Just the name, Laura Palmer, sparks a memory for those who remember "Twin Peaks."
Laura Palmer was the young woman whose dead body was found, wrapped in plastic, on the rocky shores of a small northwest town called Twin Peaks - and that disturbing image, along with her bright, smiling face in a framed photograph, was repeated each week in the opening moments of David Lynch's satirical, mystical and very bizarre television series."Twin Peaks" has been off the air for four years now, the victim of much talk and low ratings. And Sheryl Lee, who played both Laura Palmer and her ill-fated look-alike cousin Madeleine Ferguson, is haunted a bit by the program's echoes in a new film called "Homage," which is in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
"Homage" begins with the death of Lee's character, a television actress named Lucy Samuel, who has apparently been murdered by an overzealous admirer (Frank Whaley) in her rural New Mexico hometown. Lucy had been visiting her estranged mother (Blythe Danner) at the family farm, and the killer was a hired hand. The rest of the film is told in flashbacks . . . and, as with Laura Palmer in "Twin Peaks," there are key passages from Lucy's diary that figure into the story.
Despite those similarities, however, Lee did not balk at taking the part. "I was actually interested in it because of that," she said. "I was interested in that parallel, having gone through `Twin Peaks.'
"The script (by Mark Medoff, Oscar-nominated for `Children of a Lesser God') "is brilliant, and Mark's writing is so full and wonderful. And it's all there. And when Ross Marks (the film's director) and I met, I really believed in him and trusted him.
In addition to "Homage," Lee has a supporting role in yet another dramatic competition film at Sundance. "Fall Time" is also a dark thriller, which begins with two stories that eventually converge.
The first has a trio of high school boys (Jason London, David Arquette and Jonah Blechman) dressing up like movie-style gangsters to stage a phony killing on Main Street in front of the local bank . . . just to shake up their small town a bit. The second has a pair of thieves (Mickey Rourke and Stephen Baldwin) preparing to rob the same bank.
Lee plays a bank employee who is taken as a hostage, a character who is not quite what she seems to be. It's a relatively small role - Lee doesn't appear on screen until well past the halfway mark - but she was fascinated by the character's quirkiness.
"She's a bit wacky in a way," Lee said, "wackier than any other character I've been able to play. I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say she's pretending to be something that she's not."
Lee also participated in last year's festival, with a co-starring role in "Backbeat," about the early days of the Beatles. But it was a brief visit, only three days, and she spent the whole time working - doing interviews, making personal appearances at screenings and generally promoting the film with her co-stars.
This year, however, she's here for the entire 10-day festival and plans to work in some fun, and perhaps some skiing. "I only saw two films other than `Backbeat' last year, but I want to see more this time. And having grown up in Colorado, I'm embarrassed to admit I'm not a better skier. Maybe I can work on that."
A Seattle native, Lee was doing theater when David Lynch discovered her and asked her to audition for "Twin Peaks." "I had never thought about doing television, I wanted to stay in theater. But David cast me in the pilot, which was shot in Seattle, and then they (the Hollywood cast and crew) left and I stayed in Seattle and kept doing theater.
"Then David called me six months later and asked if I'd like to come to L.A. and do another character on the show. So, I did - and it changed my whole life. I'm very grateful to David for that." (Lee later worked for Lynch in the "Twin Peaks" movie, and had a cameo in Lynch's "Wild at Heart," which is playing at the Sundance Film Festival in conjunction with Nicolas Cage receiving the Independent Vision Award.)
Next up for Lee is an ABC Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie with Ellen Burstyn, "Follow the River."
"Homage" will be screened in Park City on Monday, Jan. 23; Thursday, Jan. 26; and Saturday, Jan. 28. "Fall Time" has Park City screenings Monday, Jan. 23; Friday, Jan. 27; and Saturday, Jan. 28.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
For festival information, phone 328-FILM (328-3456); for ticket information, phone 322-1700. All theaters and auditoriums are in Park City, except the Tower, which is in Salt Lake City (876 E. 900 South), and the Sundance Screening Room, which is at the Sundance Resort in Provo Canyon.
MONDAY, JAN. 23
Egyptian: "Fall Time" 4 p.m., "Search and Destroy" 7 p.m., "Homage" 10 p.m.
Holiday I: "Shorts Program V" 4 p.m., "No Loans Today" 7 p.m., "Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "To the Starry Island" 4:20 p.m., "Strawberry and Chocolate" 7:20 p.m., "The Secret of Roan Inish" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "Crumb" 4:40 p.m., "Tie-Died" 7:40 p.m., "Shorts Program III" 10:40 p.m.
Prospector: "Rio's Love Song" 3 p.m., "The Wife" 6 p.m., "Priest" 9 p.m.
Library: "BEG!" 3:30 p.m., "Six Days, Six Nights" 6:30 p.m., "Two Crimes" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "Double Happiness" 8 p.m.
Tower: "Ermo" 6 p.m., "Cold Blooded" 8:30 p.m.
TUESDAY, JAN. 24
Egyptian: "Teen Dreams" 10 a.m., "Priest" 1 p.m., "The Silence of Neto" 4 p.m., "An Awfully Big Adventure" 7 p.m., "Little Odessa" 10 p.m., "The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love" midnight.
Holiday I: "Rhythm Thief" 10 a.m., "Dorothea Lange" 1 p.m., "Family Portrait Sittings" 4 p.m., "The Devil Never Sleeps" 7 p.m., "Shorts Program I" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Heavy" 10:20 a.m., TBA 1:20 p.m., "Cold Blooded" 4:20 p.m., "Amnesia" 7:20 p.m., "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "Picture Bride" 10:40 a.m., "Parallel Sons" 1:40 p.m., "Unzipped' 4:40 p.m., "The Four Corners of Nowhere" 7:40 p.m., "The Brothers McMullen" 10:40 p.m.
Prospector: "Search and Destroy" 9:30 a.m., "Screenwriters on Writing" noon, "The Girl in the Watermelon" 3 p.m., "Exotica" 6 p.m., "Funny Bones" 9 p.m.
Library: "Mouvements du Desir" 9:30 a.m., "Drawn from Memory" 12:30 p.m., "Son of the Shark" 3:30 p.m., "A Night in Nude" 6:30 p.m., "Soul Survivor" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "Words upon the Window Pane" 8 p.m.
Tower: "Strawberry and Chocolate" 6 p.m., "Miami Rhapsody" 8:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25
Egyptian: "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" 10 a.m., "Funny Bones" 1 p.m., "Parallel Sons" 4 p.m., "Safe" 7 p.m., "Tie-Died" 10 p.m.
Holiday I: "Out of Ireland" 10 a.m., "A Litany for Survival" 1 p.m., "When Billy Broke His Head . . ." 4 p.m., "The Devil Never Sleeps" 7 p.m., "Teen Dreams" 10 p.m.
Holiday II: "Living in Oblivion" 10:20 a.m., "Nadja" 1:20 p.m., "Dance Me Outside" 4:20 p.m., "Jupiter's Wife" 7:20 p.m., "The Girl in the Watermelon" 10:20 p.m.
Holiday III: "The Four Corners of Nowhere" 10:40 a.m., "New Jersey Drive" 1:40 p.m., "Postcards from America" 4:40 p.m., "Angela" 7:40 p.m., "Chili's Blues" 10:40 p.m.
Prospector: "An Awfully Big Adventure" 9:30 a.m., "Party Girl" noon, "Crumb" 3 p.m., "Heavy" 6 p.m., "The Usual Suspects" 9 p.m.
Library: "Strawberry and Chocolate" 9:30 a.m., "Black Is . . . Black Ain't" 12:30 p.m., "Little Odessa" 3:30 p.m., "Wigstock" 6:30 p.m., "Klash" 9:30 p.m.
Sundance: "Before the Rain" 8 p.m.
Tower: "The Young Poisoner's Handbook" 6 p.m., "Six Days, Six Nights" 8:30 p.m.