And then, the discovery: a severed human ear.
(The left one, to be precise.)
Its an indelible moment, serene and horrific and tantalizingly enigmatic.
Credit: Everett Collection
Jeffrey wants to know what happened.
The movie tracks his investigation.
He learns that the ear once belonged to Dorothys husband.
Jeremy M. Lange for EW
The true-life story behind the ear is only a little less twisted.
According toBlue Velvetmakeup supervisor Jeff Goodwin,creating the perfect ear took careful attention.
David and I approached it like a character in the film, Goodwin explains.
Jeremy M. Lange for EW
We actually called it Mr. Goodwin had previously worked forBlue Velvetproducer Dino Di Laurentis.
I did one film that was totally non-prosthetic, a film calledMarie, with Sissy Spacek and Jeff Daniels.
Fluency with makeup and prosthetics proved valuable when it came time to designing Mr. My first ears I made, I actually made casts of my own ears.
Jeremy M. Lange for EW
Rubber, you know?
The directors initial response was both encouraging and unexpected.
I took them into Davids office.
He was actually on the phone.
I put them on the desk.
Hes playing with them, looking at them.
I said, David, those aremyears!
He looks at my ears and says, You have the smallest ears in the world.
I never noticed before.
I do have small ears!
A key point in the evolution of Mr.
Ear was the struggle to balance realism with visual authenticity.
Frank Booth, Dennis Hoppers character, used scissors to cut [the ear] off, Goodwin explains.
In reality, you would just get a little crescent moon shape.
You wouldnt get a full ear, youd get a crescent shape of a little piece of flesh.
I made both, to show David what they would look like.
I started looking around for bigger ears, laughs Goodwin, and I found a producer,Fred Caruso.
I actually cast Freds ears, and thats the ears that we ended up using.
Ear design involved a bit of innovation.
That material was silicone.
I swept up Davids hair, and actually punched the hair into the ear.
So its David Lynchs hair thats in the ear.
He didnt know it till afterwards.
He thought it was funny.
Then it was time for Mr.
Ear to get its first close-up.
I believe it was early in filming, MacLachlan says.
It was a hot day.
They showed me the ear ahead of time.
David Lynch had bloodied it up a bit.
And Lynch insisted on adding a creepy-crawly final touch.
There was an ant wrangler.
They would actually freeze the ants to make them docile.
When they would thaw out, the ants would crawl around on the honey ear.
The severed ear became one of the great horrific movie images.
But heres a little-known fact: Mr.
Ear had a brother.
A scene was filmed featuring the missing husbandsothersevered ear, but the second ear missed the final cut.
Theres a sequence where Isabella goes down her hallway, Goodwin notes.
you might actually see, written in the mirror, it says Look Down.
That other ear is in the sink, and then she flushes it down the toilet.
But that scene was cut.
MacLachlan collaborated again with Lynch on the classic seriesTwin Peaksand the new-classic reprisalTwin Peaks: The Return.
Its doing just fine.
Ear is still around, says Goodwin.
Considering that its made of silicone, it hasnt really rotted.
Latexes will eventually rot.
At the moment, itsin a museum in Wilmington, North Carolina, on display.
Eventually, it will return to its resting place in Goodwins home.
Hes got a little case that he sits in, Goodwin says.
He just hangs out.
For a cinematic icon, its a well-deserved retirement.
