Mulholland Drive is a surrealist neo-noir mystery movie directed by David Lynch and starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Mark Pellegrino, and Robert Forster that was released in 2001. It depicts the story of Betty Elms (Watts), a young aspiring actress who meets and befriends an amnesiac woman (Harring) who is recovering from a vehicle accident. Several other vignettes and people are featured in the tale, including a Hollywood film director (Theroux).
The American-French co-production was designed as a television pilot, and Lynch shot a substantial section of it in 1999 intending to leave it open-ended for a possible series. Television bosses, on the other hand, rejected Lynch’s cut after seeing it. Lynch then gave the concept a conclusion, turning it into a feature picture.
Mulholland Drive was nominated for the Prix de la mise en scène (Best Director Award) at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Lynch shared the award with Joel Coen for The Man Who Wasn’t There. Lynch was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.
The picture started Harring’s career, raised Watts’ Hollywood profile, and featured veteran Hollywood actress Ann Miller in her final feature film. Mulholland Drive is widely considered to be one of Lynch’s best films; it was voted 28th in a 2012 Sight & Sound critics’ poll of the best films ever made, and it topped a 2016 BBC poll of the best films released since 2000.
On October 12, 2001, Universal Pictures premiered Mulholland Drive in 66 cinemas across the United States, grossing $587,591 in its first weekend. It finally expanded to 247 theatres, collecting $7,220,243 at the box office in the United States.
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