)
Ivan E. Schwarz	....	assistant liaison (as Ivan Schwarz)
Bob Shapiro	....	assistant accountant (as "Mr. Bob" Shapiro)
Wayne Softley	....	craft service: New Orleans
Brian Steward	....	production assistant (as Brian Stewart)
Mary Sweeney	....	script supervisor
Debby Trutnik	....	assistant: Mr. Lynch
Ruth Turman	....	set production assistant: New Orleans
Mira Tweti	....	unit publicist (as Mira S. Tweti)
Kimberley Vashiell	....	choreographer (as Kimberly Vashiell)
Aron Warner	....	completion bond
Marjorie Webster	....	production coordinator
Rusty Wheaton	....	first aid: El Paso
Steven Wood	....	set medic
Bundy Chanock	....	set medic (uncredited)
Brian McMillan	....	head animal trainer (uncredited)
Lenny Neimark	....	location assistant (uncredited)

Thanks
Sidney J. Barthelemy	....	special thanks (as New Orleans Mayor Sidney J. Barthelemy)
Kimberly M. Carbo	....	special thanks
Rick Dinome	....	special thanks
Will Evans	....	special thanks
Tom McDermott	....	special thanks
Sheila Metzner	....	special thanks
Wingols Mielke	....	special thanks
Malcolm Ritchie	....	special thanks
Nigel Sinclair	....	special thanks
Jon Turtle	....	special thanks (as John Turtle)
Kurt Woolner	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
• Propaganda Films

Distributors

• Samuel Goldwyn Company, The (1990) (USA) (theatrical)
• Bac Films (1990) (France) (theatrical)
• Finnkino (1990) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Háskólabíó (1990) (Iceland) (theatrical)
• Palace Pictures (1990) (UK) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1990) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• CBS / Fox Video (1991) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan for Media Home Entertainment)
• Nordic Film Group (1991) (Finland) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (Finland) (TV) (2010)
• Astro Distribution (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2003) (Finland) (DVD) (2005)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2003) (Sweden) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2010) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video
• Nelonen (1999) (Finland) (TV)
• Panarecord (Italy) (VHS)
• Transvídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Visual Concept Engineering (VCE) (visual effects)

Other Companies

• City of New Orleans Film Committee, The  special thanks
• Consolidated Film Industries (CFI)  film processing
• Creative Casting  casting
• Film Finances  completion bond company
• Mercury Records  soundtrack
• Michelson Food Services  catering
• New Orleans Film Commission, The  film commission
• Pacific Title  titles and opticals
• People of New Orleans, The  special thanks
• Rescues Unlimited  on-set medical services
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• Sinclair, Tenenbaum & Co. Inc.  production legal services
• Skywalker Sound North  sound services
• Texas Film Commission  special thanks
• Unique Movie Cars  picture cars
• Working Title Films  special thanks

Also Known As:

"David Lynch's Wild at Heart" - USA (complete title)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:R (cut) | New Zealand:R18 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1991) | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Peru:18 | Brazil:16 | Finland:K-15 (2005) (2010) (optically censored) | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (1990) (2003) | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Castle Green Apartments - 99 S. Raymond, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Trivia:

Willem Dafoe is actually urinating in the toilet when he goes to visit Laura Dern and asks to "piss in your head". Apparently, Dafoe had drunk a lot of bottled water and really needed to go. Only later did he find out that the toilet was not a working one and some poor crew member had to clean it.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the scene when Sailor's is running through a traffic jam to find Lula, a crew member and boom mic is visible in the reflection of one of the windows of a black van.

Quotes:

Girl in Accident:[shocked and bleeding] I got bobby pin...
[showing a bobby pin]
Girl in Accident:It was bobby pin...
Girl in Accident:[looking for her wallet in her pocket] I can't find it. My mother's gonna kill me. It's got all my cards in it, and it was in my pocket, and now my pocket's gone. Gotta help me find it, my mother's gonna kill me. It's got all my cards in it, and it was in my pocket. It was in my pocket...
[shouting]
Girl in Accident:My purse is gone! My purse is gone, now she tells me!

Movie Connections:

References Yojimbo (1961)

Soundtrack:

Up In Flames

Beautiful, violent, funny and surreal--a masterpiece from David Lynch

This is one of my favorite David Lynch films. It is also one of the more transparent, easy to understand Lynch films, although that's not the reason why it's one of my favorites. But that fact also makes Wild at Heart a good candidate for introducing someone to Lynch.

On the other hand, although it's more transparent and linear on a surface level, I'm still not sure I've figured out the multilayered, bizarre subtexts and symbolism that lie deep beneath the surface--even though I've seen it a few times now. Assuming that there is indeed something to figure out. To an extent, it seems like maybe the hint of something "deeper" is in this case more of a red herring. This is one of Lynch's funnier films, albeit very macabre humor. It contains references to all of Lynch's most common "content quirks"—including sequined ingénues singing jazz, manipulative housewife types, shots of asphalt speeding by, minor characters with freaky speech "impediments", severed body parts, and on and on--but it's almost as if he's making fun of himself. Combine that with excellent performances (including a hilarious bit part for Crispin Glover, one of my favorite actors/personalities), a sublimely incongruous score, and a retro, gripping, violent road trip saga cum romance that presages both Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994) and just about all of Quentin Tarantino's career, and you've got quite a film.

Wild at Heart, based on a novel by Barry Gifford, is the tale of Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern), a doe-eyed, "classy white trash" couple. As the film starts--and what a start it is--someone tries to stab Sailor to death as he's exiting a theater. Sailor will have none of it, and Lynch begins the film on an exhilarating, brutally violent note--this is not a film for the faint of heart. To complicate matters and set up the primary conflict, we learn even before the attempted stabbing that the hit man was sent by Lula's mother, Marietta Fortune (Diane Ladd), who claimed that Sailor tried to seduce her in the bathroom (this isn't quite true, as we learn in detail later).

There isn't a character in the film who isn't involved with some shady business, either presently or in the past. Sailor and Marietta's tensions stem from many years ago, when Lula was just a girl (she's supposedly quite a bit younger than Sailor). The events of the film's opening result in Sailor being imprisoned. Lula dutifully waits for his release, much to the consternation of her mom. The basic gist of the film is disarmingly simple--Sailor and Lula are headed across the country, with an eventual goal of California, as Marietta tries to arrange for Sailor to be put away for good. There are many finely realized subplots and detailed tangents, but that's the crux of the plot on the surface.

In addition to his typical hyperreal/surreal weirdness, Lynch concocts a very improbable stew of influences that work together beautifully. Lula has something of an obsession with The Wizard of Oz (1939). She's haunted by visions of the wicked witch (including the "evil cackle"), and she sees the road trip as a veritable journey to the Emerald City. Lynch works in a lot of subtle references to The Wizard of Oz with other characters, too. Sailor is something like lounge version of Elvis reincarnated as a gangster flunky, with even better karate moves to match. Yet the two are huge heavy metal fans, especially of a band named "Powermad", whose music exquisitely punctuates many sequences, including some sublime dance scenes. In the first half, important scenes are set in New Orleans, with the familiar unsettling undertone that that locale often has in films--you can just smell the voodoo, sex, drugs and death bubbling beneath the skin of the city. Later scenes are set in the desolate, desert prairie country of Texas, which turns out to be even more unsettling (even though I really find such places refreshing and relaxing). There are other kinds of symbolic, stylistic and literal references worked into the film, such as the constant fire motif, which Lynch shoots beautifully, but the above is to just give you an idea of the stew.

It all seems like it should add up to some subtextual grand narrative, and maybe it does, but I haven't quite figured out what it all means yet. But it doesn't matter. The stylistic flourishes are ingenious superficially, too, and maybe Lynch _is_ just poking fun at being Lynch. Here, perhaps more than in any other work, he has found the perfect balance between the soap-operatic and the utterly bizarre--the filmic equivalent to author Harry Crews' best work.

Tarantino doesn't tend to have pithy subtexts in his films, either, but they're no worse the wear for that, and when Wild at Heart takes a turn into typical Tarantino territory, Lynch is just as captivating, gritty and groovy, plus he's doing it before Tarantino himself. At the same time, Lynch manages to maintain a parallel lush, erotic romance between Sailor and Lula--Dern is incredibly sexy/sensuous here. This material works as well, and supplies what just may be the message of the film after all--that love can (eventually) conquer all, even the stuff that's "wild at heart and weird on top".