‘Twin Peaks’ Doc Seeking Funds to Tell Story of Gay Teen’s Struggle
The producers of a documentary about a Twin Peaks mega-fan who spent his teen years in the town where the cult TV series was shot are seeking funds for their movie on Kickstarter. The proposed film, Northwest Passage: A Doc About Growing Up in Twin Peaks, will tell the story of Travis Blue, who survived bullying and bouts with hooking and doing drugs by relying on his Laura Palmer fandom. The producers aim to put out the film next year, the same year in which Twin Peaks will return as a limited series on Showtime.
“I didn’t know who David Lynch was,” Blue said as commentary in a preview video for the movie. “My dad didn’t know. Movie-making was always New York, L.A…. but this was happening here in places I knew. I took the day off school just to go out for the filming of the scene where they find Laura on the beach. I didn’t realize you could tweak the world in small ways to do what you want with it.”
Blue later turned to the Palmer character as a role model, according to the Kickstarter description, and became obsessed with the show, frequenting Twin Peaks conventions as his life took lurid turns. Northwest Passage director (and friend of Blue) Adam Baran, who has previously made award-winning short films (Jackpot), spent four years interviewing the doc’s subject to discuss a 12-year portion of his life. Together, they’ve spent weekends driving around Washington State’s Snoqualmie Valley in search of the series’ shooting locations and meeting with the show’s cast and crew.
Baran, along with the film’s producers (whose credits include Tarnation and Room 237), hopes the doc will resonate with an audience larger than Twin Peaks fans in addition to the Dale Cooper faithful. “Beyond simply exploring the impact of Twin Peaks, our film is, on a human level, the story of a gay teenager searching for himself and all the chaos, confusion, joy and fear that comes with that difficult process, told in an original way,” the doc’s Kickstarter states. “The fact that Travis is able to share his story with others is remarkable…. Travis may have endured terrible situations, but he survived.” Blue would eventually become a Portland- and Los Angeles–based filmmaker and photographer.
The producers are seeking large-scale funding elsewhere but say they’ve turned to Kickstarter with the hopes of raising $60,000 to pay for reenactments of Blue’s story that are “anything but ordinary.” They also need money to digitize footage they’ve acquired of Blue at Twin Peaks festivals.
The top-tier reward include tours of Twin Peaks shooting locations with Blue in Washington and Los Angeles and a personalized phone message from actress Kimmy Robertson (Twin Peaks’ Sheriff’s receptionist Lucy Moran). Other rewards include a signed copy of Brad Dukes’ oral history of the show, a digital download of Blue’s “secret diary,” Blue’s personal photos of shooting locations, a reproduction of Blue’s ticket to the Fire Walk With Me premiere and original prints by artist Andrea Owens.
Although David Lynch separated himself from the Twin Peaks revival over budget disputes with Showtime (leading to a quirky viral protest from the series’ actors), the filmmaker announced his return earlier this month, with the new show’s planned nine-episode run recently expanding to 18. Kyle MacLachlan is set to reprise his role of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, and much of the original cast members are expected to return as well. Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost is writing a book to catch fans up on what has happened to the characters in the past quarter century.