Tabloids secured Lara Flynn Boyle’s role in ‘Mother Couch’

Lara Flynn Boyle shared an interesting backstory about her recent casting in the upcoming film “Mother, Couch,” which hits theaters this Friday. The film’s director, Niclas Larsen, has wanted to cast her ever since he was a child reading about her in tabloids at his mother’s beauty shop.

Boyle, now 56, was a regular feature in ’90s magazines, often photographed at Hollywood events and seen dating other celebrities.

“He would read tabloid articles, whatever magazines were there at the beauty shop,” Boyle told UPI during a phone interview. “When he started writing this beautiful screenplay from the book, he always envisioned me.”

Larsen adapted the film from Swedish author Jerker Virdborg’s book “Mamma i Soffa.” In the story, Ellen Burstyn plays a mother who sits on a couch and refuses to get up while her son, David, portrayed by Ewan McGregor, attempts to get her to leave a furniture store.

Unable to handle the situation on his own, David calls his siblings for help. Boyle steps into the role of Linda, David’s sister.

Boyle commented that tabloid attention has always been a part of her acting career but never expected it to land her a role.

“You cannot make this good stuff up,” Boyle said. “I’ve never been anyone’s favorite. I’m not really the girl next door so this is just shocking that people are actually liking me.”

Dealing with a mother who stubbornly refuses to stand up becomes a surreal, comedic drama in “Mother, Couch.” Boyle compares this project to another of her surreal experiences — working on David Lynch’s TV show “Twin Peaks.”

“The great comparison is when I was a part of Twin Peaks, I was naive and ignorance is bliss,” Boyle noted. “You don’t know how things are going to turn out.”

Boyle said her guiding principle is to remain truthful in her performances. Her understanding of the final product wasn’t complete until she saw the finished film.

“Shooting the pilot of Twin Peaks we had no idea, and in Mother, Couch we had no idea,” Boyle shared. “I just knew that Niclas got it and let’s just follow him.”

Boyle now interprets the mother’s refusal to get up as a metaphor for human malaise.

“Don’t we all do that?” Boyle said. “When you’re stuck, you’re just stuck. You’re stuck on that damn couch.”

Larsen had a specific vision for the character of Linda. To fulfill his vision, Boyle dyed her hair blonde and smoked herbal cigarettes.

“I fried my skull,” she remarked. “It was like the dirty superhero.”

Despite her pivotal role in “Twin Peaks“, Boyle wasn’t able to participate in the 2017 revival “Twin Peaks: The Return.” The absence of her character, Donna Hayward, sparked much speculation among fans, but Boyle said the reason was simple.

“It didn’t work out with my schedule,” Boyle explained. “I had to go do something else.”

Following her iconic role in “Twin Peaks“, Boyle starred in films like “Wayne’s World,” “The Temp,” and “Threesome,” and spent seven seasons on “The Practice“, interspersed with movie roles.

While Boyle has no regrets about her career choices, she holds a particular affection for her lesser-known projects, especially two films she made with director Alan Rudolph: “Equinox” and “Afterglow,” which she considers “phenomenal movies.”

Boyle is also proud of her role in 1993’s “Red Rock West,” where she played opposite Nicolas Cage for director John Dahl.

“That was a fun movie to make,” Boyle said. “That definitely stands the test of time.”

In the comedy “Baby’s Day Out“, Boyle played the mother of a kidnapped baby. The role gave her a chance to make up for being cut from John Hughes’s film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

“He brought me all my little scenes that were cut out from Ferris Bueller and we watched them together,” Boyle recalled.

Though those deleted scenes have never been released, Boyle revealed she played a classmate of Ferris’s (Matthew Broderick) sister, portrayed by Jennifer Grey.

“We did scenes in a locker room,” Boyle said. “There were scenes that I was just, of course, missing Ferris Bueller.”

Juggling twin babies on the set of “Baby’s Day Out” proved to be a challenge.

“Those babies hated me,” Boyle said, laughing. “They would give me those twins and they would cry and cry.”

In the past decade, Boyle has only had a few acting credits. Despite slow periods and negative tabloid press, she remains undeterred.

“There is no easy ride,” Boyle said. “That’s why Hollywood is so beautiful.”

Larsen’s persistent pursuit of Boyle for “Mother, Couch” was flattering, but Boyle believes such experiences are rare. She expects to continue facing challenges in her career, although she has some upcoming projects she cannot yet disclose.

“When you get over one hurdle, there are many more hurdles to get over,” Boyle said. “That’s why I’m still playing the game, because if everyone just liked me, that would be quite boring.”

Boyle described herself as having a “hard shell,” but her passion for acting strengthens her resolve.

“You cannot hide from the camera,” Boyle said. “I’m in love with not being able to get away with anything.”

Source: UPI