Cheri Oteri

Director Jennifer Lynch Interview SURVEILLANCE

by Sheila Roberts    Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm

Jennifer Lynch’s Surveillance marks a long awaited return to the big screen for this definitive, and often surprising, filmmaker. Borrowing a page from the Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, Lynch has crafted a film that’s both a taut thriller and a stunningly detailed story told from the perspectives of three witnesses. In pure Lynch fashion, however, nothing is as it seems – even at the final moment.

Surveillance is the first feature film Lynch has directed in over a decade, coming after her lauded and oft criticized feature film directorial debut, Boxing Helena. It’s a dark movie with a perverse sense of humor and all the characters are just a few bad decisions away from hurting themselves and others, but eventually it all comes down to one question: will telling the truth save your life?

Like an onion, Lynch peels the layers and lets the story find its voice through a talented, unorthodox cast that includes Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins, Cheri Oteri, French Stewart, Kent Harper, and Michael Ironside. The low-budget feature was lensed by DP Peter Wunstorf on location on the plains of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Jennifer Lynch is a compelling filmmaker of strong convictions who was only 19 when she wrote the screenplay for Boxing Helena. She became a published novelist at age 22 when she wrote The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, a best-selling Twin Peaks tie-in book which appeared on the New York Times Best-Seller List for 15 weeks. In 1993, at the age of 24, she added the distinction of being the youngest woman in American film history to direct a feature film from her screenplay, Boxing Helena, which was nominated for a Grand Jury prize at Sundance the same year.

After the jump is what she had to tell us about her new film, Surveillance:

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