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2DLIFE
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2017


PASADENA, CALIF. Yo u r l o n g ,
Twin Peak -less nightmare is al-
most over.
Created by Mark Frost and Da-
vid Lynch, this legendary (and
legendarily odd) ABC series and
its “Who Killed Laura Palmer”
mystery took America by storm
when it debuted in 1990. It was
unlike any show anyone had ever
seen, which may be why it quickly
exploded into a hit and just as
quickly collapsed, ending after
just two seasons but leaving be-
hind one of TV’s most devoted
cult followings.
Fans celebrated in 2014 when
Showtime announced it would
bring the show back with Lynch
and Frost in charge — and then
began to panic as time passed and
Peaks did not appear. Well, panic
no more: The new Twin Peaks ar-
rives on May 21 with an 18-epi-
sode run, all directed by Lynch.
He’s “one of the great film mas-
ters of my lifetime,” Showtime
CEO David Nevins told TV critics
Monday, “and I think that the
version of Twin Peaks you’re go-
ing to see is the pure heroin ver-
sion of David Lynch, and I’m very
excited to be putting that out.”
In his own deadpan, elliptical
way, Lynch sounds just as excited:
“I love this world of Twin Peaks
and I often thought about what
might be happening. I often re-
membered the beautiful world
and the beautiful characters.”
Details about that new show
are a well-kept secret. But some
of the original cast will return, in-
cluding Mädchen Amick and Kyle
MacLachlan, who became a star
playing the coffee-drinking, pie-
eating Special Agent Dale Cooper.
“I didn’t think it was ever com-
ing back,” says Amick. “People
would ask, and I always said, ‘No,
absolutely not. There’s no way
they could do that again.’ ”
Peaks is being billed as a one-
time, special event, but Lynch
says he hasn’t ruled out the possi-
bility of another trip back. After
all, he says, he once said he’d nev-
er return to Twin Peaks — and yet
here he is. “Never say never.”

A NEW ‘FIGHT’
The Good Wife is gearing up for a
fight.
The Good Fight, a spinoff of the
acclaimed CBS drama, which will
stream on CBS All Access starting
Feb. 19 (the first episode also will
air on CBS that night), picks up a
year after the original series end-
ed last spring. Christine Baran-
ski’s Diane Lockhart has
announced plans to retire from
the law firm at its center, only to
find her savings have evaporated

in the wake of a Ponzi scheme.
The firm refuses to take her
back, so she sets out on her own
with Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo),
who returns from Wife along
with Sarah Steele, who played
Eli’s daughter. New actors include
Delroy Lindo, Justin Bartha and
Rose Leslie.
The change of presidential ad-
ministrations colors the series.
The premiere episode was
filmed in the week leading up to
the election, and the unexpected

outcome adds “a different reso-
nance” to the show, Baranski says,
with parallels to “passing power
from one generation to another.”
But it’s not inherently anti-
Trump: “It looks at how liberals
are reacting, confusion between
what’s real and what’s not real,”
says co-creator Robert King.
The spinoff project, which fea-
tures both profanity and nudity,
came together quickly. “We were
in a state of limbo about whether
I’d have future or not,” Baranski
says. “I had another offer, but
there was a real reluctance on my
part to let go of what was ... a
great role. Happily it all worked
out. It was a family we did not
want to break up.”

TELEVISION


Showtime mounts modern ‘Twin Peaks’ with twist


Lynch


will direct


the cult


show;


CBS puts


up a


‘Good


Fight’


Robert Bianco
and Gary Levin
USA TODAY

RICHARD SHOTWELL, INVISION/AP
David Lynch directs all 18
episodes of Showtime’s return
to quirky Twin Peaks.

FREDERICK M. BROWN, GETTY IMAGES
Christine Baranski reprises
her role as attorney Diane
Lockhart in The Good Fight.

CBS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Gordon Cole
(David
Lynch) and
Shelly John-
son (Mäd-
chen Amick)
make room
for pie in an
episode of the
original Twin
Peaks. Amick
is one of the
original cast
members
returning for
the new
Showtime
production.

MARTIN SCORSESE’S


PRIESTHOOD


AMBITIONS PAVED


THE ROAD TO


‘SILENCE’


NEW YORK On the surface, a
slow-burning religious epic about
17th-century Jesuit missionaries
may seem like unusual territory
for Martin Scorsese, an auteur of
the modern gangster movie.
But get the Oscar winner talk-
ing about his own spiritual jour-
ney, and the puzzle pieces of
Silence quickly fall into place.
Adapted from Shūsaku Endō’s
1966 historical novel, Silence
(now showing in select cities, ex-
pands nationwide Friday) follows
two Portuguese priests (Andrew
Garfield and Adam Driver) facing
persecution for preaching Chris-
tianity in Japan. Though the film
isn’t considered a lock for an Os-


cars best-picture nomination, it is
a contender: 15 out of 28 experts
at awards site GoldDerby.com
predict it lands a spot, while 18
experts anticipate that Scorsese
will get a best-director nod.
It’s a story of tested faith and
immense passion that struck a
chord with Scorsese, 74, who was
raised Catholic in a rough-and-
tumble neighborhood on Manhat-
tan’s Lower East Side in the 1950s.
Unable to play sports or spend
time outside because of his severe
asthma, Scorsese found sanctuary
in movie theaters and the Basilica
of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral,
where he was an altar boy.
“There was a special feeling in
that cathedral, and I liked it,”
Scorsese says. “There was a peace
of mind, and outside, there was
nothing but strife. ... The church
was something very special, and I

took it very seriously.”
He was particularly inspired by
Father John Principe, a worldly
twentysomething priest who in-
troduced him and his peers to
new music and films, while also
acting as a moral compass. Hop-
ing to emulate Principe, Scorsese
attended seminary school as a
teenager, but was kicked out after
one year for roughhousing and
frequent tardiness.
“I thought if I could become a
priest, I could be like him or as in-
fluential as he was at that time for
us,” Scorsese says. “I didn’t real-
ize that a vocation is a real calling.
It’s much more than wanting to
be like somebody else.”
But “the interest in things spir-
itual never went away and a lot of
that energy went into the films,”
starting with his Catholic-cen-
tered debut feature, 1967’s Who’s
That Knocking at My Door.
Whether depicting a deranged
vet looking to cleanse the streets
of corruption (1976’s Taxi Driver )
or a violent middleweight boxer
grappling with sexual insecurity
and redemption (1980’s Raging
Bull ), Scorsese has long asked if
“one can live a life of compassion
in a materialistic, power-hungry
world,” says Thomas R. Lindlof,
author of Hollywood Under Siege:
Martin Scorsese, the Religious
Right, and the Culture Wars. “His
films are intended as different
ways of asking that question, with
no illusion that it can ever be an-
swered or resolved.”
Even as he has made more
overtly religious dramas such as
1988’s controversial The Last
Temptation of Christ and 1997’s
Kundun , about the 14th Dalai La-
ma, Scorsese says his own faith
has “ebbed and flowed,” as he
weathered four divorces and re-
covered from drug addiction. “It’s
complicated,” he adds, “but I’m
searching for the same things.”
His willingness to engage with
others about religion proved ben-
eficial on the set of Silence , which
has been largely well-received.
“He is very on the surface with
his struggle and knows that keep-
ing that private does a disservice
to the project,” Driver says. “Once
you start attaching meaning to
what you’re doing, the scenes
starts to take on a different life.”
Scorsese “can’t help but inject
his personality into his films and
with his actors,” he adds. “He’s a
true artist.”

MOVIES

PATRICK KOVARRIK, AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Patrick Ryan
USA TODAY


KERRY BROWN
Martin Scorsese and Andrew Garfield on the set of Silence. The
director says “the interest in things spiritual never went.”

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Corrections & Clarifications

The description of Tuesday’s
episode of comedy The Mick was
incorrect in Critic’s Corner and
the TV listings due to a late Fox
programming change.
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