On this very special episode of Really Weird Stuff: A Twin Peaks Podcast, we team up with independent cinema outlet, Hammer to Nail, to interview Richard Green, director of the new documentary, I Know Catherine, the Log Lady, about the life and death of Catherine Coulson, aka Margaret Lanterman from Twin Peaks. As the film shows, her time on T.P. was just a fraction of the huge, dynamic life of a beloved woman.
Lynch fans will also recognize Richard Green as the Magician from Mulholland Dr. (“No Hay Banda!”)
Baxter spoke to Green about his indelible time working with David, the challenges of reducing hundreds of hours of content into a digestible feature, the importance of the theatrical experience, and how David’s death may have been a boon to art-house cinema.
Plus MUCH MORE!
Check iknowcatherine.com for more information and to see if the film is coming to your city!
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]…
You probably DO know Catherine, the Log Lady. She was an actress for stage and screen, a camera operator for John Cassavetes, and a frequent collaborator with a little auteur you may have heard of called David Lynch. She also played a signature character in Lynch’s seminal TV show, Twin Peaks. The final performance of her career is beautifully captured in the third season of the show, filmed 25 years after season two ended on one of the most infamous cliffhangers of all time. She get shte documentary treatment in Richard Green’s I Know Catherine, the Log Lady.
Sometimes, things fall together so perfectly that it feels pre-ordained. Catherine Coulson got her start in 1960s San Francisco, when she co-founded an acting troupe called The Circus. She met David Lynch working for him behind the camera on his nascent films. Lynch was an audio-visual magician, who assembled an indelible crew to birth what is arguably the most dynamic body of work to grace the large and small screens. Richard Green, who directed this documentary about Catherine’s life, played a character called The Magician in David Lynch’s 2001 masterpiece, Mulholland Dr.
Most know Catherine Coulson as Margaret Lanterman aka “The Log Lady”; a prescient oddball who traversed the cursed town of Twin Peaks, delivering cosmic messages transmitted through an ever-present log that only she could hear. But Coulson was also a very talented stage actor and camera operator, as well as a reliable caretaker for those she loved. Several people interviewed in I Know Catherine mention her penchant for taking in “wounded birds” and “stray dogs.” These birds and dogs were people, and some of them, sadly, were her romantic partners.
Richard Green knew Catherine, and, as a result, became a tertiary figure in Lynch’s social circle. He got the idea for his 2002 documentary, I Don’t Know Jack, at the 1996 memorial for the film’s subject: Eraserhead star Jack Nance. Nance was Catherine Coulson’s first husband, and Catherine was instrumental in corralling David for I Don’t Know Jack. How fitting, then, that Green could bookend the story with I Know Catherine, the Log Lady…
On this episode of Paid in Puke, we’re partying with Emma Seligman‘s (Bottoms) 2021 anxiety-ridden comedy, Shiva Baby, starring Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, Dianna Agron, and Polly Draper. It tells the story of Danielle, a young art student who has an identity crisis at a Shiva, when she is forced to interact with her parents, her ex, her sugar daddy, and his beautiful wife, plus everyone who has known her since she was a baby.
This movie is an poignant as it is hilarious. We talk about awkward interactions with relatives, sugaring, top quality food-acting, and the difficulties of being an impending college graduate.
On episode 36 of Really Weird Stuff: A Twin Peaks Podcast, we’re sorting through Twin Peaks the Return: Part 5, “Case files.” This episode was written by David Lynch and Mark Frost, and Directed by David Lynch. It’s best known for being the one where Dougie goes to work, and Mr. C gets his private phone call. Our special guest is professor Mike Miley, author of the new book, David Lynch’s American Dreamscape: Music, Literature, Cinema. He joins us to explore such mysteries as: WHAT is with all the muscle cars? COULD Mr. C have done his mystical hacking with any old phone? HOW many people are really watching Dr. Amp?
On this episode of Paid in Puke, we’re all over Luca Guadagnino‘s 2024 frenetic sports drama, Challengers, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. It’s about ambition, failed dreams, jealousy, friendship, a love triangle, and also tennis! This is a perfect script brought to screen by a man who says he thinks tennis is boring. Though Amy (our resident tennis fan) finds a couple of minor tennis-related hot probs, this thing is a banger through and through. We get into all sorts of topics including whether or not Patrick and Art have feelings for each other, how Tashi’s bitterness manifests in some understandable, but also unforgivable ways, the sexiness of the leads, and just what exactly happens at the end. Grab and banana and COME ON!!!
It’s the 2025 Paid in Puke Oscars Special with our Academy Award Pukette, Denise Rodriguez! We all saw and loved a TON of movies this year, and most of them didn’t get nominated for anything! Regardless, we talk about the films we loved and why they didn’t get any Academy props, the Emilia Pérez mess, films about the trans experience that were actually good, the ethics of using AI in films, and why we come to Nicole Kidman for magic.
Films covered include: A Different Man, Anora, A Real Pain, Babygirl, Between the Temples, Bird, Challengers, Emelia Pérez, Flow, Ghostlight, I Saw the TV Glow, Love Lies Bleeding, Maria, Nightbitch, Nosferatu, Queer, Sing Sing, The Apprentice, The Brutalist, The Last Showgirl, The Substance, The Wild Robot, Will & Harper.
On episode 35 of Really Weird Stuff: A Twin Peaks Podcast, we’re reminiscing about Twin Peaks the Return: Part 4, “…brings back some memories.” This episode was written by David Lynch and Mark Frost, and Directed by David Lynch. It’s best known for being the episode wherein Wally Brando stole our hearts, and Gordon Cole told those clown comics to fix their hearts or die. We Stan our trans ally. Special guests Danny Connole and Matt Fisher (Ex-Rated Movies Podcast) join us to explore such mysteries as: WHY is that kid called Sonny Jim?
HOW deaf is Gordon Cole, really?
WHAT are shadows like?
Plus: Danny points out the Mulholland Dr and Frances Bacon references and tells us what it was like to see the International Pilot of Twin Peaks before anything else!
A note from Baxter, co-host, producer, and editor of Really Weird Stuff: A Twin Peaks Podcast.
I had to pause working on Part 4 of The Return because, as I’m sure you know, David Lynch died today, the 16th of January. 2025.
David felt that numbers were always significant, so I looked up 16 and found this:
“16 is a powerful number that holds spiritual information about you and your destiny. While having 16 in your chart speaks to independence, service to other people, and leading others, it most truly speaks to one thing: wisdom. It points to old souls that have the wisdom to teach and lead others.”
Since he (along with Laura) is the reason for the season, I had to pay direct tribute to him and I had to do it today. If you’re hurting from this loss, you’re not alone. And if you feel alone, watch something David made. It always helps me.
On this episode of Paid in Puke, we’re traversing the wonders of Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2023 fantasy epic, “Poor Things”, starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Margaret Qualley, Kathryn Hunter, Jerrod Carmichael, Hannah Schygulla, and Christopher Abbott (Charlie from Girls!). Tony McNamara adapted the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. Comedian and media scholar, Megan Metzger, joins us to bask in the glory of this beautiful fantasy about what a woman can be when she develops outside the crushing influence of patriarchal society.
Megan even manages to find some Heathers parallels! This episode is all about finding your bliss and applying it to the betterment of the world around you.
Effed by the Wind 