Salon:David Lynch likes to talk about “films that make you dream.” Few people have compared you to David Lynch, probably, but I would argue that the two of you are approaching American experience through a similar lens. Of course when he says that, he’s mostly talking about Bergman, Fellini and Hitchcock, the filmmakers that matter the most to him. Which I imagine …
Chase: Yeah, they’re mine too. And David Lynch is also someone I look up to. I have a great deal of admiration for him. Nobody does dreams like he does
Its easy to say that Chase, with his show "The Sopranos", was onto many similar surrealist type themes like Lynch. Also like Lynch, Chase is one of those rare gifted filmmakers that can pull it off on film. Lets look at some examples of this surrealism in the Sopranos.
The last photo is a scene from Livias funeral where Pussys ghost makes an appearance in case you missed it. In the scene, after Tony closes the door, he looks over in the direction of the reflection and pauses as if sensing the presence. Very much remicisant of Twin Peaks and another example of a nod to Lynch.
I look at the world and I see absurdity all around me. People do strange things constantly, to the point that, for the most part, we manage not to see it. That's why I love coffee shops and public places – I mean, they're all out there.-David Lynch
In the episode "remember when" there is a character named Professor Brian Lynch played by Charley Morgan who bears a very Lynch-ian resemblance. This episode is arguably one of the most Lynch-ian of them all.
Lets take a look at what wikipedia says about David Lynch
Lynch says that his work is more similar in many respects to those of European film makers than American ones, believing that most films that "get down and thrill your soul" were by European directors.Lynch has commented on his admiration for such film makers as Stanley Kubrick, Federico Fellini, Werner Herzog and Jacques Tati.He has also stated that Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950) is one of his favourite films,as is Kubrick's Lolita (1962).
There are several recurring themes within Lynch's work, leading film critics Le Blanc and Odell to state that "his films are so packed with motifs, recurrent characters, images, compositions and techniques that you could view his entire output as one large jigsaw puzzle of ideas".[108] One of the key themes that they noted was the usage of dreams and dreamlike imagery and structure within his works, something they related to the "surrealist ethos" of relying "on the subconscious to provide visual drive". This can be seen in John Merrick's dream of his mother in The Elephant Man, Agent Cooper's dreams of the red room in Twin Peaks and the "dreamlike logic" of the narrative found in Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire.[109] Discussing his attitude to dreams, Lynch has stated that "Waking dreams are the ones that are important, the ones that come when I'm quietly sitting in a chair, letting my mind wander. When you sleep, you don't control your dream. I like to dive into a dream world that I've made or discovered; a world I choose ... [You can't really get others to experience it, but] right there is the power of cinema."[110] His films are known for their use of magic realism.(emphasis added)
Lets take a look at what wikipedia says about Lynchs use of imagery:
Another of Lynch's prominent themes include industry, with repeated imagery of "the clunk of machinery, the power of pistons, shadows of oil drills pumping, screaming woodmills and smoke billowing factories", as can be seen with the industrial wasteland in Eraserhead, the factories in The Elephant Man, the sawmill in Twin Peaks and the lawn mower in The Straight Story.[111] Describing his interest in such things, Lynch stated that "It makes me feel good to see giant machinery, you know, working: dealing with molten metal. And I like fire and smoke. And the sounds are so powerful. It's just big stuff. It means that things are being made, and I really like that."[112]
Another theme is the dark underbelly of violent criminal activity within a society, such as with Frank's gang in Blue Velvet and the cocaine smugglers in Twin Peaks. The idea of deformity is also found in several of Lynch's films, from The Elephant Man to the deformed baby in Eraserhead, as well as death from head wounds, found in most of Lynch's films. Other imagery commonly used in Lynch's works are flickering electricity or lights, fire and stages upon which a singer performs, often surrounded by drapery.[111]
With the exception of The Elephant Man and Dune, which are set in Victorian London and a fictitious galaxy respectively, all of Lynch's films have been set in the United States, and he has stated that "I like certain things about America and it gives me ideas. When I go around and I see things, it sparks little stories, or little characters pop out, so it just feels right to me to, you know, make American films."[113] A number of his works, including Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Lost Highway are intentionally reminiscent of the 1950s American culture despite being set in the later decades of the 20th century. Lynch for this era that coincided with his childhood by stating that "It was a fantastic decade in a lot of ways ... there was something in the air that is not there any more at all. It was such a great feeling, and not just because I was a kid. It was a really hopeful time, and things were going up instead of going down. You got the feeling you could do anything. The future was bright. Little did we know we were laying the groundwork then for a disastrous future."[114]
Lynch also tends to feature his leading female actors in "split" roles, so that many of his female characters have multiple, fractured identities. This practice began with his choice to cast Sheryl Lee as both Laura Palmer and her cousin Maddy Ferguson in Twin Peaks and continued in his later works. In Lost Highway, Patricia Arquette plays the dual role of Renee Madison/Alice Wakefield, while in Mulholland Drive Naomi Watts plays Diane Selwyn/Betty Elms and Laura Harring plays Camilla Rhodes/Rita and in Inland Empire Laura Dern plays Nikki Grace/Susan Blue. By contrast, Lynch rarely creates multi-character roles for his male actors.
In the shows finale "Made in America" AJ Soprano delivers a very David Lynch type line.
"We were discussing "dream girls."-Jason Parisi
"Don't you see it? You people are fucked.YOU'RE LIVING IN A DREAM. You still sit here talking about the fucking Oscars? "what rough beast slouches toward bethlehem to be born?" -AJ
POST: How important are sound and music to you?
“For a long time, I’ve always done a lot of my conceptual thinking while listening to music — mainly rock and blues, so it starts right there. When I first got into TV, my whole basis for anything was dialogue, because I was skilled at it, and TV back then was pretty primitive visually. Then Michael Mann came along, and for me was the first person to focus more on the cinematic side of a story. That really impressed me, and then you had David Lynch and Twin Peaks, and his great use of music and sound, and all that changed the whole TV landscape for me.”-Chase