Name of actor: Dennis Hopper
Name of film: Blue Velvet
Director: David Lynch
Year: 1986
Poster
Why this actor:
Hopper channels all his well publicised off screen anger into the terrifying character of Frank Booth, a small-town criminal with massive appetites. He is genuinely spooky in it - from the moment he appears at Isabella Rossellini's flat, the film becomes a horror ride. This neo-noir mystery pyschological horror/ thriller film was written and directed by David Lynch and stars, Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, Rossellini and Hopper and is named after a 1951 song - Hopper loves that tune. In a different context, it would sound simple and sweet - In this film, it sounds like developing menace.
Blue Velvet is about a young college student, returning home to see his ill father and discovers a severed human ear in a field - this leads to him to Booth and a romantic relationship with troubled night club singer, Rossellini.
Frank Booth has a nose and mouth mask - whenever he sucks on it, the animal appears. It's not clear what's in it, but best guess is amyl nitrate - or something that messes up brain chemistry immediately. Booth has no conscience, he is all lust and aggression - after a hit, he is inhuman, wanting only to inflict pain. Sometimes he moans and cries like a wounded child. It is a weird performance for a weird film - a role that Hopper clearly relishes.
In one scene, he hits Rossellini as her boyfriend, MacLachlan watches from the back seat of a car. When MacLachlan finally does something, Hopper melts down. The anger he summons up is going to rip out of his skin. Hopper is the living epitome of Lynch's seemingly dark and disturbing nightmare dreams.
This is one Booth rant - "Hey, neighbour! You shit-for-brains, man! You forgot I have a police radio! One well-dressed fuckin' man knows where your fuckin' cute little butt's hidin'! Stupid fuck! Fuck with me, man! Here I come, ready or not! You fuck! I can hear your fuckin' radio, you stupid shit! You got about one fuckin' second to live, buddy! You're one sorry piece of shit, mister. Hey, pretty, pretty! What the fuck? Where are you? Where are you?" This sounds funny in print but not the way Frank Booth delivers it.
Hopper told reporters once, that Lynch would never say the word "fuck" during filming, he would just point to the line in the script and say, "that word". "He can write it, but he won't say it. He's a peculiar man." Lynch said this wasn't exactly true, but he didn't want to charge the atmosphere anymore than it already was.
Blue Velvet initially received a mediocre response, critics saying its' content was objectionable, that it served no artistic purpose. Nevertheless, the film earned Lynch his second Oscar nomination for best director, and the film came eventually to reach cult status. It has been credited for revitalising Hopper's career after Easy Rider, for which Hopper felt, he should have got more writing credit. He was well known to be livid with his co star, Peter Fonda and had become known as "difficult" in Hollywood film circles - so Frank Booth was perfect material for him.
Blue Velvet is now seen as as one of Lynch's major works and one of the greatest films of the 1980s. Sight and Sound, Time, Entertainment Weekly and the BBC Magazine rank it among the greatest American films ever. In 2008, it was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest mystery films ever made
Trailer - check out Hopper being mental
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