Robert Daniel Robb Earnest is a California film and television professional who has guided the production of several major Hollywood movies. Among the vehicles that Robb Earnest helped bring to fruition as production coordinator was director David Lynch’s critically acclaimed “Mulholland Drive.”
Featuring a nonlinear plot, the 2001 film focuses on the blonde Betty, played by Naomi Watts, an aspiring actress staying at her aunt’s house on a steep hill along the titular road. She comes across a brunette woman, played by Laura Harring, who gets into an accident and seeks refuge in the apartment. Having a film noir style and suffering from amnesia, she gives herself a name taken from an old movie poster seen on the wall, “Rita.”
As the movie unfolds, Betty experiences hallucinations as she confronts key identity issues in a film industry built on a projected persona. The plot, without ever giving away the answers to the puzzles it sets up, stands as a harrowing, visually arresting exploration of the commodification of actors in Hollywood and how this can lead to jealousy and murder. Over the years, Mulholland Drive, which grossed only $15 million upon release, has risen in stature and is now considered one of the classics of its era.
