David Lynch was rather vague about the character of Dorothy, he told me that as a child he had seen a woman walking naked down the street, and seeing that had made him cry because he had understood that something terrible had happened. He is more interested in mystery than in the reasons behind a tragedy, but I, as an actress, can’t just play the mystery, I have to anchor my character to something otherwise it becomes no more than a strange person. The actor must have a psychological profile of his character and that is where I got the idea of an abused woman. I propose how to play my role to a director, then the directors are the ones who decide yes or no. David Lynch trusted me. Then there is the nude scene, I don’t like to expose myself in the nude, but that scene was necessary and when I leave the house and walk down the street, wounded and confused, my source of inspiration was the famous photograph of Napalm Girl taken in Vietnam by Nick Ut. Many years later I met the young Vietnamese girl depicted in the photo, she came to a screening of Blue Velvet, and complimented me. (Isabella Rossellini)
DIRECTOR: David Lynch
NATION: USA
YEAR: 1986
RUNTIME: 121′
CAST: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
Original version with subtitles