Suggested Recent Reads on Filmmaking: Twin Peaks, Walter Murch, Brian De Palma's Unproduced Screenplay, and More

      David Lynch passed away just over six months ago, and the film industry continues to grieve. (Honestly, this may persist indefinitely.) Let's begin with a book focused on two significant aspects of any Lynch work—music and sound—followed by writings from Walter Murch and Neil Jordan, fresh publications on music, and a collection of novels perfect for summer reading.

      Always Music In the Air: The Sounds of Twin Peaks by Scott Ryan (Tucker DS Press)

      Scott Ryan has provided some of the best insights into David Lynch's career, particularly through the Twin Peaks-focused Blue Rose Magazine, Fire Walk With Me: Your Laura Disappeared, and Lost Highway: The Fist of Love. Ryan's latest work, Always Music In the Air: The Sounds of Twin Peaks, delves deeply into all three seasons of Twin Peaks. In this book, Ryan reflects on the late, brilliant Julee Cruise, contemplates Angelo Badalamenti's brilliance, and analyzes some of Peaks’ most unforgettable musical moments. (Yes, this includes James Hurley’s “Just You.”) This nostalgic memory of the “longbox” CD cover is priceless: “The back cover featured the Red Room curtains and floor (where the zigzags aren’t black and white but deep yellow and near brown) with small images of key cast members displayed like a suspect list in tiny boxes. This was incredibly helpful back in 1990 when I was still learning the characters’ names. ‘Wait. Killer Bob? Is that really his name? You’re saying this is one of the greatest mysteries ever, and one of the characters is named KILLER Bob, who turns out to be the killer?’” Above all, Ryan is a fan, which makes his books not just essential but genuinely joyful.

      Suddenly Something Clicked: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design by Walter Murch (Faber & Faber)

      Walter Murch, an Oscar winner and editor for classics like The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, and The Godfather, is the ideal person to discuss film editing and sound design. His first book, 1992’s In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing, is considered a classic. “Much has occurred since then,” Murch notes, “but the most significant change was the two-decade-long (1990-2010) transformation of cinema from analogue to digital. As I mentioned in Blink, this shift is akin to when oil painting began to replace fresco in the fifteenth century.” Suddenly Something Clicked avoids reiterating details from Murch’s previous book, instead serving as a valuable companion. The chapters on his work for The Conversation and the restoration of Welles’ Touch of Evil are particularly captivating.

      Ambrose Chapel: A Screenplay by Brian De Palma and Russian Poland by David Mamet (Sticking Place Books)

      We should express gratitude to Sticking Place Books for their diverse releases, which range from studies of Casualties of War to the poetry of Abbas Kiarostami. Two of their latest offerings are unpublished scripts from the 1990s by Brian De Palma (yay!) and David Mamet (boo—oh wait, this is actually a work of Mamet from three decades earlier—yay!) Russian Poland presents the strange yet intriguing tale of two Jewish World War II veterans on a mission in late 1940s Israel. De Palma’s Ambrose Chapel stands out among the two scripts, and its release is noteworthy. As James Kenney states in his introduction, “Ambrose Chapel has the sleek demeanor of a geopolitical thriller, filled with international intrigue and covert rescues. Yet, before we get our bearings, the games begin.” Kenney describes the script’s essence as “deeply De Palma, but surprisingly giddy and liberating.” Potential cast members included Brad Pitt, Liam Neeson, Tea Leoni, and even Madonna. It’s a pity Ambrose never materialized, but we can still speculate about what might have been.

      Amnesiac: A Memoir by Neil Jordan (Head of Zeus)

      In 2012, I had the opportunity to interview Neil Jordan, director of Crying Game and Interview With the Vampire, shortly after the Toronto International Film Festival screening of his return to the undead with Byzantium. He was a bit cantankerous yet shared intriguing insights on his motivations for making another vampire film. (“I saw it as a chance to reinvent the vampire legend, which had become somewhat stale.”) That sturdy, sarcastic tone permeates Amnesiac (released August 5). This memoir is at times poignant, shocking (there’s a chapter titled “My Paedophile”), humorous, and often gossipy. One memorable anecdote recalls a phone call from Stanley Kubrick: “I received another call from Stanley. ‘Your friends did another number last night.’ They’re not my friends, Stanley. He meant the IRA.” Years later, Kubrick asked Jordan’s opinion of