Mulholland Drive is a 2001 surrealist mystery film written and directed by David Lynch, and starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Mark Pellegrino and Robert Forster. It tells the story of an aspiring actress named Betty Elms (Watts), newly arrived in Los Angeles, who meets and befriends an amnesiac woman (Harring) recovering from a car accident. The story follows several other vignettes and characters, including a Hollywood film director (Theroux).
The view of Los Angeles from Mulholland Drive has become an iconic representation of the city's opportunities.
Betty (Watts) arrives in Los Angeles; pictured with Irene (Jeanne Bates). Betty is bright and optimistic, in contrast to Diane—also played by Watts—in the later part of the film.
Harring as the dark-haired woman
Gilda poster (1946)
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, visual artist, and musician. Lynch has received critical acclaim for his films, which are often distinguished by their surrealist, dreamlike qualities. He has received numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion in 2006 and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. In 2007, a panel of critics convened by The Guardian announced that "after all the discussion, no one could fault the conclusion that David Lynch is the most important film-maker of the current era."
Lynch in 2017
Lynch's high school senior portrait, 1964
Theatrical release poster for Eraserhead (1977)
Lynch at the 1990 Emmy Awards ceremony