Duwayne Dunham understands how long to leave a performance alone. We value his editing most highly, though his directing takes a more welcoming route through family adventures and television films for children.
Fi1m perspective
In Twin Peaks (1990), a pause can last just long enough for somebody’s awkwardness to stop being funny. Duwayne Dunham’s editing gives us time to notice the discomfort without hurrying us past it. We grew uneasy as those pauses stretched, because what had seemed merely awkward began to feel wrong. Angelo Badalamenti’s music keeps the melodrama warm, so that the people still matter when their behaviour becomes strange.
His editing credits on Return of the Jedi (1983) and Blue Velvet (1986) came before his directing career. The latter began his collaboration with David Lynch, whose material benefits from Dunham’s willingness to let a scene find its own pace. His editing favours performance and internal timing over strict continuity, a useful priority when an awkward moment needs room to develop. On Twin Peaks, he edited the pilot and made his directing debut, directing three episodes.
His first theatrical feature as director, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), takes him towards family adventure. Little Giants (1994) and numerous Disney Channel television films continue the move towards younger audiences. That is a substantial change of audience, and we would not mistake his association with Lynch for a promise that his own films will be similarly unsettling. He stays involved in editing his directed projects, retaining a practical say over how those performances reach the screen.
The caution is there in Twin Peaks too: its patience sometimes becomes drift. We admire Dunham’s willingness to wait, but the programme does occasionally give us longer than we need to appreciate its oddness. He later edited all 18 episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), continuing his work with Lynch. Start with the original Twin Peaks, and allow for the slower stretches; Badalamenti’s tender music and Kyle MacLachlan’s steadiness are good reasons to stay.
Biography
Duwayne Dunham is an American film and television editor and director. Born on 17 November 1952 in Los Angeles County, California, he worked as an assistant editor on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) before editing Return of the Jedi (1983) and Blue Velvet (1986).
He edited two episodes of the series Twin Peaks (1990) and directed three episodes, making his directorial debut with the second episode. For his editing work on the series he received a Primetime Emmy Award in 1990. He subsequently directed the feature films Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) and Little Giants (1994), as well as several Disney Channel television films including Halloweentown (1998).
In 2017 Dunham edited all 18 episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return. He is an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
