We don't really know what's going on with Michael Ontkean. The quiet around the cast regarding him seems fraught with something--maybe he's not in a good place right now, or is sick and wants to keep it private. Who knows. Maybe there were contract difficulties with using old footage of Harry (such as they did for Jack Nance and Joan Chen). We don't know.
As I understand it, Michael Ontkean lives in Hawaii and really is ill and unable to work.
That would make sense. They have been respecting his privacy.
I've not heard that Michael J. Anderson's comments were linked to his disease so that's news to me. I agree that if that's the case, then Lynch would certainly not hold that against him.
One of the few things I really liked about The Return was Sheriff Frank Truman and the fact that he was played by the actor who was intended to play Harry. Well, "liked" isn't quite the word, I should say "loved" 🙂
I'm sure this has been talked about umpteen times, but now that we've seen the end, I just have to say that the Harry/Frank Truman switcheroo really was just David Lynch being a dick.
I didn't really think Michael Ontkean would make an appearance, but I still hoped it might be a long setup for that. Alternatively I though there might be some genuinely clever twist that would depend on having a "Sheriff Truman."
But it seems the most juvenile explanation was the right one and this was just Lynch's way of tweaking Onkean (again, and again, and again) for not being onboard. When we got to crucial, climactic scenes and it was still being clarified that this was "Sheriff Frank Truman, Harry's brother" ...well, maybe some people found some absurdist charm in it, but I'd had about enough.
After 25 years, there could be any number of reasons Harry Truman is no longer sheriff. You don't even need to kill the character. You can have him retire to Boca Raton. Hawk could be sheriff. But when there's a way to broadcast (ad nauseum) this petty dig at Ontkean AND signal one more time that this is Lynch's show and he doesn't care if you like it... well, I guess there's no way he was going to resist. Verrrrry mature.
I don't know if it's a dig or not ... but I wasn't happy that all we got from Coop was "give my regards to Harry". I mean ... a little more concern would have been nice ... even if that entire sheriffs station showdown was rushed.
As much as Harry rules, not having him there made sense
We don't really know what's going on with Michael Ontkean. The quiet around the cast regarding him seems fraught with something--maybe he's not in a good place right now, or is sick and wants to keep it private. Who knows. Maybe there were contract difficulties with using old footage of Harry (such as they did for Jack Nance and Joan Chen). We don't know.
After hearing this and some others' who seem to think there's a personal health issue, it makes me wonder about some of the lines Frank Truman was given, i.e. "Harry, beat this thing," etc. They were Sheriff Frank's lines, but really, all the lines were David and Mark talking. Double meaning?
Michael Ontkean declined to take part because he does not want to act. It's his choice and David Lynch respects that. Why would he 'punish' him on screen? Any mention of Harry is usually, if not always, to establish or acknowledge to a character that Sheriff Truman is Frank not Harry, particularly Dale Cooper in 17.
Yours is - to me - a ridiclous conclusion and assumption. Lynch is a man of peace, not petty revenge.
Fix your heart, or die.
The man has retired, illness or otherwise and that should be respected which I'm sure Lynch and Frost have done. To make up some stuff about Lynch punishing him is pure nonsense.
One of the few things I really liked about The Return was Sheriff Frank Truman and the fact that he was played by the actor who was intended to play Harry. Well, "liked" isn't quite the word, I should say "loved" 🙂
It's true, Robert Forster is a great presence in the show. He's older and more weathered than we remember Harry, and they are both solid representations of the decent spirit of brotherhood in Twin Peaks.
Fire walk with