REEL ART PRESS – serie

Blue Velvet is one of the most haunting and influential neo-noir films ever made: a dark journey beneath the manicured lawns of small-town America. In celebration of the fortieth anniversary of David Lynch's cult masterpiece, the film's makeup artist Jeff Goodwin - the 'man behind the ear' - takes readers behind the scenes with his rare personal archive of never-before-published Polaroids and first-hand memories from the set. Blue Velvet: A Polaroid Diary captures the strange beauty and creative alchemy that defined working with director David Lynch. 'I made two partial ears and one whole ear and took them into David's office and placed them on his desk for approval. He was like a kid! He picked them up and started playing with them.' Determined to make the prop disturbingly real, Goodwin turned to a then-unusual material for film work. 'I decided to make the new ears out of silicone to achieve... a little 'wiggle'... I was not aware until years later that I was, in fact, an early pioneer of silicone use in cinema.' From refining Laura Dern's luminous on-screen presence to shaping the grotesque menace of Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth, these photographs and recollections reveal the meticulous craft behind Lynch's dreamlike world and Goodwin's pivotal role in shaping the film's visual language. Along the way, he shares insider revelations - from near casting surprises involving Helen Mirren to on-set mishaps and the subtle tricks of the makeup artist's trade: 'Most of my makeup effects are a combination of makeup and magic.' Part visual archive, part behind-the-scenes memoir, this is a rare glimpse inside the making of a landmark of cinema - one that, as the author remembers, was 'the genuine article: a true labour of love.'