usatoday_20170111_USA_Today

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.