A Story of a Mystery...
A Mystery Inside Worlds within Worlds...
Unfolding Around a Woman...
A Woman in Love and in Trouble.

"A Polish woman looks, intently, into someone or something ... an actress (Laura Dern) is warned that her new movie is cursed ... a rabbit-headed family perform sit-com actions on a stage set as if engaged in a solemn ritual ... Such are just a few of the elements and recurrent motifs of The Inland Empire, a mesmerizing surge through countless looking glasses that lands us on the far side of the land of nightmares. Lynch’s first foray into high-definition video is just as visually stunning as his work in 35mm, but the long gestation period of his new film (he shot on and off over two years, and wrote as he went) has allowed him to give his own uniquely epic form to many of his primary concerns: the exploitation of young women, the mutability of identity, the omnivorousness of Hollywood."
New York Film Festival Announcement

Film Festival Schedule

Screening Schedule at the Biennale in Venice

INLAND EMPIRE will be shown out of competition at the Biennale in Venice where David Lynch receives a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The film's runtime is 172 min.

September 6, 2006

8:30 a.m., Sala Perla
10:45 a.m., PalaLido
6:30 p.m., SALA GRANDE (after Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement)

September 8, 2006

10:45 p.m., PalaLido

New York Film Festival

Sunday, October 8, 2006, 8:30 p.m.
Monday, October 9, 2006, 11:00 a.m.
pictures

Sitges Film Festival of Catalonia

StudioCanal has pulled David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE from the Sitges Film Festival of Catalonia, Spain. Studio Canal's fear, said Sitges director Angel Sala, is that the three-hour cut of "INLAND EMPIRE" would play so well among Lynch die-hards at Sitges that Lynch would never be persuaded to re-edit it for commercial release. (Source: Variety.com)

AFI Fest in Los Angeles

INLAND EMPIRE will play as a Centerpiece Gala at AFI FEST on Friday, November 3.

Release Dates

About the Film

David Lynch (Director/Writer/Editor)

"Every film is like going into a new world, going into the unknown. But you should be not afraid of using your intuition, and feel and think your way through."

"Cinema is such a beautiful language. Cinema is the thing that deals with things beyond words, and it's so beautiful. So to go with cinema is like going with music, your intellect travels along with it, it's so fantastic. Go in and have an experience in a different world."

"The cut to next can be so surprising and that's just the miracle of cinema -- how we go from one place to another and the possibilities of those places to go to are kinda infinite. How we can see ourselves and find ourselves in there is kinda what gets me going."

"It's about a woman in trouble, and it's a mystery, and that's about all I want to say about it."

"We did film some out there [San Bernardino County]. It's not really about that area, though. "

"Everybody says, 'But the quality, David, it's not so good,' and that's true, but it's a different quality. It reminds me of early 35-millimeter film. You see different things. It talks to you differently."

"The sky's the limit with digital. Film is like a dinosaur in a tar pit. People might be sick to hear that because they love film, just like they loved magnetic tape. And I love film. I love it!"

"I never saw any whole, W-H-O-L-E. I saw plenty of holes, H-O-L-E-S. But I didn't really worry. I would get an idea for a scene and shoot it, get another idea and shoot that. I didn't know how they would relate."

"As soon as you put things in words, no one ever sees the film the same way. And that's what I hate, you know. Talking - it's real dangerous."

"The big self is mondo stable. But the small self - we're blowing about like dry leaves in the wind."

"A time restraint is so arbitrary and kind of meaningless. This is the length that feels correct."

Laura Dern (Nikki/Sue)

"Each day was a different direction, each day was a different idea because we didn't have a script we were following. The truth is, I didn't know who I was playing — and I still don't know. I'm looking forward to seeing the film to learn more."

"All of us, like you, were experiencing David's vision for the first time because there wasn't a laid-out linear script or plan from the outset. The film rolled over us and our experience of it was very like yours."

"I thought of it as playing a broken or dismantled person, with these other people leaking out of her brain."

"I figure I have at least three roles, maybe a few more."

Justin Theroux (Devon/Billy)

"I always thought of a David Lynch movie as buying a new jazz record. The best way is to let the film wash over you. Sit back and go on that ride."

"It's loosely a mystery [but] I have no idea what kind of movie we're going to have."

"As far as what the movie is about, I could rattle off a couple scenes, but it's difficult to describe. I play an actor who sort of gets cast in a large movie, and in that movie I play a Southern gentleman, and that's about all I know. And then there are tons of scenes within that, but I don't know how he's going to use those scenes, you know?"

"David never really gave us a script, he just gave us scenes, these little 10-page packets. And then we'd go home and he'd hand us another one at the end of the night, or hand us three at a time. But they sometimes seemed really linked and sometimes didn't. So the actual process [of filming] seemed probably very similar to what it's going to be like to watch it, which involves sort of having to link it together as you go."

"Working with David is probably the best time you'll ever have in your life. Contrary to what anyone might think, when you're making a David Lynch movie you don't feel like you're making a David Lynch movie; you feel like you're making a Farrelly brothers movie or something. He's just a really, really fun guy to be around, and everyone that he works around and hires is just a blast. So you just go and have a goof and get serious for the work, but the rest is just gravy. It was really fun."

Cast & Crew

Produced by Mary Sweeney, David Lynch

Executive Producer Marek Zydowicz

Co-Producers Laura Dern, Jeremy Alter

Directed, Written, Edited by David Lynch

Cast

Laura Dern: Nikki/Sue
Jeremy Irons: Kingsley
Harry Dean Stanton: Freddie
Justin Theroux: Devon/Billy
more...

Reviews

The New York Times, By Manohla Dargis, December 6, 2006
Rolling Stone, November 21, 2006
notcoming.com, October 5, 2006
The New York Times, By Manohla Dargis, October 5, 2006
Premiere Magazine, By Mark Salisbury, September, 2006
The Observer, By Jason Solomons, September 10, 2006
The Hollywood Reporter, By Ray Bennett, September 8, 2006
The Guardian, By Geoffrey Macnab, September 7, 2006
The Times, By James Christopher, September 7, 2006
Variety, By Jay Weissberg, September 6, 2006
Screen Daily, By Lee Marshall, September 6, 2006

Interviews & Articles

David Lynch puzzle premieres at Venice
Lynch handed award as movie baffles
Venice honors Lynch
'Inland Empire' -- Just Don't Expect to See the 91
Lynch's Empire Is Nearly Built
Lynch To Venice: Lionize Me!
Lynch invades an 'Empire'

Pictures
Room to Dream