r/harrydeanstanton

Love, love, love Harry Dean Stanton, so I thought I'd toss this post out there, just to honor his last starring role... the wonderful 2017 film LUCKY. I imagine almost anyone who stumbles across/comes to subreddit devoted to Stanton is already familiar with and has seen the film, but if not then folks owe it to themselves to check it out.

It presents on the surface as a character study -- which it is, telling the story of a curmudgeonly, chain-smoking atheist coming to grips with his own mortality. But it's very much rooted in biographical detail from Stanton's own life, and owing to that (and just superb direction from John Carroll Lynch, in his directorial debut) the film pushes well past the unambitious plotting and shape of numerous similar movies, touching both the profound and the mystical with a moving blend of small, just-so moments; artful symbolism; and intriguing ambiguity. It's wonderful and Stanton is incredible in it, providing fans with a send-off that honors his singular talents.

It also costars his close friend David Lynch, in an amusing role, as a tortoise-loving eccentric. They share three wonderful scenes together. I actually wrote a book ("The Dreamer's Path: Twin Peaks and David Lynch the Actor") all about Lynch, covering his every on-screen performance, and the LUCKY chapter (speaking with Lynch, Ron Livingston, LUCKY co-screenwriter Logan Sparks, and more) was such a thrill to report and write -- not the least of which because folks spoke to the depth of off-screen friendship between Stanton and David Lynch, how they could just sit with one another in quiet, sharing a smoke.