Script of Fire Walk With Me from July 1991?

[Jordan Cole]

Hey there! I was listening to one of the many Twin Peaks podcasts, and they were discussing an early draft of FWWM they read that I believe was from June or July 1991. They discussed many differences, like Cooper instead of Chet, a sex scene with Cooper and Laura !??, etc, etc, etc. I can't find anything online. Is this available anywhere? I'm very anxious to check this thing out.

 

[Soolsma]

I have never heard about this. My interest is peaked :O

 

[Ickles]

There was a thread about it on Dugpa. Consensus seems to be that there doesn't seem to be any available copies floating around, at least on the internet. Maybe a physical copy off eBay? @dugpa did mention that Wrapped in Plastic might have gotten a copy at one point?

Fire Walk With Me - original (first draft) screenplay? - World of Blue - Archived Forum 2007-2022

 

[Jordan Cole]

The podcast where this is discussed was (this is confusing) Twin Peaks Unwrapped episode 51, episode 118. From Aug 28, 2017 with John Thorne and Bob Engels.

 

[Cappy]

It’s not hard to imagine the opening segment of FWWM having Coop and Albert instead of Chet and Sam. But maybe Albert could more easily fill the role of Chet — Miguel Ferrer would have really delivered the hell out of that “this one’s coming from J. Edgar!” line.

 

[Jordan Cole]

It’s not hard to imagine the opening segment of FWWM having Coop and Albert instead of Chet and Sam. But maybe Albert could more easily fill the role of Chet — Miguel Ferrer would have really delivered the hell out of that “this one’s coming from J. Edgar!” line.

Albert would NEVER have punched that guy! He's a pacifist!

 

[Jerry Horne]

It's most certainly a thing. Not many differences except the name switches and Coop 'rolling over' and making love to Laura...part of a dream if I remember correctly.

 

[Cappy]

Albert would NEVER have punched that guy! He's a pacifist!

Haha, my own personal head canon is that he became a pacifist between seasons 1 and 2 — getting decked by Truman really forced him to reflect critically on how he comes off to others.

 

[AXX°N N.]

WIP recently put all of its issues for sale on amazon as very reasonably priced ebooks. Should no one else locate which issue has the script difference highlights, I'll do some detective work later for the interest of the curious.

 

[Mr. Reindeer]

WIP recently put all of its issues for sale on amazon as very reasonably priced ebooks. Should no one else locate which issue has the script difference highlights, I'll do some detective work later for the interest of the curious.

Thanks! I’d also be interested to read the issue that highlights the Wiseguy “Lynchboro” arc. Always been curious how that came about, the timing of it and how Engels got involved. I believe Jerry has mentioned it was discussed in one issue.

 

[AXX°N N.]

So I'm still digging, but I'm finding a lot of hearsay and dead ends. At this point I think some misremembering and conflation might have been going on in internet past, and that when people referred to a WIP article covering script differences they were actually referring to an Engels interview of which much of the collective knowledge on past script differences seems to originate, as well as an article about Judy which compares several draft versions. Both of these are in Issue 75. Upon purchase, I discovered it had a handy-dandy index of material in past issues, leading me to...

I’d also be interested to read the issue that highlights the Wiseguy “Lynchboro” arc. Always been curious how that came about, the timing of it and how Engels got involved. I believe Jerry has mentioned it was discussed in one issue.

Happy to take requests! Per the index, it seems to have been discussed in Issue 6, pgs. 10-11.

Edit: I've narrowed down some of the alleged details referred to whenever this was brought up to an additional article in Issue 60 that does comparisons of the Deer Meadow prologue between draft versions.

So far, I still don't believe there was a comprehensive article. The only detail I can't account for is a scene with Catherine, so I'm not sure where that tidbit might have originated. Although I haven't read these articles yet, so it might already be accounted for.

If I find more articles that feature script comparisons, I'll update.

 

[Jordan Cole]

But just saying, in the podcast I heard, all involved say they *read the script*, and they don't really talk about any sort of article or anything. They even quote lines from the script, like a part about how it says Cooper "makes love" to Laura, and they discuss the distinction of the stage directions saying "make love." Etc.

 

[Ickles]

But just saying, in the podcast I heard, all involved say they *read the script*, and they don't really talk about any sort of article or anything. They even quote lines from the script, like a part about how it says Cooper "makes love" to Laura, and they discuss the distinction of the stage directions saying "make love." Etc.

Is it possible to reach out to the folks who run the podcast to ask them about it?

 

[Jordan Cole]

Here's the show and here's the episode:



Not sure how to reach out to them...maybe someone with more "cred" here can get that script...? Someone also involved in Twin Peaks podcasts or the fan community..?

 

[AXX°N N.]

But just saying, in the podcast I heard, all involved say they *read the script*, and they don't really talk about any sort of article or anything. They even quote lines from the script, like a part about how it says Cooper "makes love" to Laura, and they discuss the distinction of the stage directions saying "make love." Etc.

Yeah it appears the existence of the script is undeniable, but that its coverage and comparisons in WIP seems to have been limited to a supporting role in articles about specific subjects in FWWM. It could be that those articles tackled the major notable differences and so a comprehensive article just never took form.

 

[eraserJoe]

I debated posting because I wasn't entirely successful but I looked through my Wrapped in Plastics and thought I found the article, but the article is based on the shooting script and not the early draft. Maybe this article is what some of us are remembering.

Issue 34 (April, 1998) contains an article that is 6 pages and is entitled "Controlled Burn: An Analysis of the Edits to Fire Walk With Me" and "The 'Expanded' Fire Walk With Me - Scene By Scene." (It isn't the complete script, just a summary).

I just skimmed through it but some interesting things in the summary of the shooting script include a scene where Nadine teaches Ed how to skin a deer, the (in)famous scene where Ben gives Laura cocaine in exchange for a kiss at Johnny Horne's birthday party (We know Beymer refused to film this), Bobby giving Laura the ten thousand dollars at school, Pete talking to Big Ed while filling up his tank, and a scene where Truman and Josie talk. Also, the film ends with Laura sitting on Cooper's lap in the red room.

Still, I'm pretty sure I've read about the early draft in question here in Wrapped in Plastic but I think AXX°N N. is probably right about it being limited to supporting roles in articles or even in the letters section. (There was always lots of great stuff in the letters section).

 

[Jordan Cole]

To be frank I don't really care about tracking down an article *about* the script...I WANT TO READ THAT DAMN SCRIPT!