Caffeinated Clint
Alicia Witt, who plays Gersten Hayward on “Twin Peaks”, says she returns in the new series… but has no idea what it’s about.
“It was so secretive and I only received the scenes that I was a part of. There was never a script given to me,” Witt tells Bustle. “When I first saw David on the set, the first thing he said to me was, ‘I’m sure you’re going to ask what’s going on in these scenes. And I’m not going to tell you.'”
“It was so incongruent and it made so little sense to me because I wasn’t privy to what had come before or after or who characters were that I was working with,” says the actor and musician. “Honestly, you and I will find out together when we watch it in May. I have no idea what to expect.”
Witt says it felt like no time had passed when she resumed the role of Gersten.
“Being on the set felt very reminiscent of having been on the set before… There was something very specifically Twin Peaks-feeling about being there that I couldn’t even put my finger on,” she says.
“It felt in some way like it was just a year after we had done it. Which makes no sense, but it was kind of magical,” Witt explains. “I guess I’m hoping that comes through in the product and I’m sure that … in some way it’ll feel like nothing has changed.”
Madchen Amick, who is back as Shelley Johnson, shares slightly more – in her chat with TooFab – but is still under strict orders not to share any details.
“When we left the show 20 years ago, I remember thinking, huh I wonder what Shelly would do in the future and I wonder if she’ll ever get out of the situation she’s in,” Amick said. “[I] sort of dreamed that she could leave town and maybe try to move to Hollywood and try to be something big, just trying to figure out her individuality,” she added.
“Then when it was announced that it was coming back, I was just like, ‘Wow, what has she done? Where has she been? What’s been going on?’ and I was excited to wait and get the scenes and try to figure out what David and Mark [Frost] felt had happened,” the actress said.
Amick teased a big surprise for fans when they see Shelley again in season 3. “The only thing I can give you is I was surprised.”
Amick said one question that fans have always asked about Shelley will be answered this season.
While co-star star Sherilyn Fenn was also tight-lipped on details about her role in the new series, she has revealed she butted heads on the set of the original.
In the interview, published at Twin Peaks Unwrapped (where it was later pulled) and reprinted at Alternativenation.net, Fenn also spoke about a beef she had with the original – namely the short-lived romance her character had with Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan).
According to Fenn, Horne and Cooper might have ended up together – had co-star and MacLachlan’s real-life girlfriend at the time Lara Flynn Boyle not insisted showrunner David Lynch change his plan.
“There was no plan, Dale Cooper ended up at the hotel, so put her with Audrey. We weren’t supposed to be together, but after we were together… [then] his girlfriend, Lara Flynn Boyle, kiboshes an astonishing thing.”
Fenn recalls, “I remember saying, ‘David [Lynch], is this how it goes? An actor complains, because she’s the girlfriend, and then you change?’ Then she started smoking in scenes, and doing strange things, I think she danced in a scene.”
MacLachlan too, says Fenn, didn’t like the idea of an Audrey/Cooper hook-up – claiming Ben Horne’s hottie daughter, 18, was too young for his character.
Fenn is back in the new series having skipped on “Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me” (1992). The actress has a scheduling clash with the film “Of Mice & Men”, and didn’t want to nix that opportunity to work on a major film with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise.
“David was mad. He was! It’s the first time he yelled at me. I said, ‘You’re yelling at me, and I screen tested for this, I had to work to get this job!’ He said, ‘Well we can’t replace you in the movie!’ I said, ‘Good! You’re right you can’t replace me!’”
All I can say is, Fenn’s such a huge part of “Twin Peaks”- almost the poster girl for the show, if you will – so glad she’s back for more.
In other “Twin Peaks” news, it’s been revealed that an audio version of the legendary ‘Secret Diary of Laura Palmer’, featuring Sheryl Lee as narrator (of course), is on the way.
