Twenty-five years after the season two finale of the seminal prestige drama Twin Peaks aired, David Lynch heralded a third season with the following tweet: “That gum you like is going to come back in style.” This was exciting news for Twin Peaks fans and David’s frequent players alike. Catherine Coulson started working with David in his Eraserhead days, which was also when the two friends first conceived the mysterious, enigmatic, and prescient character, The Log Lady, who would eventually serve as a sort of Greek Chorus for the show and an oracle for the characters. There was no way Coulson was going to let a little thing like a terminal cancer diagnosis stop her from participating in Twin Peaks: The Return.
Director Richard Green (7 Year Zig Zag) saw a cosmic opportunity to bookend I Don’t Know Jack (his 2002 documentary about Catherine’s first husband, Jack Nance) with a peek into Catherine’s prolific legacy both in art and interpersonal connection. I Know Catherine, the Log Lady is a captivating, poignant depiction of this indelible renaissance woman who was so much more than just “the lady with the log”. Jessica Baxter recently got a chance to speak with Green about his process, inspiration, working with David Lynch, and the incomparable experience of seeing film in a movie theater.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Hammer to Nail: Thank you so much for meeting me today. I loved your movie. It was just such a moving depiction. I already knew a little bit from just reading about Catherine and then of course seeing The Return. But there was so much I didn’t know so thank you for filling in all those blanks.
Richard Green: It’s a pleasure to have you watch it and I appreciate what you’re saying, thank you.
HtN: So, you met Catherine in the early 70s in San Francisco?
RG: Actually, I never met her in San Francisco. She had been in San Francisco and then she moved down to L.A. and went to [The American Film Institute]. And I moved up to San Francisco right about the same time and started a theater company… All of the people that had been in hers – the Circus – migrated into ours – the Theater of Marvels. I met Jack [Nance] up there but I didn’t meet Catherine until I came down [to Los Angeles]. It was ‘73, I was 20. I was on my way to hitchhike around Europe for a year, to do the hippie adventure [laughs]. And I ended up auditioning for something that one of Catherine’s close friends was in and staying in L.A. for an extra 12 weeks. And, in that time, the place I hung out was in Beachwood Canyon with Catherine, and Jack at their apartment where David [Lynch] was also living at the time. And it was just fun. It was a great place to hang out. Jack was hysterical. David was charming. And Catherine would constantly make sure you had enough to eat and drink… Heaven.
HtN: That sounds divine. Do you remember your first interaction with her or an early memory of meeting Catherine?
RG: You know, I do but it’s very vague… but it is coming up the stairs…I know exactly the stairs, just going into the apartment [in Beachwood Canyon] which my friend lives in now. And I just remember Jack and David at a table, and Catherine coming out of their kitchen The stove and the sink are right there by the door, and she would pop her head out: [musically] “Can I get you anything?” …Kind of this singing… Half of it’s probably fantasy but I just remember her as, everything being musical. The way she moved and the way she talked and the way she laughed had kind of a musical rhythm to it. It was different than anybody that I knew. That’s what I remember about Catherine and then, ya know, just her and Jack kinda… [pantomimes two fists banging together]…
Effed by the Wind 