Mad Men's Monolith, The Melody of Heartache (Kyle Chandler/Homefront), Sex & Character

Eternal Male/Female Difference Revealed: The recent telephone conversation between Megan and Don, when he finally tells her that he has been given a leave from the firm he helped build from ashes highlights a universal male/female communication challenge that life partners who are intimate and committed face, understand, and work through. Megan cannot understand why Don did not love and trust her enough to tell her the truth. Don could not tell Megan the truth because he felt if he did she would no longer see him as potent and strong and would stop loving and desiring him.

Taking Stock of Who We Really Are Involves Pain: Why isn't Don going elsewhere? Why is he accepting horrific, disrespectful treatment? Sterling and Cooper was a launching pad for him, and his life's blood went into Sterling and Cooper and Draper. He has been able to do brilliant work because of innate ability to combine art and manipulation, as well as the love of the woman who had been the wife of the man whose identity he had stolen --- the first love he has ever known from anyone. Perhaps Don will be able to build on this, and work toward becoming a true person. Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

"A man’s attempt to find himself in a woman, rather than simply seeing Woman in a woman, necessarily presupposes a neglect of her empirical person, which regards Woman as a completely dependent possession and does not consider her inner life at all. This is where the parallel between the cruelty of eroticism and the cruelty of sexuality becomes complete. Love is Murder." -Sex & Character (1906) by Otto Weininger



As Mad Men is (slowly) wrapping up, it’s looking more and more at whatever the future is going to bring, and much like that huge IBM computer, the future is a looming, loud presence that will, inevitably, displace them entirely. The monolith is a memento mori. Really, that’s what “The Monolith” is about underneath it all. The characters are pushing toward the things that will let them move past the failed versions of themselves, past all of the wrong versions of events, toward something right. Deep down, I think that Matt Weiner and his writers don’t want to punish these characters or even have them see a real comeuppance. That comeuppance came last season, for the most part, and now, they’re heading into a new era, one that may bring new consciousness or a dream of men who’d dare walk on the moon. Source: www.avclub.com

But it is 1969, the year that is often cited as the one when the cultural landscape dramatically shifted in America, and Roth’s novel was a big part of that. The thing about Portnoy’s Complaint is that, unlike some books we’ve seen Don reading, like Dante’s Inferno, there isn’t an obvious meaning to Don’s choice of reading, unless you want to get into the mommy/sex issues that both Don and Roth’s most famous character have.

It’s difficult to find an allegory in Don opening up Portnoy’s, but a book about a descent into hell, that’s something we can understand: women, to Portnoy, are the root of all pleasure and all pain.
Source: flavorwire.com


Jeff and Ginger ending their romance - "Man, This Joint is Jumping", "Szabo's Travels", and "Appleknocker To Wed Tomatohawker" inspired this very short 'Homefront' story by Tracey Diane Miller, "The Melody of Heartache" (2005): "Jeff Metcalf wasn't always the most sensitive guy in the world but his Achilles heel was his intense and unquestioned love for Ginger. Sometimes the depths of that love scared him. Sometimes he felt as if something were tugging at his gut. And so began the melody of heartache, swelling into a full blown overture of pain. It was a melody that had been introduced by that first note that echoed within the young couple during a fateful day in Hollywood park months ago. Jeff had become a casualty in the war of the broken-hearted."

Kyle Chandler: -"I look at those celebrity magazines and I'm jealous. There are pictures of late-night partying at nightclubs and I wonder who's taking care of the kids. I'm boring compared to those people. And my beautiful wife, Kathryn, and I will be coming to Los Angeles, seeing friends we haven't seen in a while and be two adults in the city of Hollywood, living it up while the kids are at home kicking back."

"Of course, my wife has to be there. The person you say goodnight to last is the one you want to say thank you to last." But the fact is, Chandler admits, "I wouldn't trade anything for what I've got right now. I appreciate everything in my life. Every time I turn on TV and see how difficult things are for some people, I'm just grateful for what I've got. I wouldn't trade my life for anyone's." Source: www.creators.com

"Schopenhauer (author of “Metaphysics of the Love of the Sexes”) had very little appreciation of a higher kind of eroticism, and only really appreciated sexuality. Schopenhauer’s face showed little kindness and a great deal of cruelty (from which he himself must have suffered most terribly: one does not devise an ethic of compassion if one is very compassionate. The most compassionate individuals are those who most resent their own compassion: Kant and Nietzsche). But it may already be indicated at this point that only those who have a strong tendency toward compassion are capable of a fervent eroticism. Those who “couldn’t care less” are incapable of love and they have no appreciation of a supra-sexual relationship. True love, like true compassion, is modest. Rather, beauty itself is a projection, or emanation, of the desire to love. Therefore, the beauty of Woman is not something different from love, not an object to which love is directed. The beauty of Woman is the love of Man. Love and beauty are not two different facts, but one and the same. Just as ugliness derives from hate, beauty derives from love. Beauty is something untouchable, inviolable, which cannot be mixed with other things. Love is modest because, by loving, I place myself below others. Love makes the individual most forgetful of his pride. Therefore compassion is related to love, which is why only those who know compassion know love. In compassion I am the giver, in love I am the beggar. Love is the most modest of all requests, because it begs for the most, the highest." -"Sex & Character" (1906) by Otto Weininger

Kyle Chandler and Jon Hamm: Baseball Heroes

-What's your favorite sport? / -Kyle Chandler: Baseball, baseball, baseball. (TVGen-Yahoo! Chat Session, 1999). In "Homefront" (ABC) Kyle Chandler would play Jeff Metcalf, a professional baseball player with the Cleveland Indians. The scripts for "Homefront" were written (even more than "Mad Men") in the slang and vintage turn-of-phrases of the 1940's era.

On television’s “Mad Men,” Jon Hamm plays Don Draper -- the clever and creative advertising man who can sell just about anything. But in his new movie role as a down-on-his-luck sports agent, he’s making his wildest pitch yet: a contest to find major league-caliber pitching stars in a country where almost no one has ever seen a baseball.

Only this time, the character Hamm plays is real -- and is now the subject of an upcoming Disney film, “Million Dollar Arm,” in theaters nationwide May 16. The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News. “Anyone can make this stuff up, but when it happens to real people, in real life, I think the emotional impact is even more so,” Hamm told "Nightline" during filming in Atlanta last summer. “It’s just a very interesting story for me, especially as someone who gets to play maybe not the most wholesome person on the planet, six months out of the year,” Hamm said. Source: abcnews.go.com

He's suave, sophisticated, and undeniably sexy. But Jon Hamm says he just can't understand why anyone would find his Mad Men alter ego Don Draper attractive. Talking to Glamour magazine, the actor explains: 'He’s a terrible guy. It’s not his fault he’s damaged, but he’s a terrible guy.'

(seen in the show with co-star Jessica Pare). Despite being lusted after by his fans, Jon, 43, doesn't understand the seemingly universal appeal of the flawed advertising exec. 'With men, it’s like, "That’s the guy you want to be?" Go buy a nice suit and comb your hair, but don’t do the other parts of the character [the cheating, the lying]. 'And I find it crazy when women like Don. There are better dudes.'

But it seems modest Jon may be discounting a hefty part of his character's appeal - his own good looks. Jon revealed his childhood dreams were quite different. 'I wanted to be a professional baseball player when I was a little kid. I still play in a league out here [in L.A.]—a bunch of old dudes who get together on Sundays. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

​Weiner tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he's still conflicted about Don and his secretive, promiscuous ways. "I don't really have a lot of judgment for Don," he says. "He makes me nervous. I feel bad for him. I want him to be able to get out of things. I know that he has a lot of love in his heart. I just don't know if it's possible to stand up and rectify everything by telling the truth." Jon had a depth and maybe carries — even if it's fictional — a sense of a wound, a sense of a conscience, a sense of conflict. You're seeing it on the show all the time. He brought that to it. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I think, "Oh my God, what if I didn't cast him?" You know? Well, I wouldn't have a show. Source: www.npr.org

Talking about the ending of "Friday Night Light": "Bittersweet. Saying goodbye to the Taylor house hurt a lot. Our final scene there we shot on a hot, muggy night, and everyone was exhausted. And I was thinking, “I want to get home.” But as we got into the van to leave, I looked back at the Taylor house, and it brought up a lot of memories. It stung. I grabbed my phone, stuck it out the window and took a picture of the house. I’m going to put it in a tiny little frame and keep it my home. That will be “Friday Night Lights” for me, whenever I look at it." -Kyle Chandler (Coach Eric Taylor in FNL)

"It's probably a personality flaw in a business like mine, but I prefer to avoid fuss and flash," says Chandler, enviably handsome. In the dim light of the oak room, with yellowing photos of Seabiscuit and the 1951 Rams behind him, it's easy to imagine a time when guys like Chandler pursued acting simply as an excuse to ride horses and chase pretty girls. He's gracious enough, but you get the sense he would rather be having a root canal than blathering on about himself." Source: www.menshealth.com

Hear us out: he may not be the first actor that comes to mind, but Kyle Chandler could play the weathered older version of The King - Elvis Presley. It’s definitely out of the mold of government officials and coaches (Coach!) we’ve seen him play in the past, but maybe a fat suit and a new role is just what Chandler needs. Not to mention we’d take every word he says very seriously, because, well, clear eyes, full hearts, you know the rest. Source: www.mtv.com

Jessica Chastain will play 'Blonde' Marilyn Monroe, Carl Rollyson's 'Monroe: A Life of the Actress'

Two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain is nearing a deal to play Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik's passion project “Blonde,” multiple individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap.

First announced in 2010, “Blonde” is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 700-page novel of the same name, which reimagines the inner, poetic and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker — the child, the woman and the fated-celebrity better known by her studio name of Marilyn Monroe.

Oates drew on biographical and historical sources to paint an intimate portrait of Marilyn that reveals a fragile, gifted young woman who repeatedly remade her identity to overcome the odds and define stardom in the 1950s. In 2001, Oates’ imagined memoir was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and the prolific author believes it may be the book for which she will be best remembered. Dominik adapted “Blonde” on spec and his agency, CAA, will represent the film's domestic distribution rights.

While Michelle Williams recently played Monroe in “My Week With Marilyn,” Chastain's portrayal is expected to be much different, as “Blonde” will take an unconventional approach to examining the Hollywood starlet's life and career. “It's a really sprawling, emotional nightmare fairy-tale type movie… about an abandoned orphan who gets lost in the woods,” Dominik told The Playlist at Cannes in 2012. Source: www.thewrap.com

Kyle Chandler said it was "difficult" to work with rising star Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty," but not for any the reasons that immediately spring to mind when someone uses that word.

Jessica Chastain and Kyle Chandler attending the "Zero Dark Thirty" photocall on December 4, 2012 in New York City.

"She is very difficult to work with and I'll tell you why. The scene, especially when you get up close to her, it's very hard to do because her eyes are so intensely blue you fall into them. Literally," he said of Jessica's peepers. "When you watch the scene where we go at each other... [I can watch myself and know], that's when I was like, 'OK, how deep do your eyes -- how far do they go? My God! I see the back of your skull. It's incredible.' "She's very beautiful," Kyle added of the actress. "I had a lot of fun working with her." Source: movies.yahoo.com

"I'm very sensitive in real life. I will start to cry if someone is crying, even if it's not appropriate. I have that thing in me, a weakness or sensitivity." -Jessica Chastain

"Acting, for me, is about exploring things I don't understand in myself. I did not feel like a beautiful woman that people would kill each other for. I'm very shy, I feel very awkward, I don't feel like a femme fatale at all." -Jessica Chastain

In American popular culture, Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) has evolved in stature from movie superstar to American icon. Monroe's own understanding of her place in the American imagination and her effort to perfect her talent as an actress are explored with great sensitivity in Carl Rollyson's engaging narrative. He shows how movies became crucial events in the shaping of Monroe's identity. He regards her enduring gifts as a creative artist, discussing how her smaller roles in "The Asphalt Jungle" and "All About Eve" established the context for her career, while in-depth chapters on her more important roles in "Bus Stop, Some Like It Hot," and "The Misfits" provide the centerpiece of his examination of her life and career.

Through extensive interviews with many of Monroe's colleagues, close friends, and other biographers, and a careful rethinking of the literature written about her, Rollyson is able to describe her use of Method acting and her studies with Michael Chekhov and Lee Strasberg, head of the Actors' Studio in New York. The author also analyzes several of Monroe's own drawings, diary notes, and letters that have recently become available. With over thirty black and white photographs (some published for the first time), a new foreword, and a new afterword, this volume brings Rollyson's 1986 book up to date. From this comprehensive, yet critically measured wealth of material, Rollyson offers a distinctive and insightful portrait of Marilyn Monroe, highlighted by new perspectives that depict the central importance of acting to the authentic aspects of her being.


Carl Rollyson on Marilyn Monroe from University Press of Mississippi

"Rollyson takes her and her talent seriously and what he has to say is enlightening and often surprising... no matter how many more books are written about her... none will provide the insights this does into the person, the persona and the work of Marilyn Monroe." -Variety

" A scholar's analysis of Monroe as an actress, written engagingly enough to tempt Monroe fans... His analyses of her movie roles and how she filled them are crucial to understanding Monroe, the woman and the actress. Rollyson's achievement is his dedication to examining Monroe from every conceivable angle."--The Baltimore Sun Source: www.carlrollyson.com

Debonair Air: Robert Taylor and Kyle Chandler

This year marks the 70th anniversary of one of the greatest film noirs of all time, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity—an occasion celebrated this week by the release of a commemorative Blu-ray. Fred MacMurray (The Caine Mutiny, The Apartment) and Barbara Stanwyck (The Lady Eve) in a suspenseful tale of lust, betrayal and murder, directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Raymond Chandler, this intrigue-filled tale of a double-dealing dame and her murderous lover was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. The Limited Edition Blu-ray comes with lobby cards, poster reproductions and a rare alternate ending still in an archival envelope. Bonus features include: Special Introduction by TCM host and film historian Robert Osborne, Shadows of Suspense Plunges viewers into the world of 1940s Hollywood, Feature Commentary with film historian Richard Schickel, Feature Commentary with film historian and screenwriter Lem Dobbs and film historian Nick Redman Source: www.broadwayworld.cm

At a crooked gambling club run by "Fish-Eye," Chris Claybourne (played by Robert Taylor) loses five thousand dollars on credit. That same night he meets model Rita Wilson (Barbara Stanwyck), who has refused Fish-Eye's proposition that she lure wealthy escorts to his gaming tables for a percentage. Though they are strongly attracted to each other, Chris and Rita agree not to fall in love, but spend his spree together, having fun and swiping unusual hats. As Chris's departure day approaches, however, they realize that they are in love and Chris promises not to go to the jungle. That same night, Fish-Eye forces Chris to sign a check for his debt, and gives him until the next afternoon to make it good. As Dr. Claybourne's money is all used to support his hospital, Chris' only hope is his staid brother Tom. When Chris takes Rita to meet Tom, however, Tom tells his brother that he will only help him if he goes to the jungle and waits to marry Rita, whom he considers socially inferior, until he returns. Rita, enraged, tells Chris that they are through and secretly goes to Fish-Eye to arrange to pay off Chris' debt by working for him.

On Christmas Eve, Chris suddenly returns to New York on a leave-of-absence and learns that Tom has broken with his fiancée and has just been asked to resign from the hospital for neglect of duty. Though Dr. Claybourne does not know what has happened to Tom, Tom privately tells Chris that he fell in love with Rita and secretly married her, after which she laughed at his stupidity and refused to see him. Now believing that Tom's original opinion of Rita was true, Chris goes to Fish-Eye's club and finds her. She confesses her mistakes and is remorseful, and, because she still loves Chris, agrees to his plan that she accompany him back to the jungle, on a platonic basis, to wait for Tom to agree to a divorce. Source: www.tcm.com

Robert Taylor made a list of ten things that made his heart beat faster for "Good Housekeeping Magazine" in May, 1956. His tenth answer was Barbara Stanwyck's eyes.

Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck on the liner Queen Mary on February 4, 1947. "Barbara would arrive at the Trocadero or Ciro’s in an evening gown, her hair done up, and would see Claudette (“looking divine”) or Dietrich (“looking like something out of this world”) or Hedy Lamarr and feel awful about herself, like a shopgirl. “It’s no use,” Barbara would say. “I know what I look like. I like comfort too well to fix and fuss.” Barbara and Robert Taylor had permanent ringside seats for fight night at the Hollywood Legion Stadium and went regularly to Hollywood Baseball Park to watch a game and eat hot dogs and peanuts, often taking Dion with them." -A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson

-"It's a big help to an actor if people like to look at him but it has nothing to do with acting." -Robert Taylor

[Before meeting his wife]: -"There's always a special woman out there somewhere, but you don't know it at the time." On being labeled a hunk: "I don't see any hunkdom in my future. I'll be anti-hunk. Instead of working out, I'll sit around drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. That'll show 'em." -Kyle Chandler


Jeff tipped his baseball cap and smiled into the camera, just the way Ginger had coached him backstage. He hadn't had a serious bout of stage fright since Ginger had helped him get over it nearly two years ago, but she knew that there were still times he got a little uneasy with the thought of so many people watching them all at once. She felt his hand go to the small of her back to pull her in closer to him -partly for moral support, and partly just to have an excuse to touch her -and with a cool debonair air that even Robert Taylor would have killed for, he said, "From our family to yours... have a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year! Bye for now!" Ginger released the breath she'd been holding for the last few minutes and looked up at Jeff. "I hate being live," she muttered, as he came in for a kiss. "Well I thought you did fantastic," he told her. Somehow, when Jeff said so, she could believe it. Source: lemogrrl.tripod.com


The first tell-tale notes of 'Sentimental Journey' wailed from the living room, reaching Ginger Metcalf in the kitchen. She swallowed hard as she heard Doris Day's voice, but it did little to get rid of the fist-size lump in her throat. "I've still got time for a quick dance," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. He turned her around and led her by the hand to the living room, where WREQ was now playing 'You Made Me Love You.' "You know in a few weeks you won't be able to do that anymore," Ginger said. "Don't be silly," Jeff leaned in and said in his husky baritone, "you'll still be as sexy as Hedy Lamarr." Source: lemongrrl.tripod.com

Mad Men's theory (Jon Hamm), Kyle Chandler & Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks), Capra's Lost Horizon

“Mad Men” launched its seventh and final season Sunday with “Time Zones,” an episode heavily laden with airplane imagery. When we first see Don Draper, he’s shaving in a plane’s lavatory before leggy wife Megan picks him up at the airport. “I fly a lot,” Don (Jon Hamm) later tells a TWA seat mate, played by guest star Neve Campbell (“Party of Five”). He and the lonely widow share a lengthy scene on a red-eye home to New York.


Back at Megan’s California pad, the TV plays the opening of Frank Capra’s 1937 film “Lost Horizon,” where plane crash survivors find themselves in the earthly paradise of Shangri La, a utopia that Don craves but can’t find in the real world.

Megan (Jessica Pare), who fell asleep on Don’s shoulder, wakes up and asks her husband what he’s watching. Don shuts off the television and acts like it’s nothing. But we know that nothing is nothing on “Mad Men,” a series that’s spawned more conspiracy theories than the Kennedy assassination. Creator Matthew Weiner, who wrote Sunday’s premiere, is notoriously deliberate when it comes to crafting the show. His penchant for detail and symbolism are catnip to obsessive fans who read between every line, scrutinize every frame and pick apart the show’s cryptic teasers, which are all about the airport this season.

In the spirit of wild speculation and over-analysis, I’ll feed the Internet another “Mad Men” theory: Don Draper dies in a plane crash. For a man who struggles mightily with duality, there would be a certain poetry to Don perishing 30,000 feet in the air, somewhere that’s neither here nor there — in limbo, where he’s lived much of his life. On a more literal note, it squares with the falling man image in the opening credits. Source: voices.suntimes.com

It turns out J.D. Salinger communicated cordially with several Hollywood producers during the peak of his career. Contrary to industry lore, the writer was also open to translating a few of his short stories to the bigscreen well after he published his magnum opus, “The Catcher in the Rye.” “The myth that he hated Hollywood and the movies is not true at all,” Salerno says. “He loved movies.” Salinger’s favorite picture was Frank Capra’s “Lost Horizon,” and his living room in Cornish, N.H., was a film aficionado’s den, with a projector and fresh popcorn, which he used to entertain his young amours. Source: variety.com

"Lost Horizon" first cut was nearly six hours long, and neither Capra nor the studio knew quite what to do about it. There was talk of releasing the film in two parts, but the idea was deemed impractical. Capra whittled it down to about three and a half hours for the first public preview at Santa Barbara's Granada Theatre (on November 22, 1936), but a disappointing reception led to more cuts and retakes, the last of which was shot on January 12, 1937.

Most of the exteriors on Stephen Goosson's lavish Shangri-La set, built on Columbia's Burbank Ranch smack up against the traffic and telephone poles of Hollywood Way, had to be shot at night, so that the background would not show (glass shots were used to create the illusion of a mountain setting).

Ronald Colman as Robert Conway and Jane Wyatt as Sondra in "Lost Horizon" (1937): Robert Conway's alacrity in accepting his role as head of the little kingdom in the original cut stemmed from his disenchantment with the inequity of Western society and its colonial life, but in the shortened versions seems to reflect merely a dislike for his culture's messiness and ungovernability One of the key artistic battlegrounds was the ending. In Hilton's book, Robert Conway turns his back on Shangri-La, becoming one of those who, in the author's memorable line, are "doomed to flee from wisdom and become a hero," but then changes his mind and sets out again to find it.

The preview version of the film ended with Conway struggling up a snowy hill as a glow on the horizon seems to guide him toward Shangri-La. That was deemed too indefinite a finale for a film with such doubtful box-office prospects, so Capra on January 12 shot another ending in which a haggard Conway finds Shangri-La, with Jane Wyatt beckoning him onward to the accompaniment of a montage of ringing bells.


That version was used in the film's opening engagements, but Riskin argued against such a soppy fade-out, and he and Capra prevailed on Columbia to let them recut it after the film had been playing for several weeks. The final ending dropped Wyatt and simply showed Conway looking toward Shangri-La, concluding with a shot of the lamasery and the orgasmic bell montage (a ringing bell would become Capra's trademark, ending several of his later pictures as well). Capra's problems with the editing of Lost Horizon were the subject of an expert postmortem that November by David 0. Selznick. -"Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success" (2011) by Joseph McBride

Capra was at the height of his game as a director with Lost Horizon. The film took more than two years to complete, and used what was (at the time) the largest set ever constructed in Hollywood. Ronald Colman is perfect as the world-worn English diplomat on a fast-track political career. Jane Wyatt is charming as his love interest and one of the caretakers of the valley. -Bill Hunt, The Digital Bits

As a drama, Lost Horizon relies on many of the conventions of the period: a man of action (Conway), a fugitive swindler (Barnard), a terminal cynic (Gloria), a buffoon (Lovett), an impulsive young man (George), a femme fatale (Sondra)… all the essential personalities for creating or continuing a castaway society. Rooted in the romantic action novel of the late nineteenth century, Hilton’s story raids the supernatural elements of Rider-Haggard’s She, or even H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. -Lawrence Russell, Culture Court

"It is commonly assumed that Conway reaches Shangri-La in the film's last moments, or at least has reached a point where the entrance to the valley is in view- as indicated by an editing trope (Conway glancing off, followed by a shot of the railed archway seen earlier) commonly understood as representing a character's gaze and its object. However, when Conway experiences this vision, he is depicted as standing on a glacier. Even if we assume that Conway knows where he is (near in fact to Shangri-La), however there is no way of taking the point-of-view shot here literally, given its represented dimension. Any nearby glacier would be far below the archway entrance; Conway's "view" of the archway must be taken (at best) as a memory sparked by proximity. [So] the Shangri-La Conway "sees" in this last shot is, as if literally, his shadow, his projection, a memory that always walks on before him." -"Another Frank Capra" (1994) by Leland Poague

Silencio’s library features some of David Lynch’s favorite books: Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Art Spirit by Robert Henri, Name Above The Title by Frank Capra, and Anonymous Photographs by Robert Flynn Johnson. Source: welcometotwinpeaks.com

Laura Palmer’s murder was a MacGuffin of sorts: It was intended merely as an introduction to Twin Peaks. And that town itself represented a sort of thwarted and idealized past, one stuck in the facade of the 1950s, a great society that prided itself on its saddle shoes and fitted angora sweaters, where unspeakable acts occurred behind closed doors. What the show did was take the viewer inside the conscious and subconscious minds of those quirky denizens, giving us a saintly hero in the form of Cooper who would be tempted again and again with the easy lures of lust, power, and complacency.

[Sheryl Lee as Laura Palmer] Teenagers investigated the murder of their peers, biker gangs squared off as torch singers swayed in the half-darkness at boozy backwater bars, femme fatales ran their red lacquered nails over the backs of their oblivious lovers. Twin Peaks took our collective desires and dreams and ran them through the dark prism of classic film noir. It’s Laura’s best friend, Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) who says it best: “It’s like I’m having the most beautiful dream… and the most terrible nightmare, all at once.” Source: www.buzzfeed.com

Sheryl Lee as Angelica Chaste and Kyle Chandler as Tony Greco in "Angel's Dance" (1999) directed by David L. Corley

Crazy like a fox, Angel (Sheryl Lee) proves a worthy adversary for Rossellini (James Belushi) and a dangerous love interest for Tony (Kyle Chandler). Yes, it's yet another darkly comic romp about philosophical hitmen set somewhere between Quentin Tarantino-ville and David Lynch country. Amusingly, Angel's insanity gives her an advantage... In this existential comedy of manners, merrily enacted by Belushi and Lee, murder becomes her emancipation. Source: movies.tvguide.com


Sheryl Lee and Kyle Chandler in an erotic scene from "Angel's Dance" (1999). "Sheryl Lee is game as usual, though director David L. Corley’s script could have lavished far more detail and invention on what turns out to be a rather abrupt, one-dimensional transition to La Femme Nikita (complete with spike heels and blond wig). A more droll actor than Belushi might have better exploited potential of film’s most original character conceit, though guru-of-mayhem Rosellini still provides some eccentric laughs. Kyle Chandler is appropriately broody." Source: variety.com

Kyle Chandler: "As an actor, I'm able to play all the characters of life."

"I'm not gay, and I'm not a superhero. I'm able to leave Don Draper at work. I'm quite dissimilar from him in real life." -Jon Hamm

"I had this dream of intense love. I know it sounds corny, but I bought a bottle of wine and some candles, went to her place, and told her I couldn't live without her." -Kyle Chandler on proposing her wife Kathryn.

"I don't need to be married, but I feel married. I have a lady, she's a great lady. I love her a lot, she loves me. We're on the same page. Whenever that day happens when we're not on the same page we'll move forward with it." -Jon Hamm (on his long-term relationship with Jennifer Westfeldt since 1998).